01-1 künye 09

CONTENTS
TOKAT: THE CITY ROOTED IN TIME
HISTORY - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -10
THE ORIGIN OF THE NAME, TOKAT - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -14
BRIEF HISTORY OF TOKAT - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -18
GEOGRAPHICAL CHARACTERISTICS - - - -20
TOKAT STEP BY STEP - - - - - - - - - - - - - -24
COUNT DRACULA IS IN THE TOKAT CASTLE - - - - - - - - - - - - - -26
TOKAT KALES‹ (CASTLE) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -26
GÖK MEDRESE (MADRASAH) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -28
TOKAT MUSEUM - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -33
SÜMBÜL BABA ZAV‹YE & TÜRBES‹ (CONVENT & TOMB) - - - -35
NUREDD‹N ‹BN SENT‹MUR TÜRBES‹ (TOMB) - - - - - - - - - - - -36
HIDIRLIK KÖPRÜSÜ (BRIDGE) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -36
fiEYH MEKNUN ZAV‹YE & TÜRBES‹ (CONVENT & TOMB) - - -37
TAfi HAN (INN) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -38
P‹R AHMET BEY TÜRBES‹ (TOMB) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -39
HOROZO⁄LU ZAV‹YES‹ (CONVENT) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -39
MEYDAN CAM‹‹ (MOSQUE) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -39
TRADITIONAL DOMICIL ARCHITECTURE - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -41
YAZMACILAR HAN (INN) AND HAND PAINTING ON MUSLIN - -44
AL‹ PAfiA CAM‹‹ (MOSQUE) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -46
VEZ‹R AHMET PAfiA MESC‹T & TÜRBES‹ (MESJID & TOMB) - -47
AL‹ PAfiA HAMAMI (HAMMAM) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -47
SULUSOKAK (STREET) 800 YEARS AT 800 STEPS - - - - - - - - -48
AL‹ TUS‹ TÜRBES‹ (TOMB) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -48
SULU HAN (INN) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -49
ARASTALI BEDESTEN (BAZAAR) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -49
KAZANCILAR MESC‹D‹ (MESJID) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -49
TAKYEC‹LER CAM‹‹ (MOSQUE) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -50
YA⁄IBASAN MEDRESES‹ (MADRASAH) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -50
DEVEL‹K HAN / DEVECILER HANI (INN) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -51
ULU CAM‹‹ (MOSQUE) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -52
ALACA MESCIT CAM‹‹ (MOSQUE) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -53
PAfiA HAMAMI (HAMMAM) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -54
PAfiA HAN (INN) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -54
ERENLER TÜRBES‹ (TOMB) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -54
BEHZAT CAM‹‹ (MOSQUE) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -55
CLOCK TOWER - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -55
contents
LAT‹FO⁄LU KONA⁄I (MANSION) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -58
ATATÜRK HOUSE AND ETNOGRAPHY MUSEUM - - - - - - - - - -59
MEVLEV‹HANE (LODGE OF MEVLEVI DERVISHES) - - - - - - - - -59
BEY SOKA⁄I (STREET) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -60
KNOCK KNOCK… GONG GONG… TICK TICK - - - - - - - - - - - - - -60
PROMENADES AND PLATEAUS - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -61
PAZAR - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -63
MAHPER‹ HATUN KERVANSARAYI (CARAVANSARY) - - - - - - -64
BALLICA MA⁄ARASI (CAVE) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -65
HACI S‹NAN CAM‹‹ (MOSQUE) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -66
HAL‹L BEY CAM‹‹ & HAMAMI (MOSQUE & HAMMAM) - - - - - -66
LAKE KAZ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -67
ARTOVA - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -69
SULUSARAY - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -73
SEBASTOPOL‹S - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -74
THE CHURCH - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -75
ROMAN BATH - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -76
CITY WALLS - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -76
STRUCTURE WITH MOSAIC FLOORING - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -77
OPEN AIR MUSEUM - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -77
SULUSARAY THERMAL SPRING - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -78
Z‹LE - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -81
THE PREHISTORIC AGE AND Z‹LE - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -82
WRITTEN HISTORY - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -82
Z‹LE ULU CAM‹‹ (MOSQUE) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -88
BAYEZ‹D BESTAM‹ CAM‹‹ (MOSQUE) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -88
HOCA ‹SHAK CAM‹‹ (MOSQUE) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -89
ELBAfiO⁄LU CAM‹‹ (MOSQUE) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -90
TURHAL - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -93
TURHAL KALES‹ (CASTLE) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -94
ERBAA - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -97
S‹LAHTAR ÖMER PAfiA CAM‹‹ ( MOSQUE) - - - - - - - - - - - - - -100
HACI AHMET HAMAMI (HAMMAM) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -101
contents
CONTENTS
YEfi‹LYURT - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -79
CONTENTS
N‹KSAR - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -103
N‹KSAR KALES‹ (CASTLE) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -105
YA⁄IBASAN MEDRESES‹ (MADRASAH) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -106
YA⁄IBASAN TÜRBES‹ (TOMB) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -108
BÜYÜK HAMAM-KRAL KIZI HAMAMI (HAMMAM) - - - - - - - - -109
LEYLEKL‹ / YILANLI KÖPRÜ (BRIDGE) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -110
N‹KSAR ULU CAM‹‹ (MOSQUE) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -110
ÇÖRE⁄‹ BÜYÜK CAM‹‹ (MOSQUE / DERVISH LODGE) - - - - - -111
KIRK KIZLAR / KIRGIZLAR KÜMBETi (DOME) - - - - - - - - - - - -112
MEL‹K GAZ‹ TÜRBES‹ (TOMB) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -113
HOUSES OF N‹KSAR - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -113
ÇAM‹Ç‹ PLATEAU - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -114
BAfiÇ‹FTL‹K - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -115
ALMUS - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -117
ALMUS DAM LAKE - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -119
REfiAD‹YE - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -121
CASTLES - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -122
LAKE Z‹NAV - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -123
SELEMEN PLATEAU - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -124
REfiAD‹YE THERMAL SPRINGS - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -124
TRADITIONAL CULTURE - - - - - - - - - - - -126
HANDICRAFT - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -129
THE TURKISH BOW AND ARROW IS
WAKING UP FROM ITS CENTENNIAL SLEEP - - - - - - - - - - - - -135
TRADITIONAL ATTIRE - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -135
TRADITIONAL FOLK DANCE - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -139
TRADITIONAL CUISINE - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 141
VERBAL CULTURE - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -146
CHRONOLOGY - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -148
BIBLIOGRAPHY - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -153
USEFUL INFORMATION - - - - - - - - - - - - -155
MAPS
contents
Door Knob
Yeflil›rmak
With the advantage of having
been built on the fertile lands
of Yeflil›rmak, Kelkit and Çekerek Basins, the city of Tokat,
which carries the traces of the
several civilizations it harbored throughout its 7500 years
of history; has been molded
by a very diverse and rich cultural structure and has hosted
14 states and several seignior
states.
On every piece of land of Tokat it is possible to find historical artifacts that belong to
several periods throughout
Hatti, Hittite, Roman, Byzantine, Seljuk and Ottoman eras.
Our historical and cultural treasures like Hittite settlement,
Maflathöyük Mound, Comana
ancient city, Sebastopolis,
which carries the traces of Roman and Byzantine eras, Niksar the capital of the State of
Danishmend in history, the
Tokat Castle, Mahperihatun
Caravansary, Taflhan (Inn), Bedesten (old bazaar), Mevlevihane (lodge used by Mevlevi
dervishes), Bey Street, Atatürk House and many more
make our city even more beautiful. Our traditions, food cul-
ture, clothing culture, folkloric
values, copper craftsmanship,
kerchief making, rug, kilim
and textile weaving that have
been preserved for centuries,
are still being carried out with
the same discipline and enthusiasm today.
As an alternative to the sea,
sand and sun combination,
the historical texture that is
the basis of cultural tourism,
handicrafts like kerchief making, copper craftsmanship, a
life style that stuck with traditions, natural beauties like caves, plains, lakes and plateaus
has given our city an important privilege.
As the people of Tokat our primary purpose will be to promote and present this heritage we have to our target visitors both nationally and internationally. We hope you to visit our city Tokat, “a city of
history, culture and nature”,
and experience the historical,
touristic, cultural and natural
beauties via this city guide.
fierif YILMAZ
Governor of Tokat
HISTORY
Bey Street
A view from Tokat
This city where “peaceful, honest people live” has mainly
risen and developed on the
plains that the medium size rivers like Kelkit, Tozanl›, and
Çekerek formed.
Since it is at the same sea level as the shortest mountains
of the southern shores of
Black Sea, the rain clouds can
reach it and cause a very nice
climate to form. For this reason Tokat is neither as rainy
as neither the Black Sea region nor it is as dry as Central
Anatolia, it rather has a clima-
te in between with all seasons
in balance. Since the 3 parallel
valleys that the 3 separate
arms of Yeflil›rmak formed are
at different altitudes, there
are different areas with different characteristics like Kelkit
Valley (220 m) with its closer
to Mediterranean climate, a
little cooler Kazova (650 m),
Artova (1100 m) with its closer
to Central Anatolian dry continental climate. Therefore, it
carries all the vegetation of
Anatolia, besides the several
endemic plants.
Kelkit Creek
history
13
The Meeting Point of Yeflil›rmak and Kelkit Creek
THE ORIGIN OF THE NAME,
TOKAT
14
Although Tokat which has staged several settlements, has
been given different names
throughout history, “Tokat”
has been the most accepted
and used one. However there
is no clear evidence as to where the name ‘Tokat’ comes
from. The origin of the name
‘Tokat’ has special importanTraditional Domicil Architecture
history
ce, because the historians have put a lot of effort on it. Besides the assumption that the
city’s name “comes from Togay›t Turks” who are thought
to have settled here, some
historians like Âli Cevat and ‹.
Hakk› Uzunçarfl›l› also stay
close to the word “Toh-Kat”
which means “the city with
walls”. There are also sayings
that come from metaphors like “Tok-at” which means ‘full
(fed) horse’ or the place where
the horses are gathered. City
has been called names like
Dokat, Kah-cun, Sobaru, Togat, Tokiye, Dokiye, Tukiye
throughout history.
The oldest recorded names of
the historical city Tokat that
has existed since Persian, Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine
eras starting in the 4th century B.C. and of its surroundings are Komana Pontika, Evdoxia, and Dokia.
Ramsay who is considered to
be the source in regards to the
roots of names of many cities
in Anatolia said “Tokat is the
ancient Byzantium castle of
Dazimon”. However, H. Grego-
Halit Street
rie has pretty much proven
that the mentioned place is
“Dazmana in the southeast of
Turhal”. Paul Wittek claims
that Tokat is the city of Dokeia of Byzantium. One of Wittek’s evidences is that the
Byzantine historian Khoniates
had recorded the government
center of Seljuk as “Dokeia”.
In ‹bn Bibi and ‹bn’ül Esir’s
writings the name of the city is
“Tokat”. One of the 13th century Arabic historians Muhyiddin bin Abduzzahir had written
“They went to a castle called
Tokat that is 4 days away from
Kayseri “The name of the city
which was mentioned as Tohiya, Toqia, Tokia, and Dokia in
the two copies of the Tarih-i
Al-i Danishmend, which was
written in colloquial Turkish in
13th century had changed to
Tokat in its 3rd copy.
Within the comments regarding the source of the name of
the city, we come across some
famous people. One of them is
the Byzantium king Romanos
Diogenes who was defeated at
Malazgirt. The historian Michael Attaliates who is also
known for his thoughts regarding the earthquakes in Anatolia tells about the arrival of
Romanos Diogenes, whom Alp
Arslan released, at the castle
as “He conquered the castle of
Dokeia and he founded his
army quarters there”. Ebu’lFereç refers to the same event
without using the word “conquer” by: “He went to the
castle of Doqia and he settled
in Doqia”. As per other historians, we come across the event
as “Emperor Diogones was
imprisoned here”.Sargon Erdem, at the conference that he
history
15
Trefoil Judge, Iron Age
Taflhan (Inn)
gave for the city said that “the
name Dokeia was formed by
adding the Greek suffix ‘ia’,
used for place names, to the
word doke: “In Greek doke or
dohe which is also the root of
the infinitive dekomai or dehomai (to contain, to hold)
means ‘bowl, pan, water pan’.
It can be claimed that the Dokeia might have meant ‘bowl
country’. Since Tokat is surrounded by mountains, its geographical shape is like a bowl.
Seljuks called the city Darü’nNusret. When the city was taken by Y›ld›r›m Bayezid in
1392, its name was changed to
Darü’n-nasr. City’s name set in
the Arabic Language as Dokat
and in Ottoman Turkish as
Tokat. The area seen from the
Castle, now quite narrowed by
the modern buildings, is in
fact the city’s historic square.
We will go down to the most
beautiful building there via
K›rk Badallar (Forty Steps Stairway) from which we can see
the city from a wide angle. The
wide angle at the start will diminish by every step. Before
walking down the stairway,
you can examine the mahaleb
trees over the stairway. This is
where Tokat used to grow mahaleb and grapes in small vineyard gardens. Besides its
significant culinary culture Tokat is known for being the only
city that makes mahaleb wine.
The Pervane Darüflflifa (hospital) on Gazi Osman Pafla Bulvar› also known as Gök Medrese (Madrasah) is important
both as regards to getting to
know a Seljuk work of art and
also since, in the building
which is currently a museum,
we can see cross sections
from Tokat’s close to six thousand years of history.
Traditional Domicil Architecture
history
17
Stewpot with the Brazier, Hittite Period
BRIEF HISTORY OF TOKAT
18
It is known that Tokat has a
history that goes back to 5500
B.C. The region that was under
the Hittite rule around 2000
B.C. was then ruled by the
kingdoms of Phrygia, Persia,
Cappadocia and Macedonia. It
was under the control of Pontus in the 4th century B.C. and
Rome in the 1st century B.C.
and was connected to Byzantium in 395. Tokat, being under
Byzantium until the 11th century, started being raided by
Turkomans after 11th century.
It is said that the region became part of Danishmend land
after Malazgirt War and went
under Seljuks in 1175. The city
was ruled by ‹lhanl› after 1243
Köseda¤ War, Eretna after
1335, Qadi Burhaneddin in
1388 and became part of Ottoman land in 1392. After separating from Ottoman rule for a
period after Ankara War, it
went under Ottoman rule again in 1413. Tokat was highly
damaged during the Celali insurgencies in 16th and 17th
centuries and was made a district of the State of Sivas in
history
1863, a governorship in 1878,
independent shire in 1920 and
a province in 1923.
Tokat was one of the most important cities in Anatolia in
12th and 13th centuries. Especially being on a region where
the caravan roads (commerce
route) lay helped Tokat develop in a short time and with
this economic progress the
city was structured with buildings of religious and social
functions majority of which
stood till today.
It is understood that Tokat
continued its development during Ottoman era. As per the
registries on census of Tokat
dated 1455 there were 200
Muslim and 1000 Christian, a
total of 3000 tax payers. The
population of the city is estimated to be around 15.000.
Numbers of neighborhood
units were 56.
Due to the earthquakes in late
15th century and some uprisings, Tokat declined economically and its population was
reduced. Its economy partly
recovered in 16th century and
by the end of the century the
Coffee Mill, Ottoman Period
population went up to 15.000
again. Evliya Çelebi, who came
to Tokat in 16th century,
describes Tokat as “a city with
mild weather and with
vineyards and gardens all
around. The fruits are tasty
and nice. There is a villa, pool,
fountain and several fruit
trees in every vineyard.
The mosques, palaces and
alms houses are admired by
the visitors”.
Tokat carried its 16th century
progress into mid 17th century. As per Tournefort who
stayed in Tokat in early 18th
century, Tokat houses were
very well built and most of
them were two storey. Pavements were built to protect
the basements of the houses
from the rain. With the city having rich water supplies every
house had its own tap. Again
as per Tournefort the city had
just had a fire and was under
repair.
As per the register of the city
of Tokat dated 1772 the city
had 73 neighborhood units.
According to an evaluation
made in 1851, there were
2.271 Muslim and 1.685 nonMuslim households in Tokat.
The population is estimated to
be around 20.000. In mid 19th
century there were 73 neighborhood units in the city. This
number, being the same as
the registry records of 1772,
shows that there was an economic recession in the city.
This recession is also verified
by the records that show the
number of businesses. While
the total number of businesses consisting of shopkeepers
and craftsmen was 1.478
in 1827, the number of store
type businesses went down to
1.300 in 1883 and 1886-87.
These numbers show that the
urban production performance has been at a decline. While earthquakes and Celali
insurgencies affected the
decline, it is understood that
with the changing economic
relationships in 19th century
the economic progress that took place in some port cities
like Samsun also had a role.
After the Republic its economy
became
dependent
on
agriculture.
history
19
GEOGRAPHICAL
CHARACTERISTICS
Kazova Plain
22
Tokat with a surface area of
9958 km2 covers 1.3% of Turkey’s land is in the Black Sea
Region, in the inner part of
Central Black Sea area. It has
Samsun and Ordu at north, Sivas and Yozgat at south,
Amasya at west. Tokat is at latitude 39° 51’-40° 55’ N, longitude 35° 27’- 37° 39’ E and
623 m altitude.
Tokat is in between the valleys
formed between Akda¤ (1900
m) and Çaml›bel Mountains
(2020 m). Deveci Mountain
(1892 m), Dumanl› Mountain
(2200 m), Canik Mountains
Yeflil›rmak
geographical characteristics
(1340 m), Bugal› Mountain
(1945 m) and Mamu Mountain
(1779 m) are Tokat’s other significant mountains. Kazova
(20.000 hectares), Turhal Plain (4500 hectares), Erbaa Plain (6500 hectares), Niksar Plain (8000 hectares), Omala Plain (3200 hectares), Artova Plain (15.000 hectares) and Zile
Plains (Total 10.000 hectares)
are fertile agricultural lands
and significant amount of
vegetable and fruit are grown
on them. The most important
genetic supplies of cherry
and sour cherry are in Tokat.
Kelkit Creek
Cerasus inkana a kind of cherry is an endemic plant of
Tokat.
The main plateaus are; Topçam, Batmantafl, Muhat and
Dumanl› in the center,
Selemen in Refladiye, Bozçal›
and K›z›lcaören, Almus Babaköy and Çamiçi in Niksar.
Tozanl› Creek, Kelkit Creek
and Çekerek Creek run through the city. Lake Zinav, Lake
Göllü Köy, Lake Kaz and Lake
Almus Dam are the largest lakes and water basins of the
city. Hosting many bird species, Lake Kaz is put under preservation. Lake Almus Dam is
an ideal one for water sports.
Tokat has hosted many civilizations, has understood the
vivid green, the cool and comforting light of the endless forests that rooted in soil for
hundreds of years and plains
that formed in millions of years, has developed by digesting the experiences of different cultures.
When you look up from Tozanl› Creek that gives the city a
calm coolness with its flowing
sound at the start of spring
and summer, you will meet Tokat Castle sitting on steep
cliffs.
CLIMATE
Since it is in between valleys
surrounded by mountains
and in the inner part of Central Black Sea Region, Tokat
has the characteristics of
both the Black Sea Region climate and the steppe climate
of Central Anatolia.
The city is hot and dry in the
lower areas and cool and
partly rainy in the higher areas in summer, it is cold and
snowy in winter. The distance
from the sea and the altitude
has great effect on Tokat’s
climate. For example, the winter gets more severe from
north to south since the
altitude increases in that
direction.
geographical characteristics
23
TOKAT
STEP BY STEP
26
Tokat Castle (The silhouette of Count Dracula)
COUNT DRACULA IS IN THE
TOKAT CASTLE
The legendary hero of scary
movies, namely Vlad the Impaler! Vlad III the prince of the
kingdom of Eflak (Romania)
which was defeated by Ottomans, aka Dracula, after being
held under custody first in the
Castle of Kütahya E¤rigöz then
in Tokat Castle together with
his brother, was sent to Edirne
near Prince Mehmet (Fatih
Sultan Mehmet), was provided education for a period of
time. Who knew he would drift
away from Ottoman discipline
and become a vampire. In the
evening when you stand in the
Hükümet Meydan› (Square)
and look towards the west
bastion of the Tokat Castle
and move your eyes away horizontally you will see Dracula
with his crown on.
city center
TOKAT KALES‹ (CASTLE)
There is no certain information
regarding the construction date and early days of use of Tokat Castle. However, taking into consideration; its position,
plan, construction technique
and some historical events in
which it is referred to, it is
concluded that the structure
was built some time in 5th or
6th century A.D. Added to these findings are names like Evdoksia, Endoksia, Dokia that
the castle was mentioned
with.
The steep cliff that the castle
sits on is actually a natural
castle itself. It must be this feature that had attracted the
first settlers who we don’t
know and some Christian groups that migrated from Komana Pontika (Gümenek) to
settle here.
