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Symbols of theLife of Thoughtby Prof. Dr. Ilhan OZKECECI*Just as it is necessary to learn about the Ottoman Empire to better understand today, it is as necessary to learnabout the Anatolian Seljukis, and beyond that, about the Great Seljukis to better understand the Ottoman Empire.We were inspired by beams of light that penetrated into our pen from the various sources of an advanture whichreaches from Turkstan to Anatolia, and the ever shining brightness of our invaluable art works, hoping thesevalues which directed many aspects of life in the past to enlighten our day as well.1. On the Turkish ArtAs soon as Turks took their place in the circle of Islam, theyestablished many states, big or small, in territories beginningfrom the boarders of China to the center of Europeand Africa, and from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian Ocean,achieving great sovereignty and power within the Islamicworld since the establishment of the Great Seljuki Empiretill the recent century. With their experiences and culturewhich dates back to the Preislamic periods, the Karakhans,Ghaznavids, Seljukis Timurians and the AkkoyunluTurks combined especially the advanced artistic skills ofthe Uigurs with the Islamic perspective of arts, thus creatingworks of art that are superior both in technical, andin aesthetical terms, which has made the Turkish art admireableand prestigious among all the arts worldwide. So,though it has been influenced greatly by Islam, we can saythat the Turkish art has also influenced the Islamic civilisationin fields such as education, institutionalisation, politicaland military establishments, architectural structures, decorativearts and painting, developing its abilities within thiscivilisation, and becoming an important ring of this chain.We wanted to attract the attention in this article, to theimportant elements of the works of art within our culturalhistory. Towards this end, we were inspired by beams oflight that penetrated into our pen from the various sourcesof an advanture which reaches from Turkstan to Anatolia,and the ever shining brightness of our invaluable artworks, hoping these values which directed many aspectsof life in the past to enlighten our day as well.Just as it is necessary to learn about the Ottoman civilisationin order to have a better understanding about today,it is as necessary to learn about the Anatolian Seljukis, andthe Great Seljukis in order to have a better understandingabout the Ottoman Civilisation. The Great Seljukis whohad vital contacts with glorious Islamic civilisations such asKarakhans and Ghaznavids which were born in the Turkstanterritories played important roles in the constructionof the civilisation.2. Art and Its ActivitiesCivilisations produce works of art in order to rema-A section from the Kufiscripture belt of the Hargird Nizamiye Madrassah122