Garkın Plateau...

We woke up quite early on the last Friday morning of June. The fire from the previous evening continues to burn in the square in front of the plane tree at the Karafilli Plateau, where the modern Yoruk nomads of the 22nd Göcek Gürsu Pırnaz Plateau Trek (22. GGPYY) are gathered. The chilly nomads are sipping their hot soup by the fire. The 3rd day of the migration or trek is about to begin. İsmet Dim was repeating his announcement, "Don't forget to take your provisions," every now and then.

Those who had taken their rations had started to climb the slope on the other side of the stream. We reached the top before the sun had risen two fingers high. After Professor Şerif Şimşek had us do morning gymnastics among the saplings that have been growing for years, and after we repeated the nomadic choir song that I shared with you last week a few times, we set off. We count from front to back. One, two... 56, 57...

Amidst the barking of shepherd dogs coming from afar, we reached the Ağıl Square, singing folk songs among the yellow, purple, and pink flowers and St. John's wort from Köklüce. Ağıl means a plain or plateau surrounded by mountains. I always confuse it with the Köyceğiz Ağla plateau. Ağla, on the other hand, means a place with plenty of water and springs. After the nomads offered tea in Ağla, the migrants split into two groups. Those who would go through the challenging Garkın Plateau stage and those who would continue their journey by walking through the Taşlıca neighborhood of Çameli, Denizli.

Although we tried to dissuade Filiz Almalı, who wanted to come to the Garkın Plateau wearing slippers, she ended up at the very front of the group. We started climbing to the Garkın Plateau, saying it must be the stubbornness of a Yoruk woman.

The Garkın Plateau is a trail that doesn't even have a footpath. I asked group leader Mehmet Gök about the altitude at one of the highest peaks of the plateau. He looked at his compass and altimeter. "It shows 1778 meters," he said. When we looked at the summit, about 200 meters higher than the accommodation area, there was neither snow nor whiteness. In past years, there would be snow near the summit. We would eat snow sherbet. There is none this year. Drought is clearly visible here, just as it is everywhere in Anatolia.

One inevitably wonders, what is Garkın? Who has come and gone from these places? It is certain that camel and nomadic caravans have passed through. Is Garkın a reference to the word 'kar' (snow) in Karkın? Was it used to mean 'abundant in snow'? Look and see, there isn't even a handful of snow these days. I strained my memory a bit. I thought, should I ask the new, trendy "Artificial Intelligence"?

Garkın? Garkın? Wait a minute... I decided to ask Google, the wise one of our age. There is quite a lot of information about Garkın.

According to the Book of Dede Korkut, the Garkın (Karkın) tribe is one of the 24 Oghuz tribes. It is accepted that they descend from Yıldız Han, the son of Oghuz Khagan, from the Bozok (right wing) branch of these tribes. The Akkoyunlu and Dulkadirids are said to have come from this tribe. Karkın is used to mean "overflowing and satisfying."

I also wondered if the Garkın Plateau could have a connection to "Dede Garkın," as suggested by Wikipedia sources? Dede Garkın, also known as Dede Kargın or Seyyid Dede Karkın, is a Turkmen Pir and Sheikh of the Vefâ’îyye order and is one of the 90,000 Alevi Turkmen saints from Khorasan. His tomb is located in the province of Çorum. His name or title comes from the Karkın tribe, one of the 24 Oghuz tribes.

I believe we should study the regions we pass through, live in, and visit well. I believe that nicknames, names, and titles stem from the culture, customs, and traditions that have accumulated in that region over the years.

While descending from the summit of the Garkın Plateau to the watered area called the Yoruk Homeland, I remembered Emin Sarı, who participated in the 11th Göcek Gürsu Pırnaz Plateau Trek. It is impossible to forget his wit and companionship. Sarı had suffered a heart spasm after finishing that year's challenging stage. At the end of that trek, he underwent bypass surgery at the Ege University Faculty of Medicine Hospital. On the last day of the trek, we learned of his passing during the certificate ceremony at the head of the Pırnaz Göcekiçi Salabaa (Salabağ) Spring. We held a moment of silence and issued a certificate stating that he was a "Yoruk Trekker" to be delivered to his family. Sarı was one of the first university graduates of Göcek Village. Before the 1970s, he had staged and directed Cahit Atay's play "Karaların Mehmetleri" on a stage we built on the back of a BMC truck that carried chrome in the garden of the Göcek Primary School. What a success we had with that play, in which I also acted. His contributions to our village and to our reaching these days are great. May the stars be his companions, may his soul rest in peace.

Prof. Dr. Nurettin DEMİR