Abstract
Turkmens; with its rich oral cultural products, strong national ties and dynamic lifestyle, it forms an important part of the Turkish cultural circle. In various sources, there is information that the epic is composed of poetry or parable genres, with the mention that it is based on the literary reworking of prose genres such as tales, legends, and narrations, and that it is written as a mixture of verse and prose in literatures based on the Turkish language. In this respect, the concept of epic is considered as an important part of the literary heritage, social memory, written and oral tradition, although it is considered within the category of “parable” in folk literature in Turkmen culture. In this tradition, under the title of “dessan”, the concept of the term is quite broad compared to other traditions and Turkish literature, since many topics related to social life are covered besides the themes of heroism, love, religion, history and music. In this study, the nature of the concept of epic, which has an important place in the literary tradition of Turkmenistan, the performers, the musical instruments used, the schools of bahshilik and the ways of epic are emphasized.