h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

They are indeed both lutes with really big neck length to body ratios, and the music played on both is also really similar, but there are major differences between the two.

On the bağlama, the lower course has a triplet of strings, the strings are also way thinner, the frets are movable and separate microtones and the sound hole is also placed on the bottom.

Except the long neck and the bowl back, the bağlama and the bouzouki are really distinct instruments.
I often play the bouzouki with a friend of mine who plays the bağlama.

Thanks for that, Narco. I've heard the saz, and play the bouzouki.

I'm interested in the history of the bouzouki, but it is completely obscured by the Greeks' insistence that the bouzouki is a purely Greek instrument which is nothing to do with the Turks or any sort of Turkish instrument.

It seems evident to me that the bouzouki evolved from the Saz Baglama by giving it many of the features of a mandolin, including machine tuning heads, metal frets with equal-tempered semitone spacing, and only two strings per course.

I've been unable to find out where and when this happened.