Tokat Castle
This steep cliff 9 km west of
Komana is a quite safe point
since it controls the narrow K›z›linifl Pass towards Sivas on
one side and makes it possible to control the road to the
castle via the steep G›j G›j Hill
on the other. It should also be
added that the cliff looks enduring against natural destructions. The castle carries
the traces of Middle Age architecture in many ways. Its walls
made of ashlars and rubble
stone cascade as inner and
outer walls and sit on masses
of rocks on the east and west
sides. The layout was made in
order to situate the natural
rock on the north side as a gate. The pentagon shaped
structure was supported by
eighteen bastions and the cistern on the west named “Ceylan Yolu” was made to meet
the water need during sieges.
Its towers, bastions, crenels
and part of its walls have made it to today. There are a lot
of sites inside it. While the vaulted buildings can still be seen today, only the foundations
of the other buildings remain.
The north and south walls are
mostly damaged due to earthquakes and lack of repair. In
this direction only one bastion
and the walls on the main rock
stand today. After seeing it
from the inside as well as from
a distance we can say that:
Even the parts of the building
that made it to today be enough to describe its magnificence despite hundreds of years of negligence and damage.
Historical documents indicate
that the fortress remained in
the hands of the Byzantines
for many years after its conscity center
27
Gök Madrasah
28
truction. The castle which was
repaired and renovated during
Seljuk and Ottoman eras to be
used for defense also became
famous as a prison and shelter
for insurgents and administrators from time to time. The Ottomans, who were the last sovereigns of the fortress, called
it “Çardak-› Bedevi” meaning
“pergola of the nomads”, perhaps to emphasize this feature. Ebu’l Fereç writes about
the kidnapping of G›yaseddin
Keyhüsrev 2 by Muineddin
Pervane after the march of the
Mameluk Sultan Baybars to
Kayseri in 1277, as follows:
“He seized the Sultan and fled
to the Doquia Castle.” This document is significant in that it
mentions one of the names of
the city in those years.
GÖK MEDRESE
(MADRASAH)
Gök Madrasah considered as
one of the important buildings
of Anatolian Seljuk tribe does
not have an epigraph. However, taking into consideration
the time when Muineddin Süleyman Pervane was effective,
city center
it is assumed that it was built
in the third quarter of 13th
century. ‹bni Bibi writes about
Pervane as follows:
‘‘After Seljuk army was defeated at Köseda¤ War in 1243
Mongolians and Muineddin
Süleyman Pervane established diplomatic relationships.
Mongolians admired him very
much and did not deal with
anyone else”
Pervane the Grand Vizier who
managed the state affairs between Seljuk and Mongolian
sultans is known to be a person who protected erudite and
sheiks, and even “a person
who built friendship with Mevlana Celaleddin-i Rumi”. How
developed this friendship
was, could be understood
from the books named Menakib-ül Arifin and Fi-hi Mafih.
Mevlana’s praise for Muiniddin Süleyman Pervane and
how Mevlana sent one of his
caliphs Fahreddin-i Iraki to Tokat upon the demand of Pervane, have a dergah (Islamic monastery) built for him and how
Mawlawi faith reached this
city while Mevlana was still
Gök Madrasah, Tokat Museum
alive, are expressed in these
books that are the oldest two
sources about Mawlawi sect.
It is understood from the registers that Gök Madrasah
was used as a healing house
till 18th century. The Madrasah was also called names
among the people such as
Pervane Madrasah, K›rk K›zlar
Madrasah, Darüflflifa, and
Bimarhane.
Nameless Twins
It is as hard to understand the
architectural essence of Gök
Madrasah as the process of
building it; and it would not be
an overstatement if we say, as
the Tokat people do, that this
is an “çelpeflük” (meaning ‘intricate’) matter. Before entering the ground floor of the
Madrasah which is arranged
as a museum now; let’s try to
familiarize with the structure
on the left at the northeast
front of the building whose foundation was revealed more
with the excavations in the recent years. The foundation
shows that there used to be a
building here similar to Gök
Madrasah in regards to layout
and to the thought behind the
construction. To understand
this building is to understand
Gök Madrasah. One of the
very first people who draw attention to the characteristics
of these foundations is Gönül
Cantay: “There is a second building at northeast of the Madrasah that was built attached
and connected at a centerline
parallel to the longer centerline of the existing building”
“The ruins of this building are
the remnants of the main brick
antechamber (iwan), with its
tunnel vaults. In the northwest
corner of the antechamber,
there is a rectangular, covered
area with tunnel vaults. A window aperture and immediately next to it the ruins of a
chimney in an oven niche have
been found in the wall separating this space and the main
antechamber. Furthermore,
there is an original 1.20x1.00
m ventilation aperture on the
vault covering; a rectangular
window on the west wall almost at vault level; and loopholes in the narrow wall.”
city center
29
Next to the Gök Madrasah, Ruins of Madrasah
30
The authentic entrance of this
place was revealed more with
the excavation started at the
end of 1980. The northwest
wall of the corner place extends to north. The shared
wall of the main iwan and Gök
Madrasah makes its way
down around a corner chamfer. We can say that the wall
close to the antechamber is
the remnant of a gangway.
According to the unpublished
opinions of Ekrem Anafl, an art
history expert who served
long years in Tokat Museum,
this building discovered by an
excavation next to Gök Madrasah at north and which is quite ruined can be the Danishmend Madrasah. The three
northwest rooms of Gök Madrasah are not symmetrical and
only the part, where these
three rooms are, is left as one
floor while the Madrasah was
planned as two floors. When
evaluated it is seen that these
two rooms rather belong to
the ruins next door than Gök
Madrasah. The city level kept
rising due to the floods and
this elevation helps us with
dates. The levels of the ruins
and Gök Madrasah are different. Therefore it is thought
that it belongs to an earlier ticity center
me and its layout seems to be
similar to Danishmend Madrasah. Briefly it is thought that
the north part of Gök Madrasah sits on the south part of
Danishmend Madrasah.
The structural characteristic
of Gök Madrasah
Before passing by the Roman
range stone (equivalent of
traffic signs on the main roads
in our day) and entering Gök
Medrese, you have to stop at
the Portal, which is made of
bicoloured cut stone. The
muqarnas above the Portal,
i.e. the ornamentation made
by aligning prismatic elements one above the other in
a certain geometrical order in
such a way that each row projects from the row immediately
below it, is one of the symbols
of Islamic architecture. There
are two small vaulted windows on the Portal where
local red stone is used, but the
rosettes complementing these
windows are broken.
Pervane Darüflflifas› has been
planned as a two-storey building with porticos and a courtyard in the middle. The façade
is latticed with stone. The
courtyard, surrounded by two
floors with porticos, has one
Traditional Tiles from Gök Madrasah
Graves, Tokat Museum
32
antechamber. Most of the portico pillars and capitals are
survivals from the Roman and
Byzantine Era. There are 17
rooms on the first floor, and 15
rooms on the second floor.
The pool in the coourtyard
today is not original.
The inner walls of the main
antechamber in the west and
the porches surrounding the
courtyard were covered with
turquoise and purple tiles. It
would be reasonable to
assume that the name “Gök
Medrese” (‘gök’ in Turkish
meaning ‘sky’) originates from
the azure tiles. The arc and
Bust, Roman Period
city center
corners of the main antechamber are covered with botanical
and geometric compositions
and writings made in faience
mosaic technique. This way,
we made it to Gazi Osman
Pafla Bulvar› which splits the
center of Tokat into half on
east and west. Osman Pafla
the hero of Plevne War who
was entitled “Gazi (Veteran)”
by Abdülhamid II for the great
resilience and courage he
showed as a commander, was
from here. The boulevard is
the main road, which connects
the past, today, and the future
of the city, and as the locals
Medal, Early Bronze Age
says its töreyen (diverse, rising, increasing) culture.
Before going to the historical
center of the city we will walk
about fifty meters back
towards where the bus terminal is and we will see Sümbül
Baba Convent which has some
common elements with Gök
Madrasah and a little further
away Nureddin ‹bn Sentimur
Tomb.
1982. Works found during the
Maflat Mound excavations,
and during the Hanözü sampling excavations; items from
the Christian era; and ethnographic items are assembled
Statuette / Gladiator, Roman Period
TOKAT MUSEUM
Tokat Museum was founded in
1926 by the gathering of the
historical artifacts collected
with the efforts of retired
teacher Halis Cinlio¤lu in Gök
Medrese, which is on Gazi
Osman Pafla Bulvar› and was
built by Muiniddin Süleyman
Pervane in the third quarter of
13th century. The monumental building still accommodating the museum was planned
as a two -storey building with
porticos, two antechambers
and a courtyard in the middle.
The building was extended
with the expropriation of the
surrounding buildings in 1976
and reopened as a museum in
city center
33
Statuette of Apollon, Roman Period
Sümbül Baba Convent
in the exhibition hall. Coins
with great historical value and
decorative artifacts are also
among the precious pieces of
the museum. In terms of variance and numbers Tokat
Museum has a very rich coin
collection. In the museum it is
also possible to review artifacts of several Anatolian civilizations and the ones that
were discovered in the
Ulutepe excavations. A lot of
stelae, tablets, grave stones
from several Islamic periods
and embossed stone artifacts
are exhibited in the ruins next
to Gök Madrasah, in the inner
and outer gardens.
rooms and a tomb. The most
attention-grabbing element of
the building is its portal that is
made of white marble all over.
There are two niches on either
side of the arc shaped opening of the portal with nine layers of muqarnas semi-dome.
Sümbül Baba Tomb
SÜMBÜL BABA ZAV‹YE &
TÜRBES‹
(CONVENT & TOMB)
It is the most beautiful convent of the city that hosts an
unseen number of hermitages
from 13-15th centuries. It is
understood from its epigraph
that it was built by Hac› Abdullaho¤lu Sümbül in 1291-92.
The building consists of a dome with an iwan opening to it,
an entrance corridor and side
city center
35
36
Nureddin ‹bn Sentimur Tomb
NUREDD‹N ‹BN SENT‹MUR
TÜRBES‹ (TOMB)
As per the epigraph on the window of the east front; it was
built by Nureddin ‹bn Sentimur
in 1314. The building whose layout is square and is made of
ashlar stone, is covered by an
octagon brick cone. The vaultes that form a passage to the
dome can be seen from outside
as well. The east front facing
the street is embellished with
palmet and rumi compositions.
On the epitaph further below
the eastern window, the following lines from the poem of
Firdevsi, the great master of
the Persian language, can be
read; this could be translated
city center
as: “Let your mission be worship of God/Meditate so that
you do not live in vain/Do not
hurt anybody for fear of God/It
is the straightforward course
which you must take”
The south front of the Tomb,
where the entrance opening
with the low arc is, is quite plain. On the epigraph on the pediment, there are words repeating religion’s history old preaching of the afterlife: “Every
soul will experience death”.
HIDIRLIK KÖPRÜSÜ
(BRIDGE)
700 year old H›d›rl›k Bridge,
which is an intersection connecting west roads from
H›d›rl›k Bridge
Amasya and Turhal to east
and roads of Black Sea to Central Anatolia, has 5 arched
openings. It is 151 m long and
7 m wide and is made of cut
stone. Inscriptions on this Seljukian work throw light on an
event in that era. On the epitaph, which previously had a
marble sphere above it, the
three sons of G›yaseddin Keyhüsrev II, i.e ‹zzeddin, Rukneddin and Alaeddin, who were engaged in conflict for three years, are mentioned together. Savants of those times aimed to settle the conflict
among the three brothers with
the help of a work of art; and
they succeeded.
The H›d›rl›k pasture near the
bridge has been Tokat’s excursion spot for centuries. Evliya Çelebi who calls this place
“Kümsük Sultan Tekkesi Mesiresi” continues: “All the people, together with their families
and friends come and have a
good time.”
The tomb next to the bridge,
which is in a dilapidated state
due to lack of care and maintenance, is important in that it
conjures up associations both
with the past, and with the
history of Anatolian sects with
the sgraffito designs inside
the building.
fiEYH MEKNUN ZAV‹YE &
TÜRBES‹
(CONVENT & TOMB)
It is thought that the fieyh
Meknun Tomb was built by
Mesut bin Keykavus as a soup
kitchen in the 13th century.
Since it does not have an epigraph it is not known to whom
it belongs to.
The building consists of a dome room and an iwan and a
tomb connected to them. The
door of the rubble stone tomb
is in the south direction. There
are the room with the dome
where the grave is and two
cells. Part of the blue, eggplant purple and black tiles on
the walls does not exist today.
There are two embellishments
made in engraving technique
on the north wall of the dome
room inside the building. One
of the eyeful buildings of the
historical center that we walked through baya¤tan (‘just
now’ in Tokat dialect) is a caravansaray.
city center
37
Tafl Han (Inn)
TAfi HAN (INN)
38
Another name of Tafl Han
which is at the corner of the
street next to Gök Madrasah is
Voyvoda Han. While it does
not have an epigraph pointing
out the construction date it is
thought that it was built between the years of 1631-32.
The building, one of the most
important monumental buildings in the region of the Ottoman era, was highly damaged
in the 1939 earthquake and
was repaired. Lying north to
south, the rectangular building is made of rubble stone
and brick. On the lower level
of the north side cut stone was
used and on the top level an
alternating technique of cut
stone and brick was applied.
There is a large courtyard at
the center of the two storey
inn and porches on the sides
of both floors facing the courtyard. There are 37 shops inside and 25 shops outside the
lower level of the inn which
has a prayer room. No matter
for what purpose these shops
are used, with its arcs and stone structure it makes you feel
that you are inside a historical
building. And on the top level
city center
there are 46 rooms/ sections.
It is the biggest city inn of 17th
century among the likes. This
dimension gives an idea of the
volume of trade in the city.
Financial difficulties encountered in the last years of the
Ottoman Empire led to some
projects “aimed at revenueproducing foundations”. From
then onwards the caravansary
has been used for different
purposes. For a certain period
of time it was rented out then
was given back to the Administration of Foundations, and
then to Ministry of Justice to
be used as a prison, shortly after became a wholesale fruit/
vegetable market probably
since it is in the center of the
city and then a student dormitory. Tafl Han which was renovated in 2006-2007 is currently hosting the artists who
perform traditional craftsmanship in Tokat. Without
‘çöçelenmek’ in the local dialect (without wasting time, loitering), you must walk towards the city square to get to
know this city and its surroundings better. Where we are is
the center of modern Tokat as
well as the old city and at this
Horozo¤lu Convent
point, when we cross the road,
we can see at once a few historical buildings close to each
other.
P‹R AHMET BEY TÜRBES‹
(TOMB)
Although it is named after Pir
Ahmed Bey, Ahmed Bey who
rests in this tomb is not identified for sure. One view is “it
belongs to Pir Ahmed the son
of Ali Bey one of the governors
of Ertena Khanate, and his
family”. The cover and the
walls of the building also
known as Horozo¤lu Tomb are
ruined. The tomb which opens
out like an iwan has a closeto-square rectangle layout.
ed room; both the eastern and
western wings feature two
rooms each, covered with a
symmetrical dome. The building was decorated with plaster panels with plant and animal figures but these decorations were highly damaged
over time and now can only
slightly be seen on one wall of
the room on the southeast
side.
MEYDAN CAM‹‹ (MOSQUE)
The original name is Hatuniye
Mosque. The Mosque was built in 1485 in the name of Gülbahar Hatun, mother of BayeMeydan Mosque
HOROZO⁄LU ZAV‹YES‹
(CONVENT)
The building next to Pir
Ahmed Bey (Horozo¤lu) Tomb
was built in the first quarter of
the 15th century and has the
most advanced layout among
the convents in Tokat. On the
southern wing of the dome
next to the entrance is a vaultcity center
39
40
Bey Street
zid II. After damaged by earthquakes of 1931 and 1943, it
was repaired with the help of
the people and was opened for
service again in 1953. The
mosque is a part of the social
complex that consists of a
madrasah and an almshouse.
The building is square planned
and it consists of a hareem
with a dome and guestrooms,
which were separated from the
hareem by their small entrances through the public area on
the two sides of the hareem.
The porch in the north of the
building has five sections and
is covered by a dome. The building with this form is one of
the last examples of the plan
type called “reversed T letter
form” or “mosque with convent”. The gate should be exacity center
mined before we enter because, as the people of Tokat say,
“Ali Pafla’s building is the gate
of Meydan Camii”. Next to the
building there are the ruins of
a building related to Gülbahar
Hatun’s name. This could have
been a madrasah or an alms
house. Local sources say Hatuniye Madrasah was knocked
down in 1930’s. Now we will
cross the street again. This time we will try to understand
some of the buildings that have given Tokat its historical
identity and we will enter the
quite old neighborhoods of
the city. Kabe-i Mescit Mahallesi hosts both Tokat’s traditional architecture and new
buildings. If we move on the side way without stepping on
Sulusokak, we will reach Halit
41
Latifo¤lu Mansion
Sokak (Street). The painting
and renovation work done here in the recent years; may make us a little more relaxed about historical aesthetic or
the anxiety of losing the
traditional so rapidly.
TRADITIONAL DOMICIL
ARCHITECTURE
Number of houses, in the
15–18th centuries was around
3300. In Tokat where there were 7500 houses as per the registry dated 1825, the traditional residences survived until
today. According to Cuinet,
who visited the city in 1881,
“the number of houses is
6000”. Depending on the registers dated 1864 and 1881
and travelers’ notes, it is possible to say that there were
4000–6000 houses in the 19th
century. Evliya Çelebi, records
the following regarding Tokat
houses: “In this old city there
are thousands of old stone buildings worth watching. It looks like a small city but it has
around eight rivers, hills, slopes and desserts, three or four
storey palaces and other rich
homes, windows facing east
and north. The roofs are brick
and in ruby color.” The travelers Tournefort, Pecocke, Cuinet and Bore who came to Tokat in the 18th and the 19th
centuries share views in regards to Tokat’s resemblance
with the big cities of Europe.
Only the names of the palaces
that excited Evliya Çelebi made
it to today. And today’s structuring has almost erased the
city center
Traditional Domicil Architecture
Door Knob
white painted, red brick vineyard houses of the slopes rising towards north alongside
Yeflil›rmak River. Tokat houses
carry the characteristics of
classical Turkish House in
terms of architecture and construction. Due to the desire of
constructing buildings that can
fit in small areas, the layout
plans vary and the buildings
try to cross over into the street
to have a larger panorama
from the front side of the buildings. Sofas were given great
importance, terraces in lower
levels and sofas in the top are
elements that increase the liveliness of the house. Tokat
houses are generally two storeys. The ground floor is the
service area and divided into
parts like entrance yard and
storage. There are small and
large fire places, ovens and
workshops. The top floor is
used as living area. The part
that opens to the street is actually this part. In most of the
houses there is a mezzanine
floor between the ground floor
and the top floor. In Tokat this
section is called “bölme” (separation). Mostly it is made for
winter and therefore has a low
ceiling for easy heating. The
toilet is on the ground floor or
in one corner of the mezzanine
floor. Bathing is done in the
small cabinets on the mezzanine floor or in the top floor rooms. While there is no significance in the mezzanine floor
rooms, there is a master room
in the top floor that is distinguished from others with the better workmanship and wider
and brighter space. The rooms
carry all characteristics of a
Turkish Room. A shoe stand at
the entrance, sofas, fire place,
cabinet, closet, shop window
and lamp stand are present in
the rooms. The main construction material of Tokat houses
is wood and adobe. Wooden
pillars and beams are attached
on a very low stone foundation, they are separated by thinner wood blocks with a technique called h›m›fl and then the
spaces in between are filled
with adobe and bricks. Ba¤dadi technique was rather used
on the secondary walls and room extensions.
The ceilings and floors are also
wooden. The motifs on the painting and wood are rather taken from still life, sailing boats
city center
43
44
Hand Painted Muslins
and city view or mosques. This
type of subjects can be interpreted as the influence of an
‹stanbul oriented movement to
find its way to Anatolia in the
19th century.
YAZMACILAR HAN (INN)
AND HAND PAINTING
ON MUSLIN
The name of Gazio¤lu Inn that
you will see going up Sulusokak has changed by the special production here. This building has been the muslin painters’ inn for almost fifty years.
Forty years ago painting on
muslin used to be performed
in other inns, too. Tokat used
city center
to be really famous with this
handicraft in those days. Besides the motifs of apple, grape
and cherry that are the plant
and fruit fertility symbols of
the region, we can also see flower and plant motifs quite often. Patterns are carved on
moulds made of lime wood
and printed on fabric in natural
dimensions. Thus, even though the muslin may be showing signs of wear, the colours
never fade. There are two
types of muslin printing: Black
and coloured. But Gazio¤lu
Han which which has been
identified with muslin handprinting in recent years is now
Hand Painted Muslins
closed down. The craftsmen
moved to an inn in the new industrial zone outside the city.
