There are certain places we never pass by, if not for a particular reason. They are neither mentioned in guidebooks, nor have roads marked by yellow signs. They are as far as the village in the song: “There is a remote village out there”.

Sayvançatak is a lovely mountain village in Salpazari, Trabzon. Set up on a wide valley between steep mountains it is almost always misty over the village. The old spruce-tree forest on the mountain skirts displays all tones of green. I first came here three years ago for the wedding of an archaeologist friend of mine. Hundreds of Çepni - alias people of Agasar - from nearby villages gathered for the wedding celebration to be held at the schoolyard. Those people who looked quite different from the ordinary people of the Black Sea region stirred my curiosity with how they were dressed, looked, and spoke Turkish in an unaccented manner.

The most conspicuous characteristic of Çepni women that catches the eye at first sight and makes them different from the rest of the women of the Black Sea region is their long, colorful dresses. They always wear those dresses, mainly in red and ornamented with scales, so proudly at festivities and weddings, even when they are engaged in the daily works at home, barn or field.

The dresses are one-piece with long sleeves, and the skirts with many pleats extend right beneath the knee. Under the skirt, they wear a half şalwar like the knee breeches, and thus move about as comfortable as men in their extremely active life style. The color of the waistcoat worn on the dress and decorated with petty embroidery indicates the Çepni village they come from: The women from Doğancı village prefer yellow and orange, Dorukkiriş red, and Sayvançatak black. Thus they can tell where one comes from even if they do not know each other. Various ways of wearing head scarves also serve the same purpose: A woman from Doğancılı wears her scarf leaving the neck open, crossing the ends under the hair, and tying them on the head. A Sayvançatak woman covers the face like a circle, and presses one end beneath the scarf on the protruding cheekbones.

Seen from the anthropological perspective, they were able to maintain their Central Asian characteristics by refraining from mixed marriages with other tribes. Besides, the life on the mountains isolated them in a sense from the rest of the world. Their round heads, broad foreheads, and boned faces are among the most outstanding features. Their slanting eyes range from hazel to brown.

Hairs are straight and dark. Their complexion is generally light brown, and they are of middle height. A tall, dark and well built up Çepni man entered the village café while we were having a conversation about the Central Asia with Mr.Unal, who works as a literature teacher in Baku. Had there not been such a big difference in time and space, I could swear he was a Tibetian Gompa. When we explained him about this unbelievable similarity he proudly replied: “That is possible. Our ancestors – Oguz Turks – come from that region”.

Houses consist of a living room and two bedrooms above the barn on the first floor. The main gate opens to the big hall called “the chamber” where the social life takes place. Located in the center of the room is a cook stove. This is an exact model of a tent called yurt - home - in the Central Asia. This is the center of a microcosm so to say. The inside
is furnished in a manner to facilitate life: simple but functional. The sole difference from a yurt is the technological innovations such as a fridge, automatic washing machine and blender. You can hardly see a home without a blender. It is used to mince the nettle for their favorite soup. Most have a color TV. However, they only watch the news or serials in the evenings for they are extremely busy during the day.

Dinner Table
When the family gathers for dinner a special round table is set on the floor. Unlike the typical western table it has rather low legs, which do not require chairs, and the people sit on the floor. Green beans pickled in huge jars are roasted with onion and garlic. Filled collard, “kurut” cheese, pear syrup, and nettle are among the favorite dishes. Corn bread is baked inside the cook stove, and tea is steeped on it. I like evenings the most. The tea served with the dinner has such a delicious taste that one could easily decide to spend all his life here. You cannot resist drinking many cups of the local tea, which looks like the color of a rabbit blood, while your plate is refilled with more and more meal.
1213Our host Muhammed said, “There is no specific meal time here. Whoever gets hungry starts eating, and the rest joins him”. Neighbors and relatives, children and adults, women and men pour in and we all eat together accompanied by cheerful conversations. There is no trace of oriental rules separating women and men. Dozens of people from all ages sit with us on the ground table.

