Merkut (or Markut); or Bürkut, the legendary eagle in Turkish, Altai and Mongolian mythology. It is shaped like a huge bird, sometimes identified with the Phoenix. Sometimes he appears as a god or goddess. In Altai legends, it is the giant female sky bird that guides the soul of the kam, which is on its celestial journey, through the first three heavens.

Among the Yörük tribes, who are the carriers of traditional Turkish culture in Anatolia, it appears as an imaginary entity invented to frighten children who misbehave. In fact, the root of this so-called imaginary being goes back to the age of great linguistic unity. It is said among the nomads about this mythological entity: "Merkut Merküt ... Shake your arm from the chimney..." The same rhyme in some regions is "Harkıt. Let your bag hang from the chimney. Take the children." It is also said as According to the deep beliefs of the elders, Mercury is a bird. It only scares those whose name is mentioned.

V. Radlov, in his work "From Siberia", while talking about the kams and sacrificial ceremonies living in the Altai mountains, he also recorded the text of a kam prayer in which the "Sema bird Merkut" is mentioned:

The skybirds are the five Merkuts,

nails of copper

The nail of the moon is made of copper,

The beak of the moon is made of ice

Its wide wings are magnificently mobile.

Their long tails are like fans

The left wing covers the moon.

right wing sun

O mother of nine eagles!

Unmistakable when passing the churn

Does not tire on idil,

Come to me with a bow!

Come playing to my right eye!

Land on my right shoulder."