But, the number of craftsmen
that would continue the traditional handicraft has reduced
to almost none. Yurdanur and
Birdane sisters who are working at Tokat Prison workshop
and Tafl Han are trying to keep
this handicraft, which has 600
years of history with the mould
engraving and printing, alive
and carry it to the future with
their personal efforts by giving
courses to young people.
The building right across from
Gazio¤lu Inn is Kâbe-i Mescit
Mosque. The repairs caused
the building lose its authenticity.
Now, starting with Ali Pafla
Mosque building complex we
can cross over to the buildings
MOULD ENGRAVING
The Tokat region was the main
centre for the craft of muslin
hand-printing in Anatolia in
the 15th and 16th centuries.
The designs were initially made by using wood on which
designs were chiselled. With
the development of printing
techniques, “Mould-Chisel
Printed Muslin” making was
initiated, a practice in which
mould and chisel were used
simultaneously. Later on,
“Mould Printing” was used extensively. Mould engraving,
which was initiated in the Tokat Region in the 1300s, is seen in the mould patterns of today. These can be listed as Tokat cinquefoil, Dramal›, Tokat
grapes, Carnation, Apple, Spoon handle, Çengelköy, Paisley, Deer, Ottoman monogram, and Nine Branches. Printing moulds are made from
the wood of lime trees grown
in places with abundant water. The wood is soft and can
therefore be carved easily. Some of these are chiselled and
some are stuffed patterns and
coloured moulds. New
mould formats are used
for hand-printed
muslin intended for purposes other than
making kerchiefs. Muslin
hand-printing
is thought to
have originated in the Hittite
civilization. As a
tribute to this assumption and the
presence of remains
of Hittite civilization in
this region, Hittite symbols
are among the patterns frequently seen in Tokat hand-printed muslins.
city center
45
Ali Pafla Mosque
46
on Sulusokak. Since the building does not have an epigraph the identity of Ali Pafla is
not known for sure. The lack of
an epigraph was so considered that in the Ottoman period, the people that were sent
to exile or were forced to live
where they are did not have an
epigraph made for their buildings. What was written about
Ali Pafla can be summarized
as: “The writing ‘Nesli Sultan
Bayezid’ that was found here
on the grave stone of Ali Pafla’s son Mustafa who died in
1564, suggest that Ali Pafla is
the son in law of Prince Bayezid, the son of Sülyman I (Süleyman the Magnificent).
When defeated after starting
an insurgency, Prince Bayezid
fled to Iran and was killed there. And Ali Pafla was forced to
live in Tokat. Selim II, had Ali
Pafla, whom he considered as
close to the insurgent Prince
Bayezid, executed in Söngüt
Meadow of Kazova in 1572.”
Erhan Afyoncu, detected that
part of this information is not
correct: “Mustafa Bey who
was the Revenue Officer of Sicity center
vas, died before Temerrüd
(obstinate) Ali Pafla who served as governor in centers like
Sivas, Ba¤dat, Erzurum (1565/
66). Ali Pafla ordered the construction of this mosque next to
the tomb that he had built for
his son but died in 1572 before it was completed. The mosque was completed by the order of the palace with the resources Ali Pafla spared.” Until today there was no clear information about Ali Pafla’s wife and Mustafa Bey’s mother.
Afyoncu, based on Ali Pafla’s
identity detected that this woman was Fatma Sultan, Bayezid II’s grand-daughter from
his daughter.
AL‹ PAfiA CAM‹‹ (MOSQUE)
Ali Pafla Mosque is one of Tokat’s important Ottoman buildings. It is assumed that it’s
been built with the orders of
Kemer Ali Pafla the son in law
of prince Bayezid in 1752. The
building that was damaged
during 1939 and 1943 earthquakes was repaired in 1947.
It carries the characteristics of
the 16th century Ottoman arc-
Ali Pafla Hammam
hitecture. The main room of
the cut stone building with the
square layout, its single dome
and single minaret are considered to be the indication of
the simplicity of the building.
There is a public room with seven domes on eight pillars.
The main room is surrounded
by women’s rooms on three sides other than the altar. The
crown door carefully made of
marble is the distinct side of
the architectural decoration
on the mosque. The minaret
seen from the south of the
mosque as a lean block is
made of ashlar stone.
The building with a three dome roof that you see when you look towards the square
from Ali Pafla Mosque is a prayer room that was discovered
when the municipality started
building an underground mall
here.
VEZ‹R AHMET PAfiA MESC‹T
& TÜRBES‹ (MESJID &
TOMB)
The original name of the building is Ebu fiems Hangâh›.
From the epigraph over the
entrance, it is understood that
it was built in 1288 as a Hangâh by the orders of Ebu’l Hasan bin efl-fiems during the
period of Sultan Mesud the
son of ‹zzeddin Keykavus II.
The building is also known as
Vezir Ahmet Pafla Mescit
(small mosque). It is understood that the name was given
since Vezir Ahmet had it repaired and put it under his name
for some reason we do not
know. The building consists
of a vaulted room that opens
out to the main room covered
by a dome, a room and a
tomb. As a common characteristic of this type of building
the center of the dome is
open. The iwan is generally
used as a prayer room. The
Turkish bath just opposite the
mosque appears to complement this section of the town.
AL‹ PAfiA HAMAMI
(HAMMAM)
It is considered that the building which is a unit of Ali Pafla
Building Complex was built in
1572 the same date as Ali Pafla
Mosque. Ali Pafla Hamam›
city center
47
Ali Pafla Hammam Entrance
48
which is clearly a classical Ottoman structure from outside
is one of the important structures of the Ottoman Era.
It is all built with cut stone in
double bath plan. Its layout
type is with four vaulted rooms and one corner room. It
has many characteristics that
can be considered as “the
firsts” for the 16th century Ottoman Turkish bath architecture, such as: the covering of
the top brick cover in lead for
insulation, designing of the
dressing sections with mirror
arcs, the hiding of the entrance of the women’s section
with a room, the sectioning of
the cold room and separating
the toilet and shaving rooms,
Ali Tusi Tomb
installing lighting elements in
the men’s section, providing
of privacy within the dressing
room in the women’s section
and the iwan and the building
of a faucet on one side of the
Turkish bath.
SULUSOKAK (STREET)
800 YEARS AT 800 STEPS
The inns on this street were
made in the Seljuk and Ottoman eras. However it is known
that the inn tradition in the region dates back to earlier periods. Think of a street that is
unique all over Anatolia and
when walked on 800 steps, it
is possible to go through the
800 years long adventure of
the Turks in Anatolia. From
Danishmend to the 20th century you can see the buildings
of all eras only on Sulusokak,
and only in 800 steps. Ali Tusi
Tomb, Sulu Han, Bedesten are
a few of these buildings.
AL‹ TUS‹ TÜRBES‹ (TOMB)
According to its epigraph Ali
Tusi Tomb was made by the
Seljuk statesman Ebul Kas›m
bin Ali Tusi in 1233. The cover
system of the square planned
city center
Sulu Han (Inn) and Bazaar
building was a dome over an
octagon drum in the inside
and pyramid roof outside.
When the pyramid roof went
down the brick roof that
stands today was built. On the
front of the brick building there are two rectangular sharp
edge windows that were built
with ashlar brick technique
and covered with faience mosaic decoration. On the top side of the window where purple, turquoise, navy color geometric embellishments can be
seen, there are two verses
written in Kufic with blue faience mosaic on yellow
ground. After passing by Kat›rc›lar Han (Inn) which is closed
and non-functional today and
is right next to the tomb, we
come in front of the building
carrying the same name as the
street.
SULU HAN (INN)
One of the buildings that
stand in integrity on Sulusokak is Sulu Han. Since the inn
has lost its authentic characteristics besides not having an
epigraph it is not possible to
determine the date it was built. The wood and stone building was built to accommoda-
te the merchants who traded
merchandise in the mall next
door. The two storey building
has a rectangular plan in the
north-south direction and the
outer walls are non-functional. The only significant element of the inn is its crown door that extends outside. The
inn that was a prison till 1930
was repaired and turned into a
dormitory in 1957. It was used
as the soup kitchen of the municipality
until
recently
(2005).
ARASTALI BEDESTEN
(BAZAAR)
The bedesten next to the inn is
a 15th century building. On the
east and west of the nine dome bedesten, there are bazaars with 20 shops each.
KAZANCILAR MESC‹D‹
(MESJID)
It is understood from the
anonymous epigraph over the
door that Kazanc›lar Mescidi
was built in 1518 in Yavuz
Sultan Selim’s period.
The square layout and single
dome building is built in the
alternating technique using
rubble and brick. Damaged by
an unknown reason the builcity center
49
Takyeciler Mosque
50
ding’s back side and the porch
in its front were ruined.
The shopkeepers settled around the mescit and when the
municipality knocked down
Ya¤c› Han next to it, it was
completely revealed.
TAKYEC‹LER CAM‹‹
(MOSQUE)
The construction date of Takyeciler Mosque is unknown.
Its plan is exactly the same as
Old Edirne Mosque except for
the narthex. It is known that
the mosque in Edirne was built by Çelebi Mehmet. Therefore it is assumed that this mosYa¤›basan Madrasah
city center
que was built in the first quarter of the 15th century. There
are nine vaults above the
square planned main space,
which is built of rubble and cut
stone. Before the repair the
domes were covered with
brick roofs. The pedestals are
made of octagonal pieces of
cut stone and the capitals are
ornamented. It is understood
from the remains that the Baroque embellishments that
were made in 1871 restoration
and could not make it to today
be processed in blue tones.
The fairly short minaret is of
ashlar stone.
51
Develik Han (Inn)
YA⁄IBASAN MEDRESES‹
(MADRASAH)
Ya¤›basan Madrasah generally known as Çukur Madrasah was built by the orders of
Nizameddin Ya¤›basan in 1247
written on its epigraph found
in Tokat Museum. But since
Nizameddin Ya¤›basan died in
1164, it is understood that
the epigraph was wrong and
it was built in 1151.
It is a square planned building
with a covered courtyard and
three vaulted rooms. The
entrance is from the door at
north.
The entrance is not on the same centerline as the center of
the building; it was moved 1 m
towards east. A diameter of
around 10 m was left open in
the dome which sits on a two
layer vault of 14 m diameter. In
the rubble stone building
brick was only used on the vault arcs and around the eye of
the dome.
DEVEL‹K HAN /
DEVEC‹LER HANI (INN)
Develik Han in the south of
Takyeciler Mosque does not
have an epigraph but since its
layout resembles that of Voyvoda Han and the 17th century
Ottoman city inns, it can be
considered that it was built in
the 17th century. The building
is in a quite run-down state today; except for the thick surrounding walls, all sections were
city center
Ulu Mosque
52
ruined. The two storeys, rectangular building with an open
courtyard was built on the
east- west centerline using cut
stone and rubble stone. It was
used as a workshop till
1960’s. At its east side, the
high ceiling parallel spaces
are camel booths. Among the
must-see authentic pieces is
the iron door at the monumental north entrance. The street
curling from here to the castle
takes us to the start of the
streets where the traditional
houses we just visited are. We
will both observe the castle
from a close point and will meet other cross sections of
history.
ULU CAM‹‹ (MOSQUE)
Ulu Camii is located in Sulusokak, Camii Kebir Mahallesi;
this location is important in
that it is the first Turkish settlement site in Tokat. The mosque was first built probably
during Danishmend period in
the 12th century. As understood from its epigraph over its
west door, it was renovated in
1679 during Mehmed IV (Huncity center
ter Mehmed) period.
The building, whose west courtyard can be reached through the door with the flattened round vault made of red
and white keyed stones, was
built in the north-south direction in a rectangular plan. The
narthex, alongside the east
and west fronts, pep up this
side of the building. The narthex on the western façade of
the building was formed with
five high vaults that have 4 pillars with collected pillar heads. And the narthex on the
eastern façade was formed
with four rows of vaults that
were formed with five rows of
crutches. Stone consoles and
borders that surround four sides of the building at the cornice level form the top line of
the west front. The top cover
of Ulu Mosque, together with
the narthexes is covered with
a wooden roof with Marseille
type bricks. Also, the bird house made of stone and that is
placed close to the cornice is a
nice attachment to the south
side of the building. The single balcony minaret carrying
Ulu Mosque
the 17th century architectural
characteristics is situated on
the northwest corner of the
building. The entrance to the
minaret is through its base
that is inside the porch on the
west side. The entrance to hareem is through the two doors
on the west and east sides.
The door with the flattened
arc on the west side has a stone frame; made of red- white
keyed stones and is surrounded by three borders. The second entrance door on the
east side has the same characteristics. The hareem of the
mosque is divided into three
naves with two rows of crutches connected with arcs vertical to the altar. The altar of the
building on the south side of it
is extended towards hareem.
The altar crowned with a triangular pediment is surrounded
by a border. The niche of the
altar peped up by rosettes
was formed with six rows of
muqarnas semi-dome. The
backboards of the minbar on
the west of the altar are arranged with carving of keyed wood octagons. The harem of the
mosque is formed by a plain
wood ceiling. Square medallions made with fake kündekari
technique and covered with
gold leaves, were attached on
the ceilings red and green dominant background and pencil-work plant figures were
drawn between the bars. The
gold leaf pendants on these
medallions symbolize that
God’s mercy is upon the
prayers.
ALACA MESCIT CAM‹‹
(MOSQUE)
The building is also known as
Alaca Camii or Küçük Minareli
Camii. There are 3 epigraphs,
over the entrance door, on the
minaret base there and on the
fountain. On the epigraph on
the fountain the name of K›l›çarslano¤lu Keyhüsrev and
the date 1271 and on the epigraph over the entrance the name of Sultan Bayez›d bin Mehmed Han and the date 1505 is
written. As understood from
the epigraphs, the building
was made in Seljuk era and
since it was damaged, was rebuilt in 1505 by Abdülaziz bin
city center
53
Pafla Hammam
54
‹brahim in the name of Abdurrahman bin Ahi Eda. Abdurrahman Ahi is a townsman of Tokat, who was killed during the
1503-1507 events of fiah ‹smail. For this reason it has two
epigraphs belonging both to
the Seljuk and Ottoman eras.
The small mosque consists of
the prayer section with a dome and the entrance. Its minaret attached to the west side
carries Seljuk characteristics.
PAfiA HAMAMI (HAMMAM)
A neighborhood hammam, Pafla Hamam›, is at the center of
a historical commercial area
among buildings like Deveci
and Pafla Inns. The hammam
built by Yörgüç Pafla in 1435
(hijri year 838) stands on
north-south direction and is in
a rectangular single Turkish
bath layout.
PAfiA HAN (INN)
Pafla Han is at the end of Sulusokak. From its epigraph it is
understood that it was built in
1752 during Sultan Mahmud I
period by Zaral›zade Vezir
Abaza Mehmet Pafla, who served as the governor of Trabzon and Sivas. Other than its
main wall and most attention
city center
grabbing beautiful portal made of cut stone, it is ruined.
The authentic door of the portal was removed. When compared with the photos from
1930’s, it is seen that the side
where the portal is 1m below
the ground. On this side, on
two side of the arc of the entrance iwan, there are two animal engravings tied to a
cypress tree and facing the
arc. The one on the right resembles a lion while the one
on the left looks more like a
dog. It is hard to understand
why these figures that look savage despite all the stillness
were put here. The south iron
door of the rubble stone inn is
authentic.
ERENLER TÜRBES‹ (TOMB)
Now, we are in Erenler Mahallesi at the edge of Sulusokak.
The ruined tomb does not have an epigraph. Based on its
architectural characteristics it
can be dated to late 13th century – early 14th century.
Rubble stone was used as wall
material and was covered with
cut stone. The square plan
space is covered with a brick
dome. There are embellishments of embossed borders
Behzat Mosque
and half stars on cut stone
arcs of the tomb which has wide spaces with sharp vaults on
four sides.
This way, Sulusokak comes to
an end. By a walk of around
800m, we saw the buildings
from the 12th to the 20th century all together. We can say
that there is no other street in
Turkey like this. Some of the
streets where the buildings
that show Tokat city history
are concentrated are down
around Behzat Creek. The two
buildings standing here side
to side face us as visual symbols wherever Tokat’s name is
pronounced.
BEHZAT CAM‹‹ (MOSQUE)
The Mosque, at the Behzat
Marketplace, is one of the
most typical places in Tokat;
situated next to the Behzat
Creek, it was built by Hoca
Behzat, son of Fakih, in the
reign of Suleiman the
Magnificent in 1535. A second
dome was added to the small
structure laid out on a square
plane, in the reign of
Abdülhamid 2 (1891-1892)
with the support of the public.
A restoration has been made
by Tokatl› Ahmet Lütfi Pafla in
1908. The mosque consists of
a square sanctorum and the
final congregation place built
in 1956. The mosque built with
rubble stone and brick has
a single galleried minaret on
the
southeast
corner.
Behzat-› Veli lies in the tomb
next to the Mosque.
55
CLOCK TOWER
The typical characteristic of
the clock tower next to the
mosque is that it was designed to be seen from almost
every side of the old city.
On the epigraph that
was mostly erased, only the
date of construction of the tower 1902 can be read.
The 33m tower was built to celebrate the 25th Anniversary
of Abdülhamid II’s reign. In
1917 the clock mechanism
was westernized. The tower
with a square base and octagon body was made of rubble
and cut stone. The clock continues to remind the city of the
time every half hour at two minute intervals. This sound
used to be heard from every
side of the old city.
However, today, due to traffic
and industrial voice pollution
and high rise structuring, the
city center
Burgaç Hatun Tomb
OTHER MOSQUES
56
In Tokat, there are many other mosques that went through several demolishes and
renovations by Danishmend
to Ottomans. Like all the buildings of the city mosques
developed based on the climate and social conditions of
the region. 39 of the 59 mosques currently open for prayer were built during the Ottoman Era. We can name some of these as:
GAR‹PLER CAM‹‹ / YEfi‹L
M‹NAREL‹ CAM‹‹
(MOSQUE)
The building in Pazarc›k
Mahallesi, according to the
14th Anatolia register of charity foundations, was built by
Danishmend Ahmed Gazi in
1074. Therefore it is considered to be the oldest mosque
of Tokat and Anatolia.
Although its rubble stone
walls lost their characteristic
traces that its minaret was
embellished with colored
city center
tiles has made it to this day.
GÜDÜK M‹NARE CAM‹‹/
RÜSTEM ÇELEB‹ CAM‹‹
(MOSQUE)
Güdük Minare Mosque is in
Rüstem Çelebi Mahallesi.
A. Gabriel dates the building
without an epigraph to the
15th century based on its plan
and embellishments on its
west side.
The inner space was covered
with yellow and green paint
in the 20th century. Plant
motifs were engraved on pendants and on upper sections
of baldachin vaults.
The names of the four caliphs
were written on the pendants.
“Allah” is written on the vault
gusset in the south.
The pencil work on the altar
niche belongs to the 20th
century.
Güdük
Minare
Mosque has the combined
shape of Edirne Üç fierefeli
and
Manisa
Hatuniye
mosques.
Takyeciler Mosque
OTHER MOSQUES
MAHMUT PAfiA
(MOSQUE)
CAM‹‹ geometric transitions on the
Mahmut Pafla Mosque which
is on the left side of Behzat
Creek in Mahmut Pafla
Mahallesi does not have an
epigraph. But it is dated to
the 17th century in respect to
Mahmut Pafla killed in 1616
and Kemankefl Mahmut Pafla
who died in 1681. The oldest
of the graves in the graveyard
is dated 1878. The square
planned building with a
hipped roof has a single
minaret. The pencil work on it
is rare among the Anatolian
mosques. The public room
with the slanted roof was
added to the north of the
building later on. The variances on the walls show that
the mosques got renovated in
different periods. The most
important characteristic of
the main room is the wooden
ceiling work. The compositions formed by botanical and
square medallion framed by
double border are important.
The minaret on the northwest
has an octagon base, an octagon shoe and brick body.
HORUÇ CAM‹‹ (MOSQUE)
Horuç Mosque is near Hoca
Ahmet Mahallesi. It is covered with a dome on the
inside and a pyramidal cone
on the outside. Although the
building shows characteristics of the 19th century the
base and shoe of the minaret
goes back to the 15th century.
The public area on the north
opens outside with five vaults
carried on wooden supports.
There is a small door on the
west wall, high vertical windows on the east; the south
side is non-functional. The
rosette and bud designed
pencil work form the plain
embellishments
of
the
mosque.
city center
57
Latifo¤lu Mansion
sound of the clock can only be
heard from the places close
to the tower.
Here, one of the most beautiful buildings that we will see
when we cross the street is a
villa that shows the elite side
of the city’s living culture.
58
LAT‹FO⁄LU KONA⁄I
(MANSION)
Latifo¤lu Mansion which is
thought to be from the 19th
century is a nice example of
old Tokat houses. It is understood from the collected material that was used in the building of the house, that there
was an older house from the
17th century in place of Latifo¤lu Mansion on Gazi Osman
Pafla Street. It is a two storey
building with an “L” layout
Latifo¤lu Mansion, Ceiling, Wood Carving
city center
formed by the alignment of rooms around a hall open to the
courtyard. There is a large pool in its stone floor courtyard.
