Dədə Qorqud is the revered elder, seer and minstrel of the Oghuz Turks and the presiding figure of the epic cycle Kitabi-Dədə Qorqud, the foundational literary monument of Azerbaijani and wider Oghuz heritage. A soothsayer said to live many generations, he appears at the threshold of each tale to name the young hero after his first feat, to counsel the beys and khans, to resolve their quarrels, and to close the story with blessing and lament sung to the qopuz. Tradition places his memory near the Syr Darya and preserves a supposed tomb, while folk legend tells of his lifelong flight from death. He embodies the ozan bardic ideal and the ancestral wisdom of the Oghuz.