Göcek Herb Festival

As we left the Eid al-Fitr holiday behind in the first week of April, the rains we had been waiting for for several months brought smiles to both us and nature. My late father used to say, "There is no life without abundance." By abundance, he meant rain. Spring is the season of abundance. Sheep, goats, and lambs. They multiply. The shepherd's face lights up.

We, the Yörüks, call the birthing of goats and sheep "kuzular" or "kuzlar." Both are used.

Elif, the daughter of Mahmud Al Hasan and Fikriye, who work on the farm in Göcek, is a chubby 7-8 month old baby. While it was raining outside, we were invited along with the electrician Ahmet Yalçın to have tea. The baby, lying face down in the living room heated by a wood stove, was murmuring unintelligible words to herself.

Then, perhaps bored of lying down, she began to turn from side to side. Placing her hands to her sides at shoulder level, she lifted her torso slightly with great effort. After a few breaths, she pushed herself up onto her knees. After moving one knee forward, she rolled to the side while pulling the second one next to the first. Everyone in the room had their eyes on the baby. My aunt Perinde, who is around 80, said, "Elif is 'kuzing' (kuzladı)." I heard it for the first time too. It turns out that 'kuzulama' or 'kuzlama' is when a child pushes their hands to the ground, gets up on their knees, and begins to crawl.

The Yörüks, or Anatolian Turkmens, have a vast and rich language and vocabulary. With the dominance of the digital world, many foreign words have entered our language. In recent years, the spread of Arabic alongside Western languages, especially English, in the field of education has begun to distance our society from pure Turkish. It has become fashionable in media outlets to use foreign words as if it were a skill. To protect and develop our language, educators and our intellectuals, starting with the Turkish Language Association, must serve the enrichment of our language by using pure Turkish words.

Spring is enlivened with various herbs, flowers, bushes, and trees. The festivals, which are generally held in the last week of March, had been postponed to April 5-6 due to the month of Ramadan. Later, they were postponed to April 19-20 due to heavy rains coming to our region from Africa.

Just like the Göcek Gürsu Pırnaz Highland Walk that we organize in the last week of June, the Göcek Herb Festival is another one of our beautiful events. After Alaçatı's Herb Festival, the richest herb festival is held in Göcek. Come and discover the herbs and nature of Göcek, which is the beginning of the Taurus Mountains. Taste our local dishes alongside our local riches. Göcek is also beautiful in the winter and spring months.

We look forward to seeing everyone at our Herb Festival.

Prof. Dr. Nurettin DEMİR