It is different from the standard plan types seen in Tokat
houses. It was built to respond to the needs of a crowded family around Turkish Home’s main principles but with
a more liberal plan. There is
also a Turkish bath on the ground floor. The window system
rather resembles the ones of
17th- 18th century mansions.
The mansion was embellished
with woodwork, pencil work
and plaster material. Especially the main room shows the
example of best wood workmanship of the region. There
is a ceiling medallion on the
area contoured by wooden
borders square on the outside
and circular on the inside. Made with slanted cutting technique and Europe influenced
flower and leaf motifs are observed. The general style in
decoration shows imperial
characteristics. The second
decoration technique in the
building is the embellishment
done by pencil work. In the
shoe stand section of a room
in the south edge of the top
Mevlevihane (Lodge of Mevlevi Dervishes)
floor, it was seen that a mosque, a sailboat and sea and a
city landscape was painted.
There are very beautiful plaster works in the top windows
and fire place chimney hoods
of the room in the south edge
of the top floor and of the main room. The fire place in the
isle at the south edge reflects
the classical style with tulips
and carnations made on painting on slightly embossed
plaster. And the chimney hood
of the fire place in the main room was embellished with
plastic acanthus leaves in a liberal western style. And
“Mühr-ü Süleyman” motif was
worked on the top windows.
ATATÜRK HOUSE AND
ETNOGRAPHY MUSEUM
It’s the house that Mustafa
Kemal Atatürk stayed in Tokat
during
the
War
of
Independence years. The
building in Devegörmez
Mahallesi was assigned to the
Ministry of Culture and
Tourism in 2001 and opened in
the name of Atatürk House
and Etnography Museum.
MEVLEV‹HANE (LODGE OF
MEVLEVI DERVISHES)
As it is stated in Menak›b-ül
OTHER MANSIONS
Tokat is one of the rich cities
of the region in terms of villa architecture. Until very recently most mansions like
Ya¤c›o¤lu Mansion, Vak›f
Mansion, Mad›maklar Mansion, Cevdet Erek Mansion,
Fatma Ercan Mansion, Yo¤urtçuo¤ullar› Mansion, Maaz Gürkan Mansion used to
live almost up to their actual
functions. However, since
the maintenance of these
buildings are costly and on
the other hand the new architecture is dominant, makes it imperative to use the
word “abandoned” for many
of these buildings.
Arifin, the oldest written
source of the Mawlawi sect,
Mawlawi sect for the first time
started to spread in Tokat
from the convent that Pervane
built in the 13th century when
Mevlana sent his caliph
named Fahreddini Iraki to
Tokat with the request
of Muineddin Süleyman
Pervane. Probably this convent disappeared when Uzun
Hasan burned Tokat in the
city center
59
Door Knob
60
15th century and was rebuilt
on the area at the entrance of
Bey Street by Janissary Master
Sülün Mustafa Pafla in 1638
during the period of Sultan
Ahmed III. This building could
not entirely carry its existence
until today. The Mevlana
Turkish bath next door, which
is owned privately today, the
stone gate at the entrance and
the Turkish bath inside and
the room next to it are from
that period. Today with the
recent restorations, it reflects
the architectural characteristics of the 19th century Tokat
architecture. The two storeyed
building has a ground floor
plan consisting of rooms
around a “L” shaped corridor.
Second floor was planned as a
single large lounge. This section used as a Semahane
(Whirling floor) is covered
with a dome, and the center of
the dome is embellished with
plant motifs. The building was
constructed in Ba¤dadi style
using adobe filling in between
the wood skeleton.
BEY SOKA⁄I (STREET)
Bey Street is one of the most
beautiful streets of the city today with its old houses aligned on either side. Most of the
city center
houses are made in a fully attached form. Some detached
houses here and there make
us think about some sides of
the traditional architecture of
Tokat. Now many things that
are not seen from outside, can
be found as nice cross sections inside these houses.
Consequently we can handle
some points regarding embellishment and traditions by
looking at these houses of the
city.
KNOCK KNOCK…
GONG GONG… TICK TICK
One of these sounds features
the door-knockers of the
houses. Even today, we see
more than one door-knocker
on some doors. Originally,
there used to be three doorknockers.
The door-knocker producing a
‘knock knock’ sound indicated
an adult male visitor at the
door. Upon hearing this
sound, the females in the
household used to change
their clothes, veil themselves
and get prepared. The ‘gong
gong’ sound was the sign of a
boy; and the ‘tick tick’ sound
indicated a female visitor,
whereupon the head of the
family (father) had to make
Yeflil›rmak
himself tidy. Interior ornamentations are seen on doors,
closets, cupboard doors made
with the interlacing technique,
on ceilings and walls. It is still
possible to see fretwork ornamentations, and chisel work
and plaster ornamentations
on timber and stucco in some
of the houses in the present
day. In 17th century the city
was defined as “peculiar to
Valide sultans (mother of the
sultan)”.
This is an indicator that Tokat
was enriched in copper craftsmanship, weaving and kerchief making in those years.
Now these houses are the living side of the history of
TOKAT WINES
Numerous wines produced
of forty four kinds of grapes
that are of the biggest riches
of Tokat land, are the most
important compliments of
meals and most authentic
tastes of the region.
Among these, authentic to the region
and only produced
here “Mahaleb Vermout” is the most
known among the
region’s wine types.
Tokat’s landowners, wealthy
and tradesmen.
PROMENADES AND
PLATEAUS
If one is not dreaming then he
is not considered to have visited a city. Now we will go up to
summits where we can dream
comfortably. Tokat’s people
who drink tea and chit chat near H›d›rl›k Bridge most of the
time go to G›jg›j Hill as a first
choice when they need. This
hill that has a little bosket means pine smelling coolness in
summer days. When looked
down from the hill, Tokat is “a
dream in dreams, an imagination in imaginations”.The pla-
AGRICULTURAL
TOURISM
Agricultural tourism with the
name “TaTuTa” or “agricultural tourism in ecological
farms, voluntary exchange
of knowledge and experience” is a nature activity that
finds life in 69 farms all over
Turkey including Tokat. This
activity joined by Küçük A¤a
Farm in Tokat Niksar, provides the opportunity to learn
the local cuisine and excursions for its guests.
city center
61
Almus Dam Lake
62
teaus once used for animal
breeding, became new leisure
spots for the city people
and travelers. One of these
Topçam Plateau is 15km to
city center and is at 1600m altitude. Here in the woods there is the possibility of knowing
the traditional plateau hou-
FISHING
Gökçeyol pond in the central borough is suitable for
fishing.
CAMPING AND
CARAVANNING
G›j G›j Mountain in the central district of the province
and Almus Bungalows have
camping and caravanning
areas.
TREKKING AND
CLIMBING
Alan Plateau-Akda¤ Peak
(1770 m) in the province of
Tokat are advised for
trekkers and climbers.
city center
ses. Batmantafl Plateau in the
pinewood which provides
accommodations besides daily visits is 28 km to the city
center and is at 1850m altitude. While daily trips are possible you can also stay overnight by your own means.
At Akbelen (Bizeri) Plateau
which is 29km from Tokat and
at 1740m altitude, you can enjoy the serenity of pine and
beech trees, or goes grass skiing where you can find in a
very limited number of places.
D‹MES
Dimes, the first fruit juice
producer of Turkey, which
has an important place in
Tokat’s and Turkey’s economy, was founded in 1958.
Production of fruit juices,
milk and dairy products,
marmalade and fruit processing continues in its facilities
established in the city center
over 33.500 square meters,
with 16.000 square meter covered area.
PAZAR
Mahperi Hatun Caravansary
64
The town’s name known as
Kazova, Ayna Pazar› changed
to Pazar with the Republic. No
comprehensive and systematic surface discovery is performed here archeologically. However, a cave close to town
and which is getting deeper by
time has won us a geographical monument. The cave at
1.085 m altitude gets its name
from Ball›ca Village. The 8 km
road reaching from Pazar to
Ball›ca Cave was an important
caravan road in Seljuk times.
On the road there is Pazar
Mahperi Hatun Caravansary
pazar
Bridge which is a Seljuk structure. The bridge connect Tokat-Turhal road to Pazar. This
bridge similar to H›d›rl›k Bridge is made of ashlar stone as
well. We will see the second
important structure on the road, Mahperi Hatun Caravansary which is dated 1237.
MAHPER‹ HATUN
KERVANSARAYI
(CARAVANSARY)
The Inn constructed by Mahperi Hatun, wife of Alâeddin
Keykubat, during Giyaseddin
Keyhüsrev, the son of Mahperi Hatun, period is one of the
best examples of Seljukian caravansaries. The diameter of
the building that was made of
cut stone was supported by 16
re-enforcement towers. It is
attention-grabbing with its
monumental door and embellishments. There is only one
portal of the single nave covered space. The partly broken
inscription on the main portal
reads as follows: “Mahperi
Hatun, sovereign of the wives
to kings, commissioned the
construction of this inn in
Ball›ca Cave
1238-1239 with the undertaking of Keyhüsrev Bin-i Keykubat Mükerrem, the Great Sultan, the Eminent Sovereign,
the shadow of religion and
earth, and the Saviour of religion in this world.”
BALLICA MA⁄ARASI (CAVE)
The 680 m long and 95 m high
Ball›ca Cave, one of the biggest caverns in the world, has
8 halls open to visitors.
The cave, thought to be 3,4
million years old, has the characteristics of all known cave
formations; and is internationally renowned for its unique
Bulb Stalactites. Ball›ca Cave
is formed of crystallized limestone. The air of the cave, with
its abundant oxygen, facilitates breathing. Inside the cave,
average temperature is 18°C
and relative humidity between
54% and 73%. High temperature and low humidity in the
Pool Hall immediately behind
the entrance has weakened
the bond between the calcite
crystals forming the dripstone
stalactites, giving them a
scaly appearance. This hall al-
so accommodates a rectangular structure remaining from
the distant past, and built with
the use of mortar. Small
ponds in the Great Stalactites
Hall, which is the most spacious site in the Cave, are covered with cave pearls. Relative
humidity is high in this Hall,
which contains 4 times more
oxygen than the open air. The
giant stalactites and stalagmites are magnificent. The walk
from this splendid hall towards the north and northeast
leads to the Mud Hall, consisting of blocks, stalactites, stalagmites and small ponds; to
the Fossil Hall, one of the oldest halls, located in the far
north of the Cave, and to the
Bat Hall, which accommodates large numbers of tiny bats.
From here, we pass to the
Sunken Hall in the north-south direction, also known as
the Magnificent Gallery. The
Hall is named after the huge
stone blocks on its floor.
After the Sunken Hall and the
Block Vault we come to the
Columns Hall by walking over
a bridge. This hall accommopazar
65
Ball›ca Cave
66
dates the biggest column of
the cave, with a height of 18 m
and a diameter of 8 m. The
walkway forks, leads to the
Mushroom Hall in the north,
where the most beautiful voluminous bulb stalactites and
dripstone stalactites are found; and to the New Hall, the
youngest hall of the Cave, in
the south. Besides the huge
stalactites, stalagmites and
Halil Bey Mosque
ponds, there are also enchanting leaf, curtain and leek-shaped formations in the New
Hall.
HACI S‹NAN CAM‹‹
(MOSQUE)
Hac› Sinan Mosque was built
in 1534 by Sinan bin ‹brahim
during Kanuni Sultan Süleyman period. The square plan,
single dome building was built
with ashlar stone and brick
cover on rubble stonework.
HAL‹L BEY CAM‹‹ &
HAMAMI (MOSQUE &
HAMMAM)
The building in the historical
square in the town center,
known as Halil Bey Mosque,
was built by Hac› Mehmet bin
Hüseyin in 1334-35 during ‹lhanl› dynast Ebu Said Bahad›r
Han’s period. The building
that was renovated in 1996
lost its original characteristics. The hammam that was
built 50m below and known in
the same name has architecture close to the Turkish bath
architecture of seigniorial period and is dated first half of
pazar
Lake Kaz
the 14th century. Pazar town
shares Key-Biodiversity Areas
(KBA) and outdoor excursion
sites with its neighbours but
these sites are named administratively after the Town.
LAKE KAZ
Lake Kaz west of Kazova is a
significant nature spot. Some
research show that a part of
the lake has dried out in 10-12
years. One reason is to create
land for the villagers and another was that new irrigation canals were added to the lake.
You can see bird observers here very often since it is the layover spot for 108 bird kinds.
Among these are: Magpie,
Ruddy-goose, White Stork,
Speckled Heron, White Wagtail, Grey Heron, Moorhen, Rail,
Coot, Puffin, Pochard, Mallard,
Blackbird, and Starling.
Lake Kaz at 535m altitude continues to be the main nature
spot around the area. It is a
very special example of wetland ecosystems. As a component of Kelkit Valley, it is an
important nesting place for
many bird kinds, mainly Egyptians vultures (Neophron
percnopterus). It is also an important place for amphibian
and butterfly species.
The vegetation of Lake Kaz
The vegetation of Lake Kaz
Lake Kaz
pazar
67
Lake Kaz
68
Blackberry (Rubus), wild rose
(Rosa), oxtail (Verbascum
Thapsus), forelock (Achillea
millefolium), donkey cucumber (Ecballium eleterium), teasel (Dipsacus), thistle (Circium), reed, straw and fesque
grass. One of the thermal
springs of Pazar that is believed to help cure some skin diseases is known as “Uyuz Suyu” (meaning Magne Water).
The locals use this water that
contains sulfur and is found in
the region called Çardakl› 1 km
west of Ball›ca Mahallesi to
cure mange. Again in the same
area another one of the two
waters that help curing is Hera
Water that runs in the upper
part of the village mosque.
Pazar who is economically dependent on rather farming and
gardening has tomato paste
and flour factories that process its agricultural products.
WILD LIFE
The Nature Association which has carried out some research
on the Region and the bat type called “pygmy bats” by the
people of Tokat, makes the following comments on this section of the region: “The Ball›ca Hills are extremely rich in
mammal species. The globally threatened hammer-headed
bat (Rhinolophus mehelyi) is a primary mammal species living in the region. Tourism activities at Ball›ca Cave should
be organized in a way so as not to disturb the bats living in
the cave; and visitors should show due consideration for this
species.”
pazar
ARTOVA
A view from Artova
70
“Proceeding north, we passed
by the Çaml›bel Mountain, and
flourishing and picturesque
town-like villages with abundant crops in the lands of the
Sivas Province; and we arrived
at the small town of Ar›kova
(Artova).” While Evliya Çelebi
relates his journey to Artova in
the above words, he also gives
the name of the village as pronounced in that era. Researches show Artova sits on settlements from much older times.
Historical settlements like Kayap›nar Mound, Kunduz Mound are important in respect
to Artova’s relation to the
Early Bronze Age. Kayap›nar
Mound in Yenice village is a
settlement that extends from
Chalcolithic Age to Phrygians.
Besides pottery, one of the seals found here, the one made
of steatit (a kind of stone) is
embellished with dots and lines and dates back to the first
artova
quarter of 2000 B.C. And there
are single centered circles on
the seal made of terra-cotta.
This seal dates back to 1500
B.C. The Mound was rich in
finding like bowls, weapons
and pins. The red, brown and
black lined ceramic pottery found in 1952 researches of Taci
Temizer show that Boyunp›nar
Village is an archeological site
that belongs to Chalcolithic
Age. And a three storey five rooms settlement carved in the
rocks in the area Özündürük of
the same village is an evidence of region’s rich past.
Artova a settlement of Tokat
during the Republic Era was
made a borough in 1944.
Artova is a place worth seeing
for its nature rather than architecture. One of the significance of its nature is its integration to the series of valleys
that Çekerek Creek, one of the
strong arms of Yeflil›rmak ri-
Artova
ver, has formed. Çekerek, getting larger after combining
with K›z›k, Dinar, Çal› creeks
and Finize creek springing out
of Kavak Hill, around Çaml›bel
Town, forms magnificently deep valleys at the borders of Artova. It broadens and runs in
Artova in south west direction.
The 15.000 hectars Artova Plain was formed right here. In
addition, ponds formed in places in Artova like Karacaören,
Ekinli 1, Ekinli 2, Büget, Çelikli,
Afla¤› Güçlü, Belekderesi, Ç›kr›k have turned the region into
a water land. Coal beds that
provide for the region and for
mainly Tokat, are the main underground resources of the region. As we move towards southwest following the road to
Yeflilyurt beauties of nature
that may also be considered
as layers of history and Artova’s components, meet us.
The Station Building
artova
71
Artova
SULUSARAY
A view from Sulusaray
SEBASTOPOLIS
74
The meaning of Sebastopolis
is “the big, lofty city”. “Heracleapolis” that is mentioned in
the epigraph on the bridge
over Çekerek Stream is also
considered as the city’s name.
In the 1880-1892 registries of
studies, Cuinet V writes that
Pontus King Mithridates VI Eupator has founded the city
again as Nicopolis and Sebastopolis right after his defeat
against Pompeius. It is said
that the city was called Sulusaray (meaning water palace)
because of the water that
sprung out of the city ruins during Timur’s invasion of Anatolia. The historical city is on the
same road as Maflat Mound,
one of the important centers
of Hittite Empire. This road following Akda¤madeni, Sulusaray, Maflat Mound, Zile, Amasya, Samsun route connects
Cappadocia to the Black Sea.
At the same time, Sebastopolis, together with Niksar (Neocaesarea) one of the important east cities of Rome and
Gümenek (Comana Pontika) is
the component of a second lisulusaray
ne connecting Cappadocia to
the Black Sea. In some sources it is recorded that it was
founded in 1 B.C. During the
period of Roman Emperor Trajan (98–117 A.D.) it was taken
from Pontus Galatius and Pontus Polemoniacus provinces
and included in Cappadocia.
We learn this from the epigraph that was erected for Arrian, who was appointed as governor of the city. An evaluation of data obtained at the salvage and sampling excavations conducted by the Tokat
Museum Administration in
1987, and of the architectural
finds previously unearthed, leads us to think that the city
was a major settlement site in
the Hellenistic, Roman, and
Byzantine eras. Research carried out in recent years has
clarified that the region was
inhabited in the Early Bronze
Age around 3000 BC, in the
Hittite era around 2000 BC,
and in the Phyrigian era around 1000 BC. Part of the historical artifacts, discovered in
1987 excavations, is exhibited
in Tokat Museum. Another
Roman Bath
part is in the Open Air Museum across from the old city
hall, in the town center.
THE CHURCH
One of the important buildings of the historical city is
the church. The building that
was discovered in the excavations near the city walls at the
skirts of the mound in the
northeast is a typical early
Byzantine church with its three naves, three abscissas, a naos (old temple), a bema (where ordinary people are not allowed) and a ‘synthronon’.
The width of the tunnel in the
lower part of the inner side is
1.5m. The walls were built in
the hold-system which is
rubble sandwiched between
ashlar stone inner and outer
shells. Use is made of rubble
between the interior and exterior cut stones to hold the
walls together. The stone
used in the building was brought mainly from the rocky
area between the nearby Alpudere and Ç›kr›k Villages, also used as a stone quarry in
Antiquity. The calcareous cut
stone and the conglomerate
stone used particularly in its
upper parts are from the Ebekayas› area of Elmal› Village.
There is a piece of an octagonal pillar in grey marble with
an inscription immediately
next to the bottom line of cut
stone and the bearing where
Relief From Sebastopolis
sulusaray
75
76
Column Heading
the apse arch rises. Pieces
which are still in their original
places point to the fact that
the floor was covered with
dark-coloured marble.
ROMAN BATH
With the excavation of the historical building among the
new houses to the east side,
the section with a base and
rubble walls that belonged to
the bath was discovered. Traces of fire were discovered on
the building. Carrier feet made
of big block stones without
mortar, cascading in threes towards the inner space and two
broken pillar bases placed
among these feet were found.
One of the bases is still in place. The interval between the
base and the foot form the door aperture. From here it is
passed to the space with the
sulusaray
neat stone covered ground.
The tailrace on the base running from north-south to westeast is important to understand the architectural elaboration of the time. The pillar on
the east is in a quite sound
state except for the upper side. The traces of sulfur on its
walls, suggests that the thermal water 3km southwest of
town was used or that the
thermal spa water was coming
out of here at the time.
CITY WALLS
The 17m high wall the remains
of which were discovered during the excavations made in the
east of the city was made of
very big ashlar stones without
using master. There are two
quadrangle crutches that support the wall. 100m west of this
wall, half disc shaped remains,
Roman Bridge
again built with big stones,
probably bastions, were discovered. The wall and circular
shaped bastion being in the
same line suggests that these
are the remains of a city wall.
