Just like in all of the world literatures, the first examples of the Turkish Literatures were the epics. The term of "destan" (epic) was and has been used for several verse genres and types within the Turkish literary traditions.
The works that were cited under the name of "destan" (epic) within the Turkish literature trend included some of the poems in rhymed couplets and the short stories written in verse among the verse genres of the ancient Turkish Literature, the ballads and mania quatrains in the Anonymous literature and the Minstrel literature and the works written with the narration technique telling about the individual, social, historical, tragic or ridiculous events, the verse types that narrated these events in various styles, and the genres that narrated the origination, creation, and development of the universe, mankind, and the nations and the struggles for the survival of the states, and the reasons about various events and incidents, and all the works that were called as "epos" in the Western Literature.
The epics that are the offset works of all the world literatures are the long stories written in verse style that were enriched with common symbols and expressions in the imagination of the nation in respect of any hero or a historical event that caused great influence in the lives of the peoples besides the stories about creation in relation with various issues.
The epics interpret the joint struggle and resistance of an entire nation within the integrity and union of the common values, rules, and meanings and they represent the past and the future of the society in which they were invigorated. Therefore, the epics are considered as the most idealistic works of the world literature.
The epics do not always narrate the historical realities in an accurate manner. The historical events and the heroes are idealised within the epics in accordance with the desires, expectations, truths and values of the common subconscious sense of the nation. They are narrated as if they were historical facts upon the combination of the ancient memories in them. The national identity and characteristics of each nation, the common way of thinking about the world conceptions, the memories and expectations as well as the faults and mistakes are reflected within the epics.
The common values and accepted kind manners that are narrated within the Turkish epics include the ardent desire for conquests, strength, horse-riding, warrior characteristics, and also keeping words, the tolerance showed to the weak and defeated people, and the assistance provided, etc. The Turkish epics include various legends that explained numerous causes and reasons together with the issues about the creation of the universe, human being, woman and man, the origination of the Turkish nation, the foundation, development and collapse states of various Turkish states, the victories and defeats of these states, etc.
The first examples of the Turkish epics are considered as to have been written in verse. However, there is not any example of these Turkish epics that have survived until nowadays apart from the Manas epic that was invigorated among the Khirghiz Turks.
The other Turkish epics were provided in the form of summaries, episodes, memoirs, and abbreviated compiled texts in various resources. Considering the outline of the Turkish history, the Turkish lifestyle was originated with the conquest and it developed through the settlement of new places as the homelands. The Central Asia that was the first homeland was never abandoned. The Turkish communities became widespread over an extensive region on the world geography extending from the Central Asia that was the first homeland. Today, the Turkish communities live in seven Turkish republics, various autonomous nations and as minorities under the domination of various states.
In parallel to the multidimensional characteristics of the history and geography, the Turkish culture had become varied and it was enriched and distinguished through different levels and experiences. However, they maintained their common characteristics that were bound to the first original place of the communities and these characteristics have survived until nowadays. Therefore, the Turkish epics have become varied in parallel to the linguistic and cultural circles that resulted from the multidimensional characteristics of the history and geography.