Summer journey to the high plateaus
This is an occasion which means the end of captivity for the cattle kept in the barn for the entire year, natural football field for the youth, and less work for the women. The plateau tradition, no doubt, has been maintained for centuries in most parts of Anatolia. The local people move to high lands in order to stay away from the hot summer months. However, what is so special about the Çepni tradition differing from others in Anatolia is that this whole activity becomes a festivity. Several days before setting out for the plateaus, the cattle are taken to the meadows a few kilometers away from the village so that they get physically prepared for the long walk of 35 kilometers, which is to take about two days.
Before the day break on that special morning a hectic preparation starts in the little mountain huts on the meadow. Sonnur and Fatmagul fill their saddlebags (chentiks) with kurut cheese, bread, cucumber, tomato, and plenty of helva, which gives energy. Sonnur’s grandparents, who have already left behind fifty years of a happy marriage, take on their baskets. Grandpa Haci is the retired imam (priest) of the village. Their provisions are ready, but they should not forget to take an umbrella and an axe. Who knows … they might need them.
Their cows – the Hennaed Girl, Blond Girl and Black Girl – are adorned with prayers. Those are the special “journey ornaments” knitted years ago by Grandma Fadime and repaired once or twice every year. First the forehead piece is put on the cow. It is knitted with red wool, and a blue nazarlik is sewn in the center as a protection against evil eye. A tasseled ornament with Turkish flags and nazarliks is hung around the neck.
The cows start following their owners’ voice saying “Come’n girls”. The Black Girl and Hennaed Girl hop and jump on the rugged path. Obviously sure of where to put each step, they walk hurriedly swinging their clumsy bodies to both sides.
Sister Ayse says, “Once been to the plateau, the cows memorize the way. And the first-time goers just follow the experienced”.
They say that the biggest torture is to stack them on trucks for the journey, and that some even break their legs as they are shaken violently on the way. Unfortunately, the number of walkers diminishes each year because the young generation tends to leave villages and settle in big cities.
We sometimes take a break at a riverbank, and sometimes under a hornbeam. After gobbling some food, drinking ice-cold spring water and performing the namaz, we start off on the road again. This is the Blond Girl’s first time to the plateau. Grandma Fadime rubs her tired legs, but she still seems reluctant to walk.
“Look how my Blond Girl walks. Follow your mum, Blond Girl, will you?” Seeing how they respond, I feel ashamed of our prejudices about cows. As such, the jokes claiming they are not so intelligent become less and less meaningful. After a climb of six hours, we start going down. In the meantime we come across with a dried riverbed and jump 1617from one round, slippery stone to another, though sometimes slipping and falling. The cows walk faster than us. Our muscles tired of climbing the mountain start trembling this time.

I was exhausted and quite behind of others. With a mixed tone of half pity and half joke, a woman I met at Fol River said: “Obviously you come from Istanbul. O, daughter, how could you walk in those boots? They are as heavy as you are!” I would rather ask them the same question. How come they could walk such a long distance in those plastic stuff called “summer shoes”.
As the sun was setting we reached at a tribal village called Akkese where we would spend the night. Since Grandpa Haci once worked in the mosque there, the people who knew him welcomed us to their homes. We put the cows in barns, and settled ourselves in houses. Some Çepnis who walked with us would spend the night in the woods but the fog falling down suddenly did not allow them. Dozens of us fitted in three small houses. 1617The teenager girls cleaned up the rooms while the boys fetched wood and lit the cook stove.

The famous Çepni dinner will soon start, and we will find ourselves laughing in a deep conversation. The steeped tea we sip under the cozy, dim light of petrol lamp tastes like a magical potion, which gives those people the strength to struggle against the challenging nature. Each family has a small field to grow collard, corn, hazel nut, green bean, and melon. The narrow and rugged fields yield just enough for the family needs.