STRUCTURE WITH
MOSAIC FLOORING
This building, on which illegal
excavations were performed,
has a plan consisting of an
axis and middle and side
naves. Between the middle
and side naves there is a 30cm
level difference. Both bases
are in mosaic flooring. Panel
patterns of plant and geometric designs can be seen on the
recognizable parts of the
mosaics. Again human portraits on four corresponding
panels draw attention. Three
of the portraits were extremely destroyed. On the recognizable mosaic there is a human
figure with a grass hook in
hand. At shoulder-length of
the figure words “summer
season” in Greek are read.
From this mosaic and the
number of panels being four,
it is concluded that the other
three patterns are also related
to seasons. After the mosaics
were removed the building
was covered to prevent damage. From the iron pin holes
on the bone plates found in
the building, it is thought that
these are the decorative covering of an object. The table
leg made of a “weird” lion figure, which is in Tokat
Museum, now, was also discovered here. The other three
legs of the table are not found
yet.
OPEN AIR
MUSEUM
Architectural
pieces and the
mosaics found
at Sulusaray
by the Tokat
Museum
Administration
at the sampling
and salvage
excavations in
1987 are now
exhibited in the
garden of the building standing across the
old municipality building. There are around 60
pieces here.
The Table Leg with the
Lion Figurine
sulusaray
77
78
Sulusaray Thermal Spring
SULUSARAY THERMAL
SPRING
The spring also known as
“Çermikönü Thermal Spring”
is the most important thermal
spring of the region. The
spring, coming out of the
ground on the site of the historic Sebastopolis ruins, is
located at an altitude of 750
m. Its water shown among the
cold and warm salty water
OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES
You can fish for carp at the
Dutluca Dam Lake.
sulusaray
sources contains sodium chloride, sulfate and bicarbonate.
With average 32 – 44.3°C temperature, it springs out of a
fault line. The thermal spring
was active during Seljuk and
Ottoman times as well as
Roman and Byzantine eras.
The modern facilities established in 1962, are developed
and renovated based as
needed.
The center serves yearlong
with 2 hotels, private baths,
pools, restaurants and music
hall. The road from Sulusaray
to Yeflilyurt is also the road to
exceptional forests.
YEfi‹LYURT
A view from Yeflilyurt
80
The town was established by
the expansion of Musaköy by
immigration and changing its
name. The town getting the
name Yeflilyurt in 1982 became a town in 1987. The mausoleum 2 km out of Boztepe
dating back to Hellenistic Age
and ruined by illegal excavations is the only finding in regards to town’s relation with
ancient times.
The town is loved both by the
public and tourists mainly because of the possibilities it affords for trekking and recreation in the woods. In addition to
Yeflilyurt Train Station
yeflilyurt
this the source of income for
the region is agriculture and
animal breeding. Beekeeping
that was widely done in the
past is still being carried out
by a very few families today.
This way we covered one
end of the arc that draws
Tokat’s border with Sivas.
Now we will go west to the
most comprehensive historical texture that shows Tokat
with almost all of its ties with
history. Zile is full of mounds
that shed light to not only the
city’s but to Anatolia’s history
as well.
Z‹LE
Zile Castle
THE PREHISTORIC
AGE AND Z‹LE
82
The oldest settlements in Tokat date back to Chalcolithic
Age. Taking its name by the
use of copper as well as stone,
Chalcolithic Age, is known as
the systematic pre-advancement of city culture. The advanced agriculture and animal
breeding in Chalcolithic Age
mentioned to be around
5400–3300/3000 B.C., accelerating speeded up the social
changes in human life. Besides social groups like administrators, religious clergy, various craftsmen, also monu-
SOME
CHALCOLITHIC AGE
SETTLEMENTS
Emirdolu Yüzellik Hill, Kozdere Karga Hill, Karayün
Mound, Yeflilce Köyü Okçutepe, Üçköy Viran Mosque
Mound, Akdo¤an Village Kale Hill, Üçköy Dökmetepe
Settlement, Savc› Village
Gâvur Castle.
zile
mental architecture, defense
and irrigation systems, and
with long distance trade, the
trading of “respectful” matters for the elite has developed. Within Tokat city boarders 9 of the 11 Chalcolithic
Age mounds is in Zile.
Besides, 37 of the centers that
belong to Early Bronze Age
which is represented by over
1000 settlements in Anatolia
and Thrace are also in Zile and
surroundings. The most important Early Bronze Age center known is Maflat Mound 20
km southeast of Zile. The mound is dated to Early Bronze
Age with its general characteristics. The region staged
many settlements together
with Early Bronze Age.
WRITTEN HISTORY
Historical ages in Tokat begin
with the Hittites. Hattusa (Bo¤azköy), the capitol of the Hittite state founded by Labarna,
is very close to Tokat. Consequently, the cultural texture of
these periods extended over
the lands of the province. Af-
The Door of a Traditional Tokat House
ter the Calcolithic Age and
Early Bronze Age, settlement
areas of the early Hittite Kingdom founded around 1650 BC
in the Middle Bronze Age, and
later, of the Great Hittite Kingdom (1550-1190 BC) were scattered in the water-abundant
valleys of Tokat, and in the fertile plains of the Province.
Maflat Mound, ‘Tapigga’ in
Hittite language, that was discovered near Yal›nyaz› village
of Zile is one of the best preserved settlements that reflect the culture of the period.
As we understand from the
findings; in Tapigga there was
an administrator that reported
to the king in the capital Hattusa. Therefore we can say
that Tapigga was an important
center among the federations
that were connected to Hittite
Empire. In Maflat Mound, in
the palace whose builder and
purpose of building is unknown today but that is thought to have belonged to a
bey (a lord), tablets with cuneiform scripts and around
this palace ceramic effects of
Bronze Age and Iron Age were
found. More than 40 rooms of
the palace in Maflat Mound
were discovered by excavations. Many tablets and clay objects with seal prints were discovered in the rooms facing
east. The rooms where the
SOME
EARLY BRONZE AGE
SETTLEMENTS
Ac›p›nar, Alime Hill, Hamam
Hill Hamzan›n Çal, Karga Hill
Hillside Settlement, Kaz›kl›
Mound, Merdivenli Düz Settlement, Güm Güm Hill, Mal
Hill, Maflat Mound, Medrese
Hill, Ö¤lenlik Hill Settlement, Toptepe Mound, Üyük
Mound, Karayün Mound, Kayadibi Hillside Settlement,
Kayaönü 1 Mound, Kayap›nar Hill Hillside Settlement,
Kösele Hill Mound, Küçüközlü Mound, Recep Day›
Hill Mound, Sinelik Mound,
Somun Dede Mound, Tafll›ca
Mound, Ya¤l›p›nar Hillside
Settlement, Y›lanl›kaya Hill
Settlement, Yüzellik Hill.
zile
83
Idol, Early Bronze Age
84
tablets were discovered point
out to a large Hittite archive.
Among the cuneiform script
tablets, there are various lists
and important letters that the
Great King in Hattusa sent to
important persons, statesmen
and lords. Or for example there were the quantities of copper, silver and wheat in the
storage and texts about fortune and prophecies. From the
letters that came from Hattusa, we understand that there
was an important communication network between the two
centers. Evaluations about
danger of enemy, demand for
help, agricultural information
exchange about sowing crops,
harvesting, grape harvesting
or about Kaflkal›lar’s attack of
Seieve, Maflat Mound, Phrygian Period
zile
the Hittite crops after theirs
were invaded by grasshoppers. The correspondence
about laws and tax liabilities
are also important evidence
regarding the scope of the relationship. One great gain is
that the names of surrounding
settlements were used in these correspondences. The findings in the last layer of Hittite structure are represented
by a home with four adjacent
quadrangle rooms, pottery
and clay objects with hieroglyphics. The findings that belong to several civilizations of
the time, mainly Mycenaean,
are important as regards to
the relationship network of
Maflat Mound at the time.
In Central Anatolia 2 groups
are observed in pottery of
1000s B.C. regarding the Mother Goddess Cult. First one is
dated late Iron Age and women figures on it are associated with the Mother Goddess.
The second is an embossed
one reflecting a woman’s
chest with a couple of breast
ornaments, most probably
symbolizing Mother Goddess
Rython, Maflat Mound, Hittite Period
and is dated to the Hellenistic
Era. In the first group there are
3 samples one from Bo¤azköy
and two from Maflat Mound.
Other important centers where high level Hittite culture
and art was experienced are;
Horoztepe in Erbaa, Aktepe
(Bolus) Mound of the sacred
Hittite city which J.G.C Anderson called “Verisa” and J.
Garstang called “Z›ppalanga”
and Anzilia Mound where Zile
Castle is. We can take the history conversation that we started across this mound to a
new dimension in Zile. The name of the toen we just entered
has gone through many changes over different periods; Zela, Anzilia, Anziliya, Zelitid, Zelitis Silas (adapted from Sulla
that meant honorable in the
Amanos temple here and then
S›lla, which became the name
of a Roman commander), S›lay, Sileh, Zeleh, Zelos, Zilch,
Zilon and G›rg›riye Zeyli. The
first written name of Zile was
Anziliya a Hittite town.
In many sources this place is
mentioned as one of the most
important centers of Anaitis
Temple. Prof. Sedat Alp who
evaluated the cuneiform scripted tablets found in Maflat
Mound 29 km southeast of Zile, Prof. Ekrem Akurgal who
made excavations in Maflat
Mound, and Prof. Tahsin Özgüç think that Zile Castle settlement, together with Maflat
Mound, were main centers of
Ancient Anatolian civilization.
However, its history is older
than Tokat and it is more famous than Tokat. Hirtius,
who made mention of Zéla
before Strabon, writes
as follows: “'Zéla is
renowned for the
two wars where
the Romans were first the vanquished and then
the
conqueror.
Trefoil Jug, Maflat Mound,
Iron Age
Bulla,
Maflat Mound,
Hittite Period
zile
85
Zile Castle
86
The first of these wars was fought between Mithridates and
Triarius, the Commander to
Lucullus; and the second between Gaius Julius Caesar and
Pharnakes 2. Caesar, who defeated Pharnakes 2, sent a
three word letter to the Roman
Senate, reading ‘Veni – Vidi –
Vici’ (I came, saw and conquered).” The clock tower at the
entrance of Zile Castle was the
guardian or observation tower
of the time. Later it was called
“Bell Tower” and Ziya Pafla
changed it to a clock tower in
1875. The epigraph next to the
Milestone, Roman Period
zile
short pillar that is thought to
be dedicated to Caesar, are
about several buildings and
events of the Roman Era.
The Roman Theater that was
carved into the rocks is the
only example in the region.
However it was not well preserved and the pieces were
carried to other buildings. For
this reason the stage had disappeared. We know that Zile
was taken over by Danishmend in 1076. It is an important center during Eretna and
Kad› Burhaneddin seignior
states. For a while ‹lhanl›lar
ruled the town which was under Ottomans in 1392. It joined Ottoman Empire in 1413.
According to the records of
fiemseddin Sami, “Zile is a
town under the administrative
governance of the Tokat Subdivision of the Sivas Province.
There are 13 townships and
500 villages.” We learn from
Sami that “45 thousand people out of the population of 57
thousand 200 in that period
are Moslems.” Following Ziya
Pafla Street near the Castle,
when we go onto Amasya
Street after the crossing, it
means that we reached Zile’s
Theatre, Roman Period
historical streets. We must
talk about one more thing before we move onto Zile’s old
texture. The fire bells that you
will see in a very few other
towns, carry no meaning, even
for people of Zile today, other
than as the embellishments of
the past. These bells are actually not only simple embellishment objects.
The history recorded two big
fires here. One is the big fire
that destroyed most of the
town in the last quarter of
1800’s and the other is the fire
that out broke during an insurgency in Independence War
years (1922) and caused part
of town to burn down.
The old building texture that
we will see on the back alleys
of Amasya Street, especially in
K›fll›k Mahallesi, has reached
today in spite of and with the
efforts after these fires.
Although looking scattered at
first sight, there are many
back streets around K›fll›k district and neighborhoods that
give passage to one another.
We can count the following
neighborhoods where the building architecture of Zile dating back to 17th and 19th centuries is concentrated: Alacamescid Balâ Mahallesi where
we can see Alacamescid Mosque, Ali Kad› Mahallesi, Minare-i Sa¤›r, Yaz›c›, Hac› Mehmet, Çay, Sakiler and Minare-i
Kebir districts.
Zile Road to a Vineyard
zile
87
88
Zile Ulu Mosque
Z‹LE ULU CAM‹‹ (MOSQUE)
The epigraph on the north
side of Zile Ulu Mosque shows
that the first building was
built by Mehmed Zalüli Bin
Ebu Ali in 1267 during
G›yaseddin Keyhüsrev III period. The mosque that went
under renovation in 1591 was
for a period of time known by
the name Nasuh Pafla who had
the renovation work done.
When it was mainly damaged
in 1904, was rebuilt in Neoclassic style in 1904-1909 by
the efforts of Süleyman Necmi
the governor of Zile at the time
and local people. The main
part of the cut stone building
is quadrangle. The dome that
is carried by an octagon drum
that has sixteen windows is
lead-covered. There is the
public room with four marble
pillars, three lead-covered
zile
domes at north of the building. The flattened vault of the
door covered with a wood
porch is made of keyed stone
technique. There is a prayer
epigraph on the quadrangle
marble plate over the door
vault. The door opening at
west is the same as at east
and has an epigraph with verses. Although there is a base
like rim on the north edge of
the west side the onion dome
minaret is on the body wall.
We can say that the crown
door of the mosque is the
most important of the monumental examples in Zile.
BEYAZIT BESTAM‹ CAM‹‹
(MOSQUE)
There are two epigraphs dated
1206 and 1305 of Beyaz›t Bestami Mosque in Ali Kad› Mahallesi. The Mosque was built
89
Zile Ulu Mosque
in the name the descendants
of Beyaz›t Bestami. As a matter of fact, the grandchildren
of Beyaz›t Bestami are buried
in the tomb inside the
Mosque. The Mosque has a
rectangular plan. There is a
high ceiling above the worship
area. The minaret on a stone
pedestal is single galleried,
short and round. It has all the
features of timber minarets
built in the 19th century.
HOCA ‹SHAK CAM‹‹
(MOSQUE)
Hoca ‹shak Mosque was built
by Hac› Ali’s son Hac› ‹smail in
Küçük Minare Mahallesi in
1475 during Fatih Sultan MehBeyaz›t Bestami Mosque
zile
90
Elbaflo¤lu Mosque
met period. The minaret of
this small double vaulted
mosque with roof tiles is made
of brick. The mosque is also
known as “Küçük Minare”
(meaning small minaret) because the upper part of the
gallery collapsed in the 1939
earthquake.
ELBAfiO⁄LU CAM‹‹
(MOSQUE)
Elbaflo¤lu Mosque is near
Çayp›nar› Creek at the east
FISHING
Fishing for carp is extensive
in the Boztepe Dam Lake at
Y›ld›ztepe.
zile
entrance of Zile. It was built by
Elbaflo¤lu Seyit Ahmed of Zile
elite, in 1801. The cut stone
and rubble building has a
square layout and tiled roof.
To see the baroque style marble crown door of the building
with ç›takari embellished ceiling, the later attached concrete section must be crossed.
The entrance to the main room
is through the round vault
door in the north. The vault of
the door that is supported by
a base and thin headed-pillars
on the sides is of red, grey and
white keyed marble. With the
old saying of Zile people, if we
were to take a picture of this,
Zile and every corner around it
can teach one new thing.
Vineyard
RED GRAPES BLACK GRAPES
In Tokat and many of its districts, grape is a product that
has been grown with labor for
centuries. The known history
of conscious grapery goes
back to the 15th century. The
vine, molasses, vinegar made
of especially central Tokat,
Erbaa, Zile and Turhal grapes
have become highly demanded. In Zile plain and the terraces nearby where wheat,
barley, rye, oat, chickpea,
lentil, sugar beet, sunflower,
onion and vetch (vicia sativa)
is grown, there is also grapery. Narince, a white grape
with a thick peel is highly productive. It is used in production of fl›ra (unfermented grape
juice), vine and molasses.
Red vine is produced of black
grapes and fenerit. Instead of
these kinds that used to be
popular now the Annot type
(a type of grape) is being
grown. Some information
about Zile’s table grapes:
Misket Çavuflu, Çavufl Üzümü,
Boduro¤lu till December, Bekiro¤lu ve Kömüfl Cici¤i till
March, fiamk›z›l› till April, and
Hevenklik till May, can be
kept in cellars. Molasses, dried sheets, vinegar and sausage are produced of white grapes named Alasüt, Tekçi¤it,
and Ç›tl›k. It is impossible to
belittle the part of the grape
in the Zile “Deir” Festival coming from the time of Mother
Goddess.
Zile Molasses
Z‹LE MOLASSES
Zile molasses is of the type
known in the region as “Çalma”. This type of molasses
is produced from the “narince” grape species, which is
the one most extensively
used among the forty -four
grape species grown in the
region.
zile
91
Zile Gödek Street
TURHAL
Kesikbafl Mosque and Tomb
94
Although it has its place in this
geography where findings are
rich, there is not much information about Turhal’s history.
It is mentioned that two
epigraphs written in the
alphabet of Sumerians who
lived in Mesopotamia in
3000’s B.C., were found in
Turhal Castle. But this important event has not been
proven yet. Although there
are many myths about the
name of Turhal we do not
know the origin of the word.
The town has been called
Kuraflar, Kasiura, Gaygura,
Turnalit, Taulara, and Gaziura
in the past. In the period of
Principalities, the town was
Turhal Castle
turhal
administratively connected to
the Eretna Principality. Turhal,
conquered by the Ottomans in
1399, was administratively
annexed to the Ottoman
Empire in 1413 after a short
invasion by Tamerlane.
TURHAL KALES‹ (CASTLE)
Turhal Castle and its surrounding is the historical center of the town. To get a birdseye view of this historical texture, one must go up to the
Castle. Except for two bastion
pieces dating to Roman times
and the closed underground
passages very few remained
from the building. The building material was removed to
Turhal Culture House
be used in the city built on the
skirts of the castle.
We can talk about following
buildings as architecture
worth-seeing: Mehmed Dede
Tomb of ‹lhanl›lar was built in
1312. The tomb that was built
for Ahi Yusuf who is known as
the leader of packsaddle artisans dates back to 1324.
The
Tekkeflin
Hamam›
(Hammam) that is right at the
entrance of Çivril Village 7km
from town gets its name from
Tekkeflin Dervish Convent
next to it. There is no information about the Islamic
monastery that gave its name
to the hammam. The single
water piping system points
out a characteristic of 14th
century of Turkish baths. In
the hammam that shifted from
the original due to strange
repairs and is ruined today,
there are no embellishments
except the slots on the vault.
The town was set up in the
Yeflil›rmak Basin in the central
part of the Black Sea Region,
at the intersection point of the
roads connecting Central
Anatolia to the Black Sea, and
East Anatolia to the west.
Founded at the entrance of
deep valleys, the town is all
plains as far as the eye can
reach. It gets the water from
Yeflil›rmak river.
Turhal Plain which is among
Turhal
turhal
95
Turhal Koca Kavak
96
curves along Kazova and
Yeflil›rmak is important for
sugar beet production. These
plains besides characteristic
production like tobacco agriculture; have brought in to
the town Turhal (Muammer
Tuksavul) Sugar Factory that
produces sugar, quality
of which, is accepted all
around the world. The onyx
beds around Turhal with
10.004.000 m3 geological
reserve are processed from
time to time. Light green,
white and yellowish onyx is
obtained from these beds.
These durable and easy to
process marbles are mostly
used in production of ornaments. High quality antimony
is extracted in the borough
where there is also a little
Turhal Waterfall
turhal
manganese. We will first walk
through wooded paths, then
proceed to the northwest of
the town by following the
main road.
We will see another plain
here, the 6,500 hectare Erbaa
Plain beginning in the
Tepek›flla reach of the Kelkit
Stream and continuing as far
as Kale Gorge.
PARAGLIDING
fienyurt is the place for paragliding. National paragliding competitions are held
in fienyurt
TURHAL CUISINE
The town possesses a rich
and varied cuisine. Çökelekli (with skim-milk cheese),
Keflkek (meat boiled with
minced meat), Bakla dolmas› (stuffed broad-beans), M›s›r pastas› (corn pastry),
Turhal çöre¤i, Pancar tatl›s›
Velibah (Sweetmeat made
from Beet) Yufkal› Pilav, and
Pekmez Helvas› (Sweetmeat
prepared from molasses)
are some of the dishes characteristic of the town.
ERBAA
A view from Erbaa
98
Erbaa is among the towns in
the city which have the most
number of Early Bronze Age
settlements. These mounds
show that Erbaa was an important settlement even before written history. For example, the oldest mine processing
workshop detected in Eski Gümüfllük of Kozlu township’s
Ezeba¤› Village in 1977 dates
back to the first half of 5000
B.C. The Early Bronze Age
settlement near northwest side of Kelkit, east of Yeflil›rmak
and 1 km to Kaleköy that is
northwest of the borough was
detected by K›l›ç Kökten.
