The Theme of Moral Leadership in the Kutadgu Bilig

The Kutadgu Bilig, which is one of the most important works in Turkish cultural history, is essentially a book of moral codes relating to the governing principles of Turks. This study, which was conducted to explore the theme of moral leadership in the Kutadgu Bilig, has been prepared in accordance with the document review technique. In this context, the ideal characteristics of moral leaders were gathered under the headings of “respect, serving, justice, honesty and society building” and couplets in the Kutadgu Bilig that are directly related to these themes were identified and discussed under the related headings. We found that Kün-Togdı, representing the Turkish Bey and the Turkish moral laws in the Kutadgu Bilig, had the required moral leadership characteristics. Following the discussion section comparing studies on the theme of leadership in the Kutadgu Bilig, the study proffers various suggestions regarding moral leadership.