Reaching Eskala
We have come to the end of the journey from the winterizing village to the plateau. Eskala gets its name from an old castle, which once stood here. They like this place for its vast meadows and ample water springs. We watch Eskala with a bird’s eye view from a pass between hills. According to the tradition we all have to enter Eskala at 12 o’clock sharp at noon so that the sense of solidarity is strengthened, and the whole cattle have equal opportunity to benefit from the meadow. While the old get some rest on the grass, the young run for help to the people behind. As the crowd increases the atmosphere is filled with enthusiasm, and the bells get mixed with folk songs.
Now the sun is high, which marks the time to 2021enter Eskala. The boys start driving the cattle, and the girls move towards Eskala holding the yellow

Rhodedentrum picked up from the woods on the way, and swaggering under their umbrellas as if they were brought up in a palace.
The conditions become more and more challenging as the land rises from the seaside to the mountains. The women carry loads, usually pieces of wood or grass in the back baskets. In their opinion, it is the duty of women, not men, to bend under heavy loads. They want to see neither their husbands, nor sons working in that manner. It is a shame on the woman to let her man work. I could not help it and asked Ayse. She said, “They have their duties, and we have ours. My husband worked in distant lands for years, and lost his health. I cannot disgrace him putting loads on his back. As long as God bestows me health, I can work. I have no complaints. May God be content with my husband, and keep him as the head of our family. And I want my sons to go to school and acquire a profession.”

During the whole summer fresh grass is mowed and 2021dried for winter. There is a strict job distribution. Mowing is men’s duty. And women dry and carry the grass. But you cannot help feeling sorry when you see grandmas in particular sweating under huge loads of grass. Nevertheless, after a considerable length of time I lived with them I have learned that the women who undertake most of the heavy duties of village life just accept this lifestyle with self-sacrifice, believing this is their fate. And it has fallen on the wives and mothers to restore the shaken pride of Oguz Turks who were once honorable warriors, but ended up as poor villagers of today.

The young girls are rather free. The so-called “bride’s price”, which used to be customary in the past, has totally disappeared from social life. Years ago boys who could not afford to pay the price had to kidnap the would-be-bride.
Muhammet says, “I swore that I would marry my daughter to the boy who she loved. As a poor herdsman I was ignorant and did not have money. So we ran away. Much later our families forgave us but we had real hard times. My sons and daughters should make love marriages. As the father I may give the necessary warnings but they will have the last word”.

Most of the girls in the village are high school graduates. Going to university is an ideal for almost all of them. Fatmagul complains about the restrictions of the university entrance exams. She graduated from a vocational health school with honors, and tried the exam twice but alas. Consequently she gave up the idea of higher education, and started preparing for the civil servant exam. If she can pass, she will become a medical secretary.

DRESSES
The belt is a square cloth of one-meter length to be folded and wrapped around the waist as an isosceles triangle. It supports the waist when carrying a basket, and is an inseparable part of the traditional dress called ‘kırmalı’. The yellow belt tassels create a lively aesthetical appearance as they fall on the pleats. The “peştemal” (or apron), which is tied on the belt, is a thin claret cloth with thick white or black lines. Another thin belt called the “kılık bağı” is wrapped around the peştemal. This most painstaking detail of the dress is woven on a home loom using meters of colorful threads. Kılık bağı is two centimeters in diameter adorned with beads and tassels. They also weave çentik (saddlebag), tırmaç, and çul used as a bed cover or blanket.

The conditions become more and more challenging as the land rises from the seaside to the mountains. The women carry loads, usually pieces of wood or grass in the back baskets. In their opinion, it is the duty of women, not men, to bend under heavy loads. They want to see neither their husbands, nor sons working in that manner. It is a shame on the woman to let her man work. I could not help it and asked Ayse. She said, “They have their duties, and we have ours. My husband worked in distant lands for years, and lost his health. I cannot disgrace him putting loads on his back. As long as God bestows me health, I can work. I have no complaints. May God be content with my husband, and keep him as the head of our family. And I want my sons to go to school and acquire a profession.”

