In Turkish culture, mourning ceremonies are one of the cultural features that have preserved their existence until today for reasons such as respecting the dead, reflecting the pain felt in the face of death, and sharing the pain. Many mortal events that are painful on a personal or societal level are often expressed with laments in Turkish tribes. From the pre-Islamic Period to the present day, the tradition of funeral rites, mourning, and lamentation has always existed in Turks. Funeral ceremonies, funeral rituals, practices, burial forms, perception of death and grave/cemetery in the history of Turkish culture; Although the reactions to death differ according to accepted belief systems, naturally, there has been no change in the pain felt by the relatives of the deceased and the deep trauma experienced in the face of death through the historical process.

Helpless in the face of death, which is as significant as birth, human beings reflected this helplessness sometimes by shedding tears, sometimes by sadness, and sometimes by lamenting. However, although the pain itself faded over time from individuals, emotional laments can be preserved in cultural memory and continue to exist among the important aspects of culture.

The most comprehensive first examples of lament texts that can be identified in poetic form in Köktürk letter inscriptions, Yenisey and Talas Inscriptions, in particular, are Alper Tonga Elegy and other lament texts in Dîvânu Lugâti't-Türk. In this study, within the framework of the tradition of lamenting in Turkish culture, the similarities between the Alp Er Tonga Elegy and the Köktürk letter inscriptions, which are tombstones, are presented to attention.

Alp Er Tonga, elegy, Turkish literature, Turkish language