Study of the Productions of Popular Literature About Some Animals Among Iraqi Turkmen

The animals occupy an important place in the productions of folk literature and folk culture, as there are many productions of Turkish popular culture and folk literature about animals which circulates among the public and transmitted from one generation to another. As a result of technology development and conditions of life, people started to forget most of these productions. Iraqi Turkmen as other Turkish communities have a rich folk culture and folk literature; they were capable of maintaining it till this day. They have all productions and elements of folk literature and culture. Despite they lived in different geography from Anatolia, they maintain their Turkish literature, culture and language in addition to their existence. Tales, comments, metaphors, proverbs, metaphorical terms and puzzles about some animals in the folk literature of Iraqi Turkmen were discussed in this study; where they were collected from oral and literal sources. The research studies the animal alphabetically; at first the research discussed related comments among Turkmen then it discusses the proverbs, metaphorical terms and puzzles. It s worth to mention that at the beginning of the study, we show the place that animal occupies in both folk culture and folk literature. The information that was found in this study is similar to the information in Anatolia and all Turkish places and there s no difference between them. Based on information gained via this study that, there is an Islamic influence regarding animals and at the same time, these animals are indicated in the Turkish religion system throughout pre-Islam period, in spite of the technological development and its impact on different fields of life at present but information tackled in this study still existing among Iraqi Turkmen sect, especially they make use of these animals characteristics to express the positive and negative features of humans, this characteristic is still found among Turkmens residing at cities, villages and rural areas too.