THE NOMADS (Yörük)
Throughout the coastal region of
Turkey You will
come across groups of nomadic herders, the yörüks, who in the winter come
down to the pastures by the coast and in the summer, when the sun shrivels
the vegetation on the coast, travel up into the mountains to the yaylas,
the high mountain plateaus and valleys where there is sufficient grass
and fodder for the animals until the autumn rains again regenerate the
pastures on the coast. In Lycia you will see a
few of the traditional black goat-hair tents, usually covered in plastic
sheets nowadays, of the truly nomadic yörüks, though many now have more
permanent houses on the coast and in the mountains. In other parts of
Turkey
there are larger numbers of these nomads, who carry everything with them
on donkeys and camels along with their flocks of sheep and goats. To control
the large flocks of sheep and guard their property, a large breed of
dog
is employed and these animals can be ferocious beasts, keep well clear
of them. They are usually bred in the East to take on the wolves that used
to, and sometimes still do, attack the flocks, and these large
dogs could
successfully and will take on a wolf.
Though the life of the yörüks is becoming less nomadic in modern Turkey
and they are losing many of their traditions, they still make superb kilims
with patterns and colors particular to the clan and region
they belong to. The dress of these nomadic herdmen has changed and though
you still see some in the black shaggy goats-hair capes, more and more
have adopted western style dress. The women more
traditionally wear the 'salvar', the baggy trousers and short jacket, usually
in a floral material, and on their heads a scarf cleverly arranged and
knotted so it looks almost like a hat.
The Yörüks are not gypsies as is sometimes suggested. Their
origins
are probably from the indigenous peoples of Anatolia
and it is likely they were here before the Turcoman tribes migrated down
from the North. They do not wander the length and breadth of Turkey, but
have definite routes and areas in the lowlands and highlands bordering
the coast. They are a proud people who have to some extent been left behind
in rapidly modernizing Turkey and their traditional
routes and rights would appear to have been overlooked as roads are cut
through the country and property is snapped up by developers.