Kelkit River an arm of Yeflil›rmak runs very near to the
Early Bronze Age settlement
Kelkit Creek
erbaa
southwest of Kaleköy that is
1.5km north of K›z›lçubuk Village of Erbaa. Brook settlement and cemetery which is
wrongly named as “Horoztepe” in some archeological
texts, was used as a graveyard
after the heavy earthquakes in
Erbaa. Tahsin Özgüç considers
Horoztepe Höyük near ‹nbat
Creek in the south of the borough as “an important Hittite
settlement”. The mother figurine breast feeding her child,
now in Anatolian Civilizations
Museum in Ankara and is
identified with the mother
goddess, is one of the best
pieces that represent the Early
Bronze Age. This silver and
gold alloy little piece, is inte-
Kevgir Castle
resting both artistically and in
the sense of material used.
Acoording to Strabon, the oldest historical name of Erbaa
is Fonorova as in Mithridates
Kingdom period. Erbaa, which
is the name of the town today,
have appeared in the registries starting in the 18th century.
Erek (Erbaa), Karayaka, Sonusa (Uluköy) and Taflabat (Taflova) towns that were between Niksar and Amasya in the
Ottoman period, are called
with their mutual name “Nevahi-i Erbaa” meaning “four
towns”. With this general name, they are registered as Kaza-i Erbaa together with the
districts. Erbaa captured by
Danishmend, came under Ot-
toman rule in 1413. Known as
a little village in 1670’s, Erbaa,
according to Ali Cevad, “is a
town of 119 villages and a population of 27.000 and connected to Tokat shire of Sivas
Province in 1890.” The town
that was connected directly to
Sivas in 1872 later became
connected to Tokat in 1892.
When the historical settlement was almost totally demolished in 1939, 1942 and
1943 earthquakes, the town
was built in the place it is now
in today’s architecture. For
this reason there are no buildings with architectural properties. However, a building in
Akça Village is worth seeing
even today.
Erbaa Cedar Forest
erbaa
99
Silahtar Ömer Pafla Mosque
S‹LAHTAR ÖMER PAfiA
CAM‹‹ (MOSQUE)
100
Silahtar Ömer Pafla Mosque in
Akça Village with no epigraph
is dated to the 17th century. It
is known that Silahtar Ömer
Pafla died before 1707. It is
written on the two copper
candle sticks that Ömer Pafla
donated them to the mosque
in 1688. In this case it can be
considered that the mosque
was built on or before this date. It carries value as a mostly
wood mosque in Anatolia that
preserved its authenticity.
It is made of one row of cut
stone and three rows of brickwork. The public area that was
surrounded by wood pillars
Interior of Silahtar Ömer Pafla Mosque
erbaa
and vault porches on three sides together with the front
was kept large. The porches
consist of wood sharp vaults
that are carried by wood supports. With this section rose like a stage the building was given an authentic look. The inner faces of the side vaults
and both inner and outer faces
of the north vaults are embellished with blues. There are
plant patterns on the gussets.
The polygon bodied multi balcony minaret on the northwest
corner, was damaged up to
the shoe section after the
earthquake and was repaired
during the Republican period.
The humble wooden mosques
Hac› Ahmet Hammam
of Anatolia are built as little
examples of stonework mosques. For this reason wood painting in the buildings shapes
as an emulation of the stonework. The entrance door of the
mosque is a rich example of
such woodwork.
The surface of the door flaps,
are divided into panels and
spike nails are mounted on
them. The door vault and its
frame are painted so as to look like two colored keyed ashlar stone. Seljuk hexagons,
eleven sided shapes intersecting at the center, pendants
and embosses are seen on ç›takari and wood paint embellished tub ceiling. Flower and
leaf motifs like in Seljuk tiles
are used on the red, yellow,
orange, green and white patterns. The villa ceiling of the
minbar made in wood framework technique is eye catching with the stars in the center and pencil work embellishments on the arms. Mosque’s
general embellishments continue also in the women’s section. It is possible to find both
the Seljuk and 18th century
Ottoman style on the wood
ceiling, wooden supports,
minbar and altar of the mosque where there are the most
beautiful examples of Turkish
embellishment art.
101
HACI AHMET HAMAMI
(HAMMAM)
It is said that Hac› Ahmet
Hamam› in Erek Mahallesi was
built by Hac› Mehmetzade
Ahmet Efendi and his partner
Durmuflzade Hüseyin Efendi.
The construction of the hammam that was planned as a
ECONOMY
25% of the city’s agricultural potential is in Erbaa.
Walnut, hazelnut, melon,
onion, strawberry, grain, legumes, sugar beet production and vegetable green
housing are done. Industrialism in Erbaa is a fairly
new activity. In the borough
there are soil (brick, kiln),
forest products (hardwood,
lumber), and textile and lime industries.
erbaa
The Point Meeting of Kelkit and Yeflil›rmak River
102
twin hammam during the
World War II and was not
completed since. The building
that is understood to have not
worked at all is in a quite bad
state today. Although a plan
with four antechambers has
been used in various places,
the plan of the female section
shows similarities to the Bath
of Ulu Cami in Bursa. Erbaa is
surrounded by forests and
outdoor recreation areas. The
Lebanese Cedar, grown in the
Çatalan and Ak›nc›lar forest
system, is an important local
tree species. The most beautiful outdoor recreation area in
this place however, is on the
Bo¤al› Plateau at an altitude
of 1900 m. People in the environs use the pastures on the
Sakarat Mountain both for
cattle breeding and agriculture. This plateau is also renowned for its medicinal plants.
erbaa
Wine and vinegar produced
from grapes grown in the vineyards of Erbaa are among the
most favoured products in the
region and the following ballad has been composed about
the famous Erbaa tobacco:
“Is your tobacco mild Shall I
roll up a cigarette The moon
rose, the dawn broke Shall I
still implore?” Passing by the
skirts of the northern forests
of Tokat, we will go down to
the front of the mountains in
the Kelkit Valley where the
sun rises. The borough that
will meet us was inside the
borders of Kaberia city of Pontus which resisted against Roman invasion for a long time.
History of Niksar is actually
the history of all the turns in
the region’s history, because
Niksar was one of the important centers due to its strategic position.
N‹KSAR
A view from Niksar
104
After the collapse of Persian
kingdom Kabeira becoming a
settlement that was part of
the kingdom that Mithridates I
founded. When the kingdom
was connected to Rome, the
Roman commander Pompeius
named the area Diospolis (City
of Zeus) between 66-62 B.C.
100 years later the name of
Kelkit Creek
niksar
the city was changed to Sebaste to honor Emperor Augustus. It started to be called
Neocaesarea (New Emperor
City) between the years 14-37
B.C., during the period of Roman Emperor Tiberius. During
Byzantine era we come across
Harsanusiya as the name of
the city. In Danishmend name
Harsanusiya and Niksar names were used together.
Niksar, was taking under rule
during the Anatolia expedition
of Danishmend Ahmed Gazi. In
1077 it became the capital of
Danishmend. The area which
was damaged by a big flood in
1289 was connected to Eretna
Principality during the period
of Principalities. After the
short time occupation of Timur, it joined Ottoman Empire
in 1410. According to fiemseddin Sami’s records: “Niksar,
attached to the Tokat subdivision of the Sivas Province, is a
town with 9 townships and 80
villages with a population of
21.000 people.” We learn from
the almanacs of the period
that Niksar became an administrative district in 1840.
Niksar Castle
To go up to Niksar Castle does
not mean to see the stone buildings from this period of time; it also means to rethink
about the relationships chain
and the geographic position of
Niksar.
N‹KSAR KALES‹ (CASTLE)
The historical development of
Niksar also goes for the castle.
The first building of the castle
dates back to Roman period.
When it was built, three different lines like the walls defining the acropolis, and inner
and outer walls like the typical
Roman defense layout were
formed. Significant part of the
castle walls are within habitation area today. Only the part
between Ulu Mosque and Melik Gazi are standing today.
Most of the bastions that were
ruined because of earthquakes, wars and lack of maintenance are in square layouts.
The most known of these is
“Kulakl›” as the people call it.
Another characteristic of this
bastion is that it is a collected
sarcophagus lid from Byzantine era. There are churches,
cisterns, storages and many
spaces in the castle that was
strengthened against the raNiksar Castle Vault Grave
niksar
105
Ya¤›basan Madrasah
106
ids coming from south in the
7th and the 9th centuries.
The Madrasah, mosque and
Ya¤›basan Tomb that are ruined today were built by
Nizamettin Ya¤›basan during
Danishmend period.
YA⁄IBASAN MEDRESES‹
(MADRASAH)
Ya¤›basan Madrasah layout is
almost the same as the same
name building in center of Tokat: covered courtyard, two
antechambers and the top of
its vault dome is open. It was
MAHALEB SEED
(SEMEN PRUN‹
MAHALEB)
The plant found in Niksar is
the dried flowers of Prunus
mahaleb (Mahaleb) seeds.
Mahaleb is a 10m tree with
white flowers. To extract
mahaleb seeds the mature
fruits are dried in the sun
and the seeds are smashed
to dust. Found in Kelkit
Valley mahaleb is an important export product.
niksar
damaged in 1939 and 1942
earthquakes and its dome came down. There are two antechambers on the north and
east of the quadrangle space
and cell like rooms around it.
Stones of the crown door and
cover of the rubble stone Madrasah were removed. E. Yavi
says “the buildings epigraph
dated 1158 was found in Melik
Gazi Tomb by ‹.H. Uzunçarfl›l›”. Although the name Ya¤›basan is mentioned in the epigraph the founders of the building are registered as Nizameddin Ya¤›basan and Ali A¤a
in the 1897–1898 Education
Almanac. The mention of the
word Buk’a in the epigraph of
Saltuklu make Erzurum Yakutiye Madrasah, suggests that
the word “Buk’a” was used in
place of Madrasah. As per registries there was a social
complex in Niksar Castle consisting of a mosque, a hammam, a hospital, a madrasah
and a tomb. The Ya¤›basan
Madrasah is a part of this
complex as well. As the first
known madrasah in Anatolia,
the building has gone under
Kelkit Creek
107
new repair recently. A. Kuran,
who points out that “the Ya¤›basan Madrasahs are the oldest seminaries established in
Anatolia after the Battle of
Malazgirt”, is of the opinion
that “the single dome seminaries, hospitals, and convents
in the Seljukian, ‹lhanl›, Principalities and Ottoman eras were inspired by this plan.”
Functioning as a medicine
school till late 19th and
early 20th century, the building was visited by A. Gabriel
in 1920–1921 and following
notes were taken: The narrow
cradle vault section in the south is the entrance. There are
two antechambers opening to
the courtyard in the north and
east.
There are two identical cells at
the right and left of the north
antechamber and next to these cells there are two rooms
sticking out since they
were placed inside the
bastions.”
The Great Seljukian and the
Anatolian Seljukian seminaries were built as hospitals and
medical schools. A professor
was appointed for each course. One or two professors at
the seminaries of the Daniflmend era taught religion, medicine, philosophy, astronomy, language, and mathematics.
USEFUL PLANTS
Walnut leaf (Folium Tuglandis), Rose hip (RosaCcanina), Pomegranate tree bark,
Soy grass, Additionally, Cücek›z Mushroom, Kuzu Göbe¤i, Saçak Mushroom, Red
mushroom are imported to
several European countries.
niksar
Kelkit Creek
YA⁄IBASAN TÜRBES‹
(TOMB)
108
Because of the 1939 earthquake only the base stones of the
12th century built Ya¤›basan
Tomb of Ya¤›basan Madrasah
remained. According to A.
Gabriel, the octagon building
is interlaced with face stone
over rubble stone. Windows
are with brick vaults. The remains that are a little further
from the tomb, in the center of
castle belong to the building
THE LAND OF HEALING WATERS
AYVAZ WATER
It is said that Ayvaz water is
good for gall bladder and kidney disorders and high blood
pressure and intestinal diseases because of its low calcium rate. The 27°C water is
exported to Europe, Middle
East and Central Asian countries with the name “Health
Water”.
The water, believed to cure
jaundice, is widely used by
jaundice sufferers.
VARTAN WATER
Vartan water springs out from
many points in Keten Creek
area and Saray plain. The first
to discover the water is a person named Vartan. It is used
as a help in the treatment of
diseases like syphilis and
hepatitis. After 1970’s the
GOITER WATER
The goiter water in Çimenözü water was added to tab water.
village is said to be helpful in There are three hot springs
the treatment of the disease. around 250m from Sar›yaz›
(Onan) village west side of
SARILIK (JAUNDICE) HOT Kelkit River that is 16km from
Niksar. They are known with
SPRING
Sar›l›k Hot Springs out of a the names Yel, Urfiye and
creek near fieyhler Village. Uyuz.
niksar
Niksar Çamiçi Plateau
called “Kale Camii”. However,
there is no clear information
regarding its date. There are
two Turkish baths in the ‹çkale
Mahallesi inside the castle.
Kale Hamam› (Hammam) is
dated to the 12th century. The
other one is the Büyük Hamam
also called “Kral K›z› Hamam›”
and is dated to the 15th century and it is one of the best
preserved buildings here.
BÜYÜK HAMAM-KRAL KIZI
HAMAMI (HAMMAM)
Büyük Hamam in Fatih Sultan
Mehmet Street was built in
the 15th century. Except for
the dressing room rest has reached today in its original state. The single Turkish bath has
a three antechambers and a
private room in the corner. On
the walls and the floor of the
building consisting of rooms
lining from east to west as
dressing room, hall, hot room,
cold room, water tank and furnace, rubble stone and flat basalt stone were used respectively. The vaults of the doors
between the rooms are round.
The hall is kept quite charac-
teristic and its layout is an octagon and has a dome with a
light hole. The interfaces of
the octagon were shaped to
round niches and passage to
dome was provided with vaults. The bath basins in the
seclusion show another authenticity of the building. The
basin in front of the north side
is the most interesting one
among these. There are figure
embellishments on all three
sides of this cubic form basin
whose front sides are beveled.
On the front there is a human
figure with naked top and a loincloth wrapped bottom and
crossed feet. The waist down
was depicted from the profile
and the body was depicted
frontal. It looks like the human
figures on Seljuk period tiles.
Similar figures were used on
other sides and there is also a
composition of a partridge-like bird fighting two peacocks
with tails touching the ground
and a hawk-like bird. In the other basins with the same form
there are no figure embellishments. On the east one of these the motifs of life tree and
niksar
109
Leylekli Bridge
110
pomegranate tree are eye
catching. Now we can go onto
the other historical buildings
of the town. We should walk
around Arasta first. With the
new buildings left and right
signifies its value rather than
depreciating it. The bridge
right in the front of it is the
best known among the area
buildings.
LEYLEKL‹ / YILANLI KÖPRÜ
(BRIDGE)
Almost all the bridges over
Çanakç› Creek date back to
Roman and Byzantine eras.
Although the Leylekli Bridge
does not have an epigraph
either, it is understood that it
was built in the Roman period
and was repaired during the
Seljukian period. It is the
biggest and most famous of
single-arched bridges made of
cut stone with a semicircular
arch. It gets its name from the
figure made on the stone on
the vault, of a stork that holds
a snake in its mouth. The
other two important bridges
over the creek are named
Seymenli and Çilhane. When
we move toward Ünye Street
from here, we see a very old
building.
niksar
N‹KSAR ULU CAM‹‹
(MOSQUE)
Niksar Ulu Mosque alongside a
creek at the southeast skirts of
Niksar Castle was built by
Çenepnizade Hasan Bey. It is
one of the oldest among
Anatolian mosques and has
survived intact to the present
day. Evliya Çelebi refers to the
building as Melik Gazi
Mosque: “You go down five or
six steps to reach the Mosque.
This is an ancient mosque built
according to a lengthwise plan,
and it is named after the conqueror of the castle.” The
remains known as Hac› Ç›kr›k
Tomb and of which cellar
remains only today, belongs to
Çenepnizade Hasan Efendi
who built Ulu Camii. Collected
stones in big blocks are used
on the corners of the rubble
stone mosque and on the outer
faces of the crutches surrounding the building. Windows,
crutches, and vaults are also
made of cut stone. The building that was split into seven
naves and four rows of supports consisting of six square
beam crutches placed vertical
to the altar wall, does not have
a courtyard. The square space
is covered with a vault. Despite
Ulu Mosque
the
layouts’
expansion
towards the building depth
and naves’ lying vertical to the
altar walls are considered as
characteristics, it is connected
to the Byzantine churches in
the region. The crown door at
the north front is the most eye
catching element of the building in terms of embellishment.
Three borders embellished
with motifs like six pointed
star, arrow tip, four keys surround the crown door. The epigraph place is empty. Altar
repeats the style of the crown
door in terms of embellishment. Three borders surround
the altar niche. The niche with
three muqarnas on its semidome is limited with two pillars
with borders. Seljuk star work
and rosettes are also among
the niche embellishments. The
lantern in the altar front dome,
the asymmetric placement of
the crown door and the
crooked northeast corner are
the distinct characteristics of
the building. The cover system
of the mosque is flat roof
besides the domes. There are
four narrow windows on the
main axis of the dome. It is
understood that there was a
gathering-place here with
wooden separations or wooden mezzanine floor. The
remains of wood frame points
out that there was a mezzanine
floor gathering-place here in
19th century.
The Mosque is situated at the
beginning of the ancient road
leading to Erzincan, which was
a capital in the ‹lhanl› period.
ÇÖRE⁄‹ BÜYÜK CAM‹‹ /
TEKKES‹ (MOSQUE /
DERVISH LODGE)
This is an ‹lhanl› monument
built in the 14th century during
Ebu Said Bahad›r Han’s period.
The square planned building
Ulu Mosque
niksar
111
Çöre¤i Büyük Dervish Lodge
112
was planned as a dervish lodge
and a convent but damaged by
earthquakes only the portal
wall of the building stands and
the separated sections inside
are ruined.
There is an octagon fountain in
the courtyard. The porticos are
made of cut stone and other
sections are made with rubble
stone.
The crown door is embellished
with geometric, botanic motifs
and a gazelle-like animal figure. It is thought that it got its
name (Çörek= bun) from the
two discs that look like buns
on either side of the door. The
fountain opposite the Mosque
is made of Roman sarcophagus
stones brought from the
necropolis area on Harmanc›k
Hill. The name “Lülecizade
Brothers” refers to the signature on the large-text sülüs
inscription. New buildings
have almost completely surrounded one of the monumental buildings of Niksar.
However, the building stands
in this new texture as a symbol
of historical aesthetic.
niksar
KIRK KIZLAR / KIRGIZLAR
KÜMBETi (DOME)
The tomb in K›rk K›zlar
Mahallesi, differently from the
others is a brickwork building
of monumental value. The date
it was made according to its
epigraph that is missing today
is 1220. A. Gabriel, recorded
this tomb as “the work of
architect Ahmed bin Ebubekir
who built Sivas Keykavus I
Hospital”. The octagon shaped
pyramidal cone is ruined and
only the fringes and brick
dome remained. The area of
the tomb where the sarcophaguses are placed is faced with
cut stone. This part has a separate door and two small ventilation windows. The most
important characteristic of the
funeral section is the base in
the middle of the lower floor.
This base did not reach today.
The main room is brickwork
with large grout seams. Outer
corners join on top of the
building and provide a decorative effect. There are two windows in the middle of the nonfunction niches on two sides of
K›rk K›zlar Dome
the tomb. There are embellishments made of pentagon
bricks on one of the window
pediments and of Seljuk style
brick and turquoise color tiles
on the other. We can count
some of the other buildings in
Niksar worth seeing as: Cin
Mosque located in the Tafl
Mektep Mahallesi is believed
to be built in 1160 during
Danishmend principality era;
Keflfi Mosque with the grave of
Keflfi Osman Efendi of
Celvetiye sect in its courtyard;
Çavufl Hamam› located in the
Taflra Mahallesi dated the 15th
century; Hac› Ç›kr›k Tomb (also
known as “Ç›kr›k Evliya” and
“Keykubat Tomb”) in the
Bengiler Mahallesi, on the epigraph of which writes “belongs
to K›l›çarslan II’s commander
Bedreddin fiahin fiah”.
Gazi, the former of the Danishmendli State, has been built by
the orders of his grandson, Nizamettin Ya¤›basan (1143 –
1164), in the mid 12th century.
Later the tomb has been damaged and rebuilt during the Ottoman period in the mid 15th
century and today what we observe is the architecture from
that renovation. Nearly square
but rectangle planned tomb
has been renovated for several
times till today.
The tomb with the entrance on
the northern façade has been
built by clay tiles, rubble stone
and cut stone.
On east, west and south facades, girder with 3 lines of clay
tiles are built between the
rubble stones. The northern façade is covered with cut stone
totally.