During the whole summer fresh grass is mowed and 2021dried for winter. There is a strict job distribution. Mowing is men’s duty. And women dry and carry the grass. But you cannot help feeling sorry when you see grandmas in particular sweating under huge loads of grass. Nevertheless, after a considerable length of time I lived with them I have learned that the women who undertake most of the heavy duties of village life just accept this lifestyle with self-sacrifice, believing this is their fate. And it has fallen on the wives and mothers to restore the shaken pride of Oguz Turks who were once honorable warriors, but ended up as poor villagers of today.

The young girls are rather free. The so-called “bride’s price”, which used to be customary in the past, has totally disappeared from social life. Years ago boys who could not afford to pay the price had to kidnap the would-be-bride. Muhammet says, “I swore that I would marry my daughter to the boy who she loved. As a poor herdsman I was ignorant and did not have money. So we ran away. Much later our families forgave us but we had real hard times. My sons and daughters should make love marriages. As the father I may give the necessary warnings but they will have the last word”.
 
Most of the girls in the village are high school graduates. Going to university is an ideal for almost all of them. Fatmagul complains about the restrictions of the university entrance exams. She graduated from a vocational health school with honors, and tried the exam twice but alas. Consequently she gave up the idea of higher education, and started preparing for the civil servant exam. If she can pass, she will become a medical secretary.

THE SAD END OF THE SELCHUK EMPIRE
When the Selchuks chose Iranians to be trained for administrative positions, and the Memluks as soldiers for the army, the Oguz Turks felt they were betrayed. Sporadic riots started, but soon were oppressed. (The noble tradition is applied to prevent bloodshed, and Ibrahim Yinal – the leader of Oguz Turks - is strangled with his own bow.) They rioted again during Alparslan’s reign, but the battle ended with the death of Kutalmis – the leader of Oguz Turks. Alparslan cried and grieved for Kutalmis who was both an enemy and a close friend. The consequences of the upcoming wars also confirmed that this separation marked the collapse of the Selchuk Empire.
In ten years the Oguz Turks moved on until the border of Istanbul, and adopted Iznik as the capital. By then the whole of Anatolia had become the Turkish home. All the more so when they put to sword 100,000 crusaders during the First Crusader War (only the remaining 10,000 could reach in Jerusalem), and they delayed the crusader attempt to colonize the East for three hundred years.
The Oguz tribes living near Mesopotamia were alienated by the Selchuks, and they were not allowed to settle in the region even if they agreed to pay taxes. The governor of Belkh sent 10,000 cavalries upon the Oguz tribes only to be defeated. Hearing that the Sultan of Selchuks – Sancar – got furious and started out with an army of 100,000 soldiers in order to destroy his own people. This gave way to his end, and the decline of the Selchuk Empire. The Oguz Turks destroyed Sancar’s army, and prisoned him in Merv while he was fleeing. After three years in prison he found a way to escape, but soon died.

A NEW STATE TO REPRESENT THE OGUZ TURKS IN ANATOLIA
In the early years the Ottomans were a small nomadic emirate. In the course of time they got stronger as they achieved success and other emirates joined them.
The Ottoman state was based on order and absolute sovereignty. On the other hand the nomadic lifestyle was by its nature free and uncontrollable. Therefore the Ottomans knew they could only keep the nomadic people under control by forcing them to a settled lifestyle.
2223 The Ottomans who formed their military power by tımar and devşirme systems engaged in eliminating all the Turkish emirates one by one. Timar means a small military unit contributed by a landlord to the Ottoman army, and devsirme is conversion of young boys of a conquered land. Some Turkmen tribes who could not become soldiers or civil servants in their own country migrated to Iran, and the remaining part are the Turkmen who shifted to the settled lifestyle, and are today’s Turkish peasants.

In the 15th century the Turkmen who still maintained the nomadic life were called Yoruk. This word is derived from yurumek, which means, “to walk”. If a Turkmen (Muslim Turkish) tribe is yoruk, that means they are nomads. Very few Turkmen tribes, who are half-nomadic, survived to this day, and Çepnis are one of them.