MEL‹K GAZ‹ TÜRBES‹
(TOMB)
HOUSES OF N‹KSAR
The tomb belonging to Melik
Daniflmend Gümüfltekin Ahmet
In almost all Neighborhoods
on the skirts of the castle,
traces of Niksar’s traditional
niksar
113
Softao¤lu Mansion
114
domicil architecture can be
observed. There are mansions
that reflect the past of the town
on Fatih Sultan Street which
the people call “Hükümet
Yolu” (government road) since
official buildings were gathered on it. Sofao¤lu Mansion
that the municipality bought
and converted to a hotel and
Ömerzade House are on the
top of the list of buildings to
see. Wood is primary in
Niksar’s houses. One reason is
the large pine forests behind
the town, and another is that it
was affected by the wooden
architecture of the nearby
Black Sea Region. In Niksar
houses a mixture of Black Sea
and Central Anatolian domicil
architecture is seen. These are
generally two and three-storey
houses. Since the majority of
the houses are built in a terrace, bay windows are not frequently seen on the facades.
As we walk towards the
entrance of the town, we can
continue to know Niksar in different dimensions with a building that served health in the
past and now is resisting time
in its own way. Here in the
cemetery lying next to the traditional architecture of Niksar,
monumental buildings of the
past like Kulak Tomb/ Dome,
Akyap› Dome, Do¤anflah Alp
niksar
Tomb can be seen. In a grave
that we will see here laid minstrel poet Emrah of Erzurum
who ties us to this land more
deeply with his poems and
songs.
ÇAM‹Ç‹ PLATEAU
While here, it is a must to go up
to Çamiçi Plateau on the mountains of Niksar that extend to
Black Sea. This plateau in the
middle of pine forests with its
accommodation facilities is
raided by visitors in the recent
years. Especially Çamiçi
Plateau festivities increased
the interest in the plateau.
Service apartments and other
accommodation facilities serve
year round.
AGRICULTURE
TOURISM
KÜÇÜK A⁄A FARM
Davut Koçer and family host
8 people in their farm on the
5th, 6th, 7th, 9th, 10th
months. In the farm, activities like wall nut harvesting,
drying and peeling of wall
nuts, care of fruit trees and
animals are carried out. Organic agriculture is also done
in the farm. The farm hosted
many visitors from 12 different countries in 3 years.
BAfiÇ‹FTL‹K
A view from Baflçiftlik
116
Starting from Tokat center and
going to the same direction
again we drew almost an oval
route. Baflçiftlik at this point
of the route is a settlement
that just got the ‘town’ status.
Actually we can evaluate the
progress of the town as the
growth of an adventure started by a very few people on this
land which inspires that borderless farms can be founded.
Locals speak of the name of
their town as “Baflçiftlik
(meaning the main farm)
name was converted from
Beflçiftlik (five farms) formed
by the combining of five farms
here”On this very plain past,
Plateau
Baflçiftlik people are growing
another historical product of
Tokat: Rugs. You can see in
almost all villages, homes and
workshops here that rugs and
kilim are woven. The economy
of the town is 75% dependent
on rugs; for example, in the
villages 7000 m2 rugs are
woven annually.
Although hard to find you can
come across almost all characteristics
of
Central
Anatolian and historical Tokat
weaves in some villages. In
this weaves pure wool and
natural dyes extracted from
plants, rocks and roots are
used. The Big Çal Hill west of
Baflçiftlik, Çart›l, Sivrilce north
of it and high hills on which
there are Karaçam forests the
south of it and the flat areas
east of it are great for hiking
especially in spring.
PARAGLIDING
Saman Mountain at 1800m
in Baflçiftlik is the area that
paragliding was first tried in
2003.
baflçiftlik
ALMUS
Almus Dam Lake
118
The historical name of Almus
town is Alumus in registeries.
Ali Cevad registered it as “Almus-u Kebir town connected
to the shire of Tokat” in the
Ottoman period. Almus was
ruled by the Seljuk State, the
Eretna Khanate, and the Kad›
Burhaneddin Khanate. The region conquered by the Ottomans in 1399 in the reign of
Y›ld›r›m Bayezid was ruled by
Timur for a short time in 1402,
and again annexed to the Ottoman state in 1413. Almus, attached to Tokat central district
in the early Republican era,
became an administrative district in 1954. The town near Almus Dam Lake was relocated
four
times
till
today.
The town that is established
on one of the high points of
Tozanl› Valley opening in the
east-west direction has been
on a passage that goes down
both to Tozanl› Valley and Komana city.
The first settlement is 3km south of today. If the area that
the locals call Old Almus had
not disappeared, we would
have seen an architectural and
almus
historical texture that we see
in many of Tokat’s towns. Because, on this area the traces
that belong to very old buildings can still be seen today.
Besides, the necropolis in the
Çayönü Village, the mound
and necropolis in Tarla area of
Ar›su, the historical Islamic cemetery in Serince Village and
the mound and necropolis in
Maflatatepe across from Tufantepe are important in terms
of archeological sites. We can
say that the workshop dating
in the village of Bak›ml›, dating from the Early Bronze
Age, even though only limited
surveys have been carried out,
is sufficient to cause us to reflect on the historical process.
Both because of the relocation
of the town and because of the
continuous damages and forests covering the mound made it hard to trace history. Part
of Tufantepe, the second settlement area of Almus was under the dam water and the remaining part was afforested.
Brick-dust foundations, a necropolis dating back to the
Byzantine period and clay ob-
Almus Dam Lake
jects here and there can still
be observed in this area.
ALMUS DAM LAKE
Important as a trout farm today Almus Dam Lake was made where Yeflil›rmak River makes an elbow and enters Omala Plain in the composite earth
dam type. The dam is surrounded by forests.
There are many bays in the coasts. The lake is also a suitable track for water sports.
The tomb at Görümlü (Varz›l),
which dates back to the 16th
century and is believed to be
that of Kul Himmed, a renowned minstrel poet who was the
disciple of Pir Sultan Abdal, is
a significant site at Almus in
terms of faith tourism.
Another centre on this faith
tourism route is Hubyar Village. The village and convent at
the skirts of the highest mountain of the region Tekeli/Dokuzlar Mountain (2640m) has
an important place in the semah culture of the place and
contributes to the folklore of
the region by qualities like the
preservation of the traditional
attire. Now as we move further
southeast, we will be at one
of the border points of Tokat
and Sivas. On the way there
are again forests, valleys,
riversides.
Merkez Mosque
almus
119
Dumanl› Plateau
REfiAD‹YE
A view from Refladiye
122
The historical name of Refladiye is Eskefser. It was changed
to Refladiye in 1906 in dedication to Sultan Mehmed Reflat.
The city came under Ottoman
rule in 1461 in the reign of Fatih Sultan Mehmet. Refladiye,
which was a settlement throughout the Ottoman era, was
given the status of township in
1906.
CASTLES
Refladiye, located in the middle of the Kelkit Valley, which
runs like a narrow corridor in
an east-west direction, is situated in an area where, due
to its strategic position, sentinel type castles were always
concentrated. There are many
station type castles on the
Refladiye
refladiye
area between the Niksar Castle in the north and the Koyulhisar Castle in the east that almost disappeared. There are
many findings in these castles
belonging to Roman, Byzantine and Turkish eras. The castles are not only built to control
the crossing routes but the
area as well. These castles depending on the area are Tarfu,
Güllü Köy, Feselek, Saraydüzü, Kalecik, Mengen, Kaledüzü, K›z›lcaviran, Tozanl› River
and Turaç Village castles. None of them have survived to
our day intact. Some are entirely ruined; very few have the
basement remain. There is
still no clear information about the site where Refladiye
was first founded. Prof. Ata-
Refladiye
soy, who is a native of Refladiye, considers it to be Kaledüzü
at the top of Ulu and Keçiköy.
At the time Evliya Çelebi was
taking notes on the region,
Refladiye was the township of
Eskefser attached to the Erzurum Province. Because of all
this change there is not historical architecture in the region. Çarfl› Mosque on Hükümet
Yolu is the only example in
that sense. This is a small,
square mosque.
The jerkin head is covered
with roof tiles. The final congregation area in the north
was added later. There is a
timber fountain in the west.
Simple woodwork is only seen
on the ceiling navel. Mihrab
and gallery balustrades display delicate carvings.
LAKE Z‹NAV
Refladiye however, also means Lake Zinav to some extent.
This is a freshwater lake at a
distance of 3 km from the
township of Yolüstü.
The lake is fed by a brook
which runs down from the mountains. The lake is 1,5 km2 in
size. With an outlet discharging from the downstream side, the Lake joins the Kelkit
Stream. There are no marshy
areas around it. Its average
depth varies between 10-15 m.
The forest around the lake is
under a preservation order. A
café was built with ‹ller (Provinces) Bank funds. There are
delicious carp and rudd in the
lake. One of the major reasons
why the people of the region
are attracted to the lakeside is
Refladiye Delice Valley
refladiye
123
Lake Zinav
124
the magnificent view of sunsets. The Lake, which has been put under a preservation
order by the Ministry of Forestry as a Natural Life Preservation Site accommodates
many bird species and is a refuge for migratory birds. Lake
Göllüköy is larger than Zinav.
Fed by leaks from neighboring
creeks and winter waters, the
average depth of the lake is
7m. We will go up to a plateau
from here where Refladiye accommodates visitors from outside. Selemen, Bozçal› and K›z›lcaören are the primary plaSelemen Plateau
refladiye
teaus of the borough for visiting and living.
SELEMEN PLATEAU
Selemen Plateau drawing the
border of the area with city of
Ordu is where Yavuz Sultan
Selim stopped over with his
army and did his Friday prayer
in 1514 when he was on his
Çald›ran Battle. There is another specialty of the plateau:
money does not work here. On
Selemen Plateau every Friday
in spring months till the first
drop of snow, a traditional
plateau market is set. People
Refladiye Thermal Spring
from the cities of Tokat, Ordu,
Samsun, Giresun, and Sivas
provide their needs by the
products that they bring. In
this market the trade is done
by exchange; this is important
as to the cultural treasure of
the region. One side of this
mountain faces the valleys
that give the town its characteristic. Refladiye is related to
both Tozanl› and Kelkit Valleys. Tozanl› enters the town
from north of Eyüp Village,
Kelkit enters from nearby
Umurca Village. Kelkit Valley
is very bumpy. This valley separates the Canik Mountains
and the second set of mountains that lie in the middle of the
province.
The valley that is narrow till
Refladiye gets larger here and
forms Refladiye plain covered
with incredible mountains and
forests. Although highly dependent on agriculture, animal breeding, poultry rising,
beekeeping, fisheries continue in Refladiye’s economy.
Rugs are also among the sources of living. Bentonite extracted in Refladiye is processed
in Samafl Bentonite Factory.
Lebanese Cedar that grows in
the set of forests in Kale/Çatalan and Niksar-Ak›nc›lar is an
important local tree kind.
REfiAD‹YE THERMAL
SPRINGS
The springs that have the therapy properties are an important part of tourism in the
town. Refladiye potable water
analysis results given in the
clinical report submitted by
the Medical Ecology and
Hydro-Climatology Research
Centre at ‹stanbul University
are as follows: “All types of
rheumatism, orthopedic problems (bone fractures and dislocations), post-operational
problems and gynaecological
problems can be cured at the
thermal springs, which have a
hyper-thermal temperature of
48 degrees and a mineral content as high as 4 g/l.”
The waters of the Refladiye
thermal springs are between
40 - 49°C in temperature. The
odourless and colourless water is slightly salty and sour.
The water is said to heal rheumatism, various painful disturbances and dermatological
diseases.
refladiye
125
TRADITIONAL
CULTURE
Ceiling, Wood Carving
HANDICRAFT
Wood Carving
In the center of Tokat, in its
towns, villages you will see
the doors, cabinets, banisters,
altars, walls and ceilings; well
those tell what is to be told.
They tell you about the world
of the masters that give color
and sound, life and character
to wood.
What the pencil work, the cutter, the nail, the paint tells the
people here and the visitors is
actually little traces, signs and
adventure of the world we
want to live in. Every wood
master puts himself into his
work. But he does the work taking into consideration the social status, living style and
dreams of the customer. The
hand holding the tool is the
accumulation of the civilizations, tribes that lived in Tokat.
This is the essence of wood
carving in Tokat.
Jewellery
Jewellery had an important
place in Tokat which had a sig-
nificant commercial art potential during Seljuk and Ottoman periods. Although very
few artists remain today, “Tokat Bracelet” made by special
experience and skill is still popular today.
Saddlery
(Leather accessories)
Saddlery, one of our traditional crafts, is still a profession
in Tokat despite all the pressure of time and technology.
Saddlery was highly demanded in the past and therefore
became an important craft.
The saddlery products, mainly
couplings are made by only a
very few masters today but
still pour out from Tokat to
east and south east.
Garden Lantern
Manufacturing
These garden lanterns, which
are in different sizes and shapes, and produced by the only
and probably the last master
in the modest workshop in
Taflhan, shed light to the space, that belongs to our past.
traditional culture
129
Ceramic Production
Ceramics-Pottery
The ceramics production increasing due to the richness of
raw material and suitable climate conditions of Tokat was
used in surrounding buildings
mainly in Sivas. Daily use
items like jars, bowls, pitchers
made of green, yellow or
brown enameled thick red dough, quadrangle, hexagon
bricks and old fashion kiln tiles are product types.
Ceramics made in various sizes to contain food were the
indispensables in the nomadic, plateau and settled life.
Large size grain jars are important examples. These jars
used to be made by mobile
masters. Up until 1970 this
craft was being carried out in
four workshops, still lives in
Emirseyit
town
today.
done by hand drawing or by
printing with wooden moulds
on silk or cotton fabric using
various dyes. The examples of
this craft are mostly seen on
head covers that women use.
They are also used as table
cloth or duvet cover.
In Tokat all kinds of kerchiefs
used in every region are printed. However, the most important characteristic of Tokat
kerchiefs is the multicolored
print. The colors and patterns
are uniquely beautiful. There
are two authentic Tokat patterns: Tokat ‹çi Dolusu, Tokat
Elmal›s›.
Grouter
Kerchief Making – Hand
Painting on Muslin
It is a fabric decorating craft
traditional culture
131
Traditional Crafts
Copperworking
Traditional Embroidery Art
Copper is one of the most widely used mines in Anatolia.
Copper is bought in sheets
and cut, shaped by hitting by
wooden bats or hammers. Nailing and scratching are the
most common finishing processes.
Tokat was an important copper processing center in the
Ottoman Era. It took a big industrial state in second half of
17th century. In this period the
copper extracted out of the
mines in Ergani was processed in Tokat.
Part of the pure copper obtained was sent to ‹stanbul by
sea from Samsun after being
carried to Samsun over Amasya.
Part of it was left in Tokat to
be used by craftsmen in copperware production. Today
copper is used mostly in decorative items.
In Tokat garments like salta,
entari, peflli entari, üçetek, saya, önlük (apron), tuzluk, kuflak (thick belt), cepken, z›vga,
aba, yelek, gazeki, gömlek
(shirt), flalvar, ya¤l›k, yazma,
çit, findi, fes (fez), burmal› fes,
fermene, saçl›k, saç ba¤› (hair
scarve), bel ba¤› (belt) used to
be hand woven and dyed with
root dyes.
The motifs used to be taken
from social life elements like
daughter in law - mother in
law relationship, love, happiness, old-age, widowhood, jealousy. The names of the embroidery motifs used on the
garments are black embroidery, ram horn, eyelashes,
moon, embroiled, apron, three rocks, sweet cakes, flamatl›,
plain karayazma, Arapkir saya, wolf trace, blackbird, kilim,
serpme, d›fl saya, karayazma,
and aynal› önlük.
traditional culture
133
THE TURKISH BOW AND
ARROW IS WAKING UP
FROM ITS CENTENNIAL
SLEEP
Dr. Y. Metin Aksoy, who is
known by Tokat’s culture elite
by his wood carving work, has
allotted his atelier and spare
time to revitalize the Turkish
bow and arrow since 2005. The
Turkish bow that entered in
world literature as “Turkish
Horn bow” is one of our forgotten values whose production
has stopped at the beginning
of the century and know-how
has been forgotten. With the
loss of function of ‹stanbul
Okmeydan› at the beginning of
the century, unfortunately the
production of this weapon
which played the main part in
the states that Turks founded
and the wars they won,
stopped and since new masters
were not trained the know-how
of bow making took its place
among our forgotten cultural
values. Up until 2005 copies of
Turkish bow was being made
by a few of its fans. At this date,
it became “an unstoppable
passion”, as per his own
expression, for Dr. Y. Metin
Aksoy to again make these
bows that he saw in ‹stanbul
Military Museum. At the end of
the process that started with
the translation of Ottoman
texts to contemporary Turkish
and the reading of books in
world literature that describe
the Turkish bow, although not
as strong and fast as the original ones, the first bows started
to come out of the workshop.
Dr. Y. Metin Aksoy explains
that they were able to bring the
basic principles of bow making
to sunlight but that it may take
a decade to discover all the
secrets of the bows that used
to throw arrows to 824 meters
in history.
TRADITIONAL ATTIRE
Female Attire:
‹ç Saya - ‹ç Gömlek (inner
shirt): Intimate wear made of
white cotton fabric, V neck
with edge trim, ankle length,
slits on two sides, and sides
embroidered to waist. Also
used as a night gown.
D›fl Saya - Üç Pefl (outer
shirt): Worn over ‘inner saya’,
V neck ‘d›fl saya’ is called ‘üç
pefl’ (three pieces) since it has
three skirts one in the front,
two at the back made of velvet, etamine or thick woven
fabric. It is longer than ‘iç saya’. The back, neck and across
back are embroidered. It is
made of kutnu (dense fabric
weaved with cotton and silk)
fabric.
fialvar (baggy pants): The
crotch of ‘flalvar’ (baggy trousers) made of kutnu fabric,
white cloth and flannel is
short. The ones made of white
cloth are embroidered at a
span at the ankle level.
Ya¤l›k: It is made to cover
the V neck opening of outer
saya and is embellished with
beads.
Önlük-fial Öynük (shawl): It is
a garment that is woven on looms in two pieces with woolen
yarns, with the raw edges
crocheted and is embellished
with sequins and beads.
Aynal› Çar›k (moccasins): A
mirror is placed inside the
front of the foot and secured
with a button. A buckle is added and is embellished with
colorful yarns.
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135
Necklace, Ottoman Period
Fes –Semerli Fes/Parçal›
Fes/Terek Al› (fez): It is made
of felt. It is a head cover embellished with silver and gold
coins at the front.
Arkal›k: Yellow-red, whitered, yellow-white striped three or four panels are sewn together and the back is fringed
at 40-50 cm.
Beady waist band: Small colored beads are attached to the
fringes of arkal›k and these
fringes are attached to the kolan knitted of wool and this is
wrapped around the waist.
Saç Ba¤› (hair band): The hair
is mostly braided. Blue beads
are attached among the
braided hair.
Çit – Findi- Elmal›: Çit and findi, is a thin veil cover that is
crocheted with sequins and is
used over fez.
Çorap (socks): Handmade
socks are usually in red and
are embroidered with yellow,
white and blue.
Male Attire:
Terlik: Made of cotton cloth or
white etamine by rushing the
top and is embroidered with
colored yarn and worn on the
head. There is also the fez made of red felt and worn by
wrapping a shawl around.
‹fllik: Shirt without a collar
and is hand woven in looms
with yellow, red and white
yarns and is printed.
Aba: A jacket with no shoulder
seams, with long sleeves and
side slits. And it is made of
thick fabric woven in looms.
Yelek (vest): Lined, button
front, U neck garment.
Cepken: Made of dark color
velvet or broadcloth. Embellished at front or back.
Z›z›ga: Pants woven in looms.
Pocket opening and inside the
leg opening is embroidered
with cords.
Kuflak: A garment wrapped
around waist woven in a square shape and in red, green,
yellow stripes. Money bag,
watch chain and hankerchief
are used as accessories.
Yemeni- Çapula/Çar›k (footwear): Çar›k is made of buffalo or ox skin and added with
strings or buckle. Also Yemeni
with a thin sole is worn. Çapula is a short leg boot.
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137
TRADITIONAL
FOLK DANCE
Tokat is in the “Halay Region”.
The dances are either separate as women and men or mixed and are accompanied by
instruments like drum, zurna
(kind of trumpet), ba¤lama
(kind of banjo), flute, and tambourine and sometimes with a
folk song. In the plays; themes
like solidarity, love, faith, disaster, war, peace, nature,
mankind, animal relationships
based on religion, society and
entertainment are performed
and there are about 140 plots/
choreographies. Plays; consist of three parts as a¤›rlama,
yanlama and yelleme. Rhythm
wise they are 2/4, 4/4, 7/8 or
9/8. Tokat a¤›rlamas›, Tombul
Makine K›z›k Halay›, Ellik Halay›, K›rat, Karadut, Ters Bico
Çekirge Emine Can Kazova
Yanlamas›, Temira¤a, Koççari,
Mero Sar›k›z, Üçayak, Yaryand›m, Simsim, Kartal, Gönüller
Semah› and Caucasion Dances
(fieflen, Kafe, Vuig) are the
ones performed often in the
region. And also in rituals
Hubyar Semah› and K›rklar Semah› are performed.
Tokat A¤›rlamas›
The welcoming, hosting and
contending of the guests coming to the wedding are told.
There are three different melodies and three parts as “a¤›rlama”, “yanlama” and “yelleme”. Omuz Halay› is another
play within this play. The bride
and her friends are picked up
and brought to the groom’s
house on horses.
The groom and his friends
kneel down to take the girls
on horses on their shoulders.
Simsim
Usually played on wedding
nights. Played around a big
fire.
Kartal Halay›
Played with player imitating
the eagle flying, floating and
attacking its victim.
Koyun Yüzü - Saya Gezme Deve Oyunu
This play carrying dramatic
elements, expresses the joy
felt in the equinox when the
sheep give birth to lambs. It is
played with 12 people like the
old man, bride, lover, beggar,
etc who walk around the houses collect food and then eat
together and have a good
time.
K›rklar Semah›
(H›z›r Semah›)
The whirling done in Tokat
among the Alevi population is
the same as the one done all
over Anatolia.
Ellik Play and Guinness
Record
Tokat made it in Guinness Book of Records, in August 2009,
when 1040 people danced ‘Ellik Halay›’ a regional folk dance in Cumhuriyet Square in Tokat with the purpose of promoting Tokat to the world.
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139
Pehlili
TRADITIONAL
CUISINE
dients to lentil and fettuchini
and serve hot.
Tokat with its history going
back to 5000’s B.C. and being a
geographic passage, has a rich
cuisine culture with the influence of the different cultures it
hosted.
Meals
Tokat Çöre¤i (cookie)
Available all the time, “Tokat
Çöre¤i” is an indispensable on
the dinner table of all houses
especially in Ramadan. Perfectly light for diabetics and
made of chickpea yeast, “Tokat Çöre¤i” can be made plain
as well as with walnut or with
walnut and raisin.
Soups
Bacakl› Soup, Bütün Soup, Çatal Soup (Niksar Area), Erikli
Soup (Niksar Area), Gendüme
Soup, Mercimekli Hamur, Mercimekli Helle Soup, Yogurt Soup with Chickpeas, Pezüklü
Toyga Soup, Green Bean Soup,
Zo¤all› Soup (Niksar Area).
Bacakl› Soup
Ingredients: 1 cup eriflte (home made macaroni), 1 cup lentil, 2 onions, 1 tomato, 3 green
Tokat peppers, 150 g salted
fat, salt, black pepper, cumin,
mint.
Preparation: Pick lentil out clean, wash and boil in salted water. Add fettuchini in the boiling lentil. In a separate pot stir
cubed onions and sauteed
peppers to yellowish color in
salted fat, add tomato. Add
spices. Add the sauteed ingre-
Ayval› Yahni (Meat Stew with
Onions and Quince) (from Zile),
Baklal› Sarma (Rolls with Broad Beans), Bat (with Walnut),
Bulgur Domates Yeme¤i (Dish
with Boiled and Pounded Wheat and Tomato), But Yarmas›
(Dish with Rump Steak), Çökelekli Katmer (Flaky Pastry with
“Çökelek” Cheese), Domates
Biber Yeme¤i (Dish with Tomato and Pepper), Ebe Gömeci
(Mallow), Ekmek Afl› (Dish with
Bread), Erikli Yavan Sarma
(Plain Rolls with Plums), Etli
Bütün So¤an Yahnisi (Meat
Stew with Whole Onion), Etli
Yaprak Sarmas› (Rolls with Meat), Gelmifl, Haflhafll› ve Cevizli
Parmak (Dish with Poppy and
Walnut) (from Erbaa), Hafl›l, Ispanakl› M›hlama (Egg, Onion
and Minced Meat Dish with
Spinach), ‹flkefe, Kabak Kabu¤u Kavurmas› (Fried Marrow
Skin), Keflkek, Kete (from Turhal), Kömeç Yeme¤i (“Kömeç”
Dish), Kuru Bamya (Dried Okra), Kuru Patl›can Yeme¤i (Dried Aubergine Dish), Mad›mak,
Mayal› Pifli (Fried Soft Dough
with Yeast), Mercimekli Bulgur
Pilav› (Boiled and Pounded
Wheat with Lentil), Nivik, Pancar Dal› Silkelemesi (Dish with
Beet), Pancar Yeme¤i (Dish
with Beetroot), Patl›can Dizme
(Aubergine Dish), Patl›canl›
Pehli (“Pehli” with Aubergine)
(from Zile), Pehli, P›rasa Sarmas› (Leek Rolls), Sirrun, Sohta Cörme, S›psi, Taze Fasulye
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141
Tokat Kebab
Kavurmas› (Fried Gren Beans),
Tokat Kebab› (Tokat Kebab),
Tokat Tavas› (Tokat Pan Dish),
Turflulu (Dish with Pickles)
(from Zile), Velibah (from Turhal), Yeflil Fasulyeli Bulgur Pilav› (Boiled and Pounded Wheat with Green Beans), Yo¤urtlu
Zeytinya¤l› Patl›can (Aubergine with Yoghurt and Olive Oil),
Yufkal› Pilav (Thin Sheet of Dough and Rice) (from Turhal),
Yumurtal› Pürpürüm Kavurmas› (Fried “Pürpürüm” with
Eggs), The flat bread of Tokat
with minced meat and curd.
Bat (With Walnuts)
Ingredients: 1 cup boiled green lentil, 2 spoons tomato paste, 2 tomatoes, 2 onions,
spring onions (3-5 sprouts),
200g grape leaves, 3 cups water, 1 small cup ground walnuts, 1 spoon dried basil, 1
bunch dills, 1 teaspoon paprika, and salt.
Preparation: Boil the lentil and
cool it off. Mix tomato paste,
walnuts, washed and sliced tomatoes, dill, basil, onion,
spring onion. Serve Bat with
grape leaves and home made
bread.
Pehli
Ingredients: 1.5 kg lamb, leg
and loin (Karayaka lamb), 3
cups water, 2 spoons butter,
salt.
Preparation: Melt butter in a
pan. Fry the meat well. Transfer to a cooker. Heat water and
add on the meat. Cook over the
stove. Add salt half hour later
and cook the meat very well.
Serve with rice pilaf and chickpeas and serve hot.
Tokat Kebab
Ingredients: 1.5kg fresh lamb
meat, 500g tail fat, 1 kg eggplant, 1kg tomato, 300g pepper, 6 potatoes, 10 small onions, 6 teeth of garlic, 10 long
lavash bread.
Preparation: Cover the mid size sauteed meat with rock salt.
Split the eggplants in half without peeling. Rub inner sides
against each other using rock
salt. Sautee to thumb size. Peel the potatoes and cut into
half cm circles. Rub the kebab
shishes tail fat. Later on the
shishes string the in the order
of 1 piece of tail fat, 1 whole
garlic, 1 piece of sauteed meat,
1 piece of eggplant, 1 piece of
potato. Use 1 whole garlic in
each shish. Cut the tomatoes
in half and place on the tray of
the kebab stove. Align the
shishes on the stove in the order of cooking and place on the
pan with the tomatoes. After
cooking for 20-30 minutes, place the shishes on the tray lined
with lavash bread. Place the
tomatoes in the middle. Add
kebab fat in the middle of tomato. This meal is cooked in
special stoves made with the
soil found in old Tokat houses.
Tokat kebab is a ritual from
preparation to cooking to eating manners. It is cultural treasure left by the people of pleasure and leisure. The oven of
the Tokat kebab is an indispensable tradition of Tokat vineyards. To be able to make thetraditional culture
143
T›rt›l Baklava
se ovens is a measure of mastering and value in Tokat area.
Every ingredient of the kebab
requires skill. It is said that Tokat oven is the most advanced
among Anatolian civilizations.
With its special built it avoids
direct contact of the food with
heat; meaning, the vegetable
and meat is both grilled and
placed into the oven with the
perspiration technique.
The vegetables and meat are
hung inside the oven and this
way they are cooked evenly.
Tokat kebab is easy to digest
although the opposite might
be thought, since it is cooked
in dry heat. When the old
ovens are examined it is seen
that in the past Tokat kebab
was cooked in ovens that were
heated without facing fire. But
later when commercialized to
catch up with time, Tokat kebab started being cooked in
valonia wood fire and lasted
till today.
Basta-fiipsi
(Caucasian Cuisine)
Ingredients: 1 big chicken, 2
onions, half cup olive oil, 3-4
teeth garlic, sea salt, black
pepper, water, 1 spoon butter,
2 spoons flour, 1 spoon tomato
paste, 1 cup bulgur.
Preparation: Smoke the chicken and then wash and chop.
Fry sauteed onions in oil, add
the chopped chicken. Add the
garlic and stir for a while. Add
black pepper and salt and cover with water and boil. In a separate pan stir the flour with
butter a little, add tomato paste and continue to stir. Add
chicken broth. When boiled
add the chopped chicken and
cook for 10 minutes. For the
Basta boil the bulgur, water
and salt mixture. Mesh the boiled bulgur with a spoon, to
help chicken broth can be added. When meshed thoroughly
(to a smooth paste) transfer to
a round tray and flatten, make
a hole in the center. While serving, put the meat on the sides
and the soup in the hole in the
center.
Desserts
Kuru Erik Tatl›s› (Dried Plum
Dessert), Leylek Gili¤i, Pancar
Tatl›s› (Beetroot Dessert) (from
Turhal), Pekmez Helvas› (Halva
with Grape Molasses) (from
Turhal), Yufka Tatl›s› (Dessert
with Thin Sheet of Dough).
Dried Plum Dessert
Ingredients: 500g dried plum,
sugar, water, 1 cup ground walnut.
Recipe: Wash the plums. Fill a
pan with water up to an inch
above plums. Cook the plums
for about 10 minutes till they
get soft. Add 2 cups sugar, cook for 7 minutes and taste.
Amount of sugar can be
adjusted. Boil with the lid off
till the water gets syrupy. Place
in a flat plate and leave to cool
off. Add walnuts when
cool. Vine leaves of Tokat, rosehip, Zile grape molasses are
the hightlights of Tokat cuisine, one should taste.
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145
VERBAL CULTURE
In Tokat developed on an
amazing historical treasure,
like allover Anatolia and in near geographies and idioms
are an important part of daily
life.
146
To pull the axe out of wood:
To figure a difficult matter out
To burst out of skin: To get
very mad, angry.
To pull out nine carts of grass
out of where nine sheep can’t
feed: To take advantage of
even the most unsuitable situations.
To settle in ones bed: To learn
the job and take it in own
hands
To drop an eye: To gape in
envy
To hunt flies in a dream: To
talk nonsense
To milk down on the ground:
To beg in vain
He is chipping eggshells:
Used for very stingy people.
They turned him into an ox by
praising, and grew his horn:
To compliment exaggeratingly and drift away from reality.
Row meat looks ugly: To criticize cruel behavior
Riddles
The most important part of
the cultural life of the region
is the natural life and natural
events. This can also be observed in riddles.
traditional culture
My door’s threshold, my
baby’s cradle. (Tree, wood)
Ali Bey’s mule carries forty
adventures. (Hedgehog)
A scream, a yell, comes out a
silver ball. (Egg)
I have a strainer full of chicks;
I throw them in the evening
and collect in the morning.
(Star)
Two chickens in a tray, one is
hot one is cold. (Sun-moon)
Walk gently leave no trace,
walk fast leave no dust.
(Shadow)
I kicked it rolled, I kissed it
got sweet, honey and almond,
a nice Adam. (Melon)
Layered but not layered; red
but not apple; eaten but not
fruit. (Onion)
Grows without sowing, and
enough for the world. (Salt)
Has a tiny nose. Has a belly
like a jar. (Chickpea)
I threw out the minaret, it passed out. It fell in the water and
spread out. (Cotton)
I looked from a distance it was
red. I got near it was honey.
(Cherry)
Calls for prayer but does not
pray, takes women but does
not marry. (Rooster)
A beetle with seven holes;
who does not know this riddle
is a fool. (Head)
Benedictions and
Maledictions
Benedictions emphasize wishes for good health, a good li-
fe, a family with children, riches and benevolent children.
These are wishes for states
that identify one’s status in
social life. Benedictions are
quite important in displaying
the values of the region.
May God keep your head off
the pillow.
May God keep your head up
May God grow your seeds
green.
May your one pocket be full of
gold and the other of silver.
May your goodness stand
against evil.
May God keep your heart from
burning.
May God give you good
health.
Maledictions verbalize evil
wishes more on the basis of
social phenomena. These invoke evil upon people in order
that face difficulties can be faced or to counter malice.
May God see me but take you.
May your bride’s veil stay
folded.
May you get beaten by your
step mother.
May you wander around like
crazy.
May you collapse.
Mani (Rhymed Folk
Sayings)
Tokat poems, which are the fine and straightforward way of
expressing anonymous sayings, and are generally in a
stanza with seven syllables,
are a great source in folk literature. Poems in Tokat are
still alive today:
Are the mountain tops snowy?
Are their passages narrow?
Are the girls of Tokat
Sweethearts that can be
neglected?
No quince, no pomegranate
Death to me is not shame
I fell apart from Tokat
The years are endless
In the hand the cup shivers
On the arm the coral shivers
When the sweetheart approaches
The tongue speaks, the heart
shivers.
Lullabies
Kitty kitty said meow
One little spoon of butter
she said
If not butter than honey
would do
May my baby be alive.
My son my hip son
Sell white silk mu son
Let the girls weave it
You sleep on it my son
My girl, my pure girl
Go look out the door my girl
On that chubby white hand
of yours
Put on bright henna my girl
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147
CHRONOLOGY
5400 – 3300/3000 B.C. Chalcolithic Age:
Dere Mahallesi Settlement and Graveyard Kozlu
Atelier in Erbaa; Aklaya Mound, Destimelik Hill
Settlement, Karayin Mound, Okçutepe Mound, Viran
Mosque Mound and Akdo¤an Mound in Zile.
3300/3000 – 1900/1800 B.C. Early Bronze Age:
148
The best known Early Bronze Age center within Tokat
borders is Maflat Mound in 20 km southeast of Zile.
Another important center in the region is Horoztepe
Mound.
1650 – 1450 B.C. Old Hittite Kingdom Era:
One of the best preserved and most interesting
places of this era is Maflat Mound near Yal›nyaz›
Village of Zile (with its Hittie name ‘Tapigga’). This
center was first heard of after the discovery of a tablet
during the excavations of the mound in 1943.
1450 – 1190 B.C. The Great Hittite Empire Era:
Settlements of Old Hittite Kingdom and later Great
Hittite Empire founded after Chalcolithic and Early
Bronze Ages are scattered over the watery valleys and
fertile plains of Tokat.
1190’S B.C. Aegean Migration Movement of Tribes:
This movement, one of the biggest reasons of the col
lapse of the Hittite Empire, coming from north of
Greece in 1200s B.C. and passing through Thrace has
affected the geography and political structure of
Central Anatolia and determined its shape that was to
last for long years.
800 – 696 B.C. The Phrygian State:
The Phrygrian State has captured K›z›l›rmak and
Konya areas and the highlands of Central Anatolia
during the period of King Midas. This way the
Phrygian State held the total of today’s Tokat until its
departure from history stage in 6th century B.C.
SINCE 696 B.C. Kimmerian and Scythian Raids:
Among the warrior and cavalier nations Kimmers and
Scythians are societies who lived in wide Eurasia
steppes from Tuna River basin in the west to China in
east and adopted nomadic life styles.
chronology
550 – 330 B.C. Persian State Era:
The most important action of Darius, the second
famous ruler of Persians who ended Med rule in ‹ran
in 550’s B.C., was the administrative structuring. He
divided the Empire into 23 satrapies (provincial
gorvernorship with military authority). Tokat, at first
in the 2nd satrapy which covered a large area
together with Erzincan (Eriza-Azi-riz) and Sivas areas,
later remained within the borders of Great
Cappadocia (Katputukya: Land of Beautiful Horses).
336 – 323 B.C. Era of Alexander the Great:
Alexander, was affective in spreading of Ancient
Greek Civilization to the east and became a legendary
hero. He finished the conquest of West Anatolia in the
winter of 334–333 B.C. He took over all of Asia Minor
and Mesopotamia after winning Issos War in 333 B.C.
301 – 64/3 B.C. Pontus State Era:
Pontus Kingdom the only Anatolian State that defend
ed the political integrity of Anatolia against Rome’s
“Dividi et imperia” (divide and rule/ own) approach,
was the ruling power of the region for 350 years
before Roman Era.
64/3 B.C.–395 A.D. Roman Empire Era in the region:
Julius Caesar came to Zile, Tokat in 47 B.C. and met
the armies of Pharnake 2, the king of Basforos of
Pontus origin who revolted against Rome, in Alt›a¤aç
region. Everything was covered in five hours and
Caesar who came along way and won a big victory
had reported this to Rome as “Veni, vidi, vici” (I came,
I saw, I conquered).
395
The start of the Byzantine Empire Era:
Byzantium the ruling power of the region in 4th and
5th centuries, based its political structure on districts
called “thema”. The area that starts right in east of
Sinop covering today’s Tokat and Amasya and
extends to the coast of Çarflamba-Terme and the
south parts of Sivas in the south was named as
“Armeniakon Thema” in Byzantium.
chronology
149
625
150
Sasanian attack on Tokat
Sasanis who entered Anatolia from the south in 625
was stopped by Byzantium army nearby Tokat-Sivas.
712
The Arabic raids that first started in 634 reached the
maximum in 712 when the Arabic army under the com
mand of Meleme conquered the region including
Tokat to Black Sea.
732
The Arabic army under the famous Arabic commander
Muaviye bin H›flam attacked Tokat and surroundings
over Amasya during the period of Byzantium Emperor
Leon 3 (717 – 741). However could not succeed
despite highly damaging Byzantium armies.
740
When Muaviye Bin H›flam was not successful,
Suleiman bin H›flam attacked Byzantium armies in
and around Tokat and Tokat was taken over by Arabs
again.
860
Hasan bin Kahtaba an Abbasi commander and Malik
bin Abdullah attacked Tokat to badly defeat the
Byzantium armies in the fronts of Tokat.
1073
Although Normans took over parts of Niksar and
Amasya, that did not last very long.
1074
Tokat was conquered by Danishmend Ahmed Gazi.
Besides Tokat, Gümenek (Komana), Turhal (Talaura),
Zile (Zela), Amasya, Çorum, ‹skilip, Osmanc›k,
Malatya and Sivas cities went under the rule of
Danishmend.
1105
Danishmend Gazi was killed in the battle that he
made against Byzantium and was buried in the tomb
built to his name in Niksar.
1127
The headquarters of Danishmend was moved from
Niksar to Malatya in 1127.
1139 – 1141 The Byzantium Emperor Ioannes sieged
Niksar in 1139 to move Turks out of Anatolia. However
the siege did not give the result that Byzantium army
expected and Byzantium withdrew in 1141.
1143
Danishmend Principality was divided into three parts
after Melik Mehmed Gazi’s death. Melik Mehmed’s
son Zünnun started to rule Kayseri, while his brother
Aynüddevle ruled Malatya’s and Ya¤›basan ruled
Sivas and Tokat’s surroundings.
1143 – 1144 Danishmend Bey (lord) Nizameddin
Ya¤›basan, (1142-1164) started construction work in
Tokat. Ulua Camii (Mosque), Ya¤›basan Madrasah,
Danishmend Gazi Tomb carry the traces of the
Principality to our time.
1145
Niksar Ulu Mosque, a building that endured from the
time of Danishmend Principality to our time was built
in 1145.
chronology
1152
Çukur/Ya¤›basan Madrasah is believed to belong to
Ya¤›basan period (1142–1164) and to be built in the
mid of 12th century, probably a few years after the
Madrasah in Niksar.
1157 - 1158 The epigraph of Niksar Ya¤›basan
Madrasah dated (1158) was found in Melik Gazi Tomb
by ‹.H. Uzunçarfl›l›. K. fiahin however recorded the
date of the epigraph as (1157). Although the name of
Ya¤›basan is in the epigraph, the builder of the
building is registered as Nizameddin Ya¤›basan and
Ali A¤a in the Education Almanak dated 1897–1898.
1175
Seljuk ruler K›l›çarslan 2 wanted to maintain absolute
unity in Anatolia. For this reason he took over all of
Danishmend Principality including Sivas and Tokat.
Before his death K›l›çarslan divided Anatolian Seljuk
State among his 11 sons. He left Tokat and surround
ings to his son Rükneddin Süleymanflah.
1240
Turkomans of Tokat joined the insurgency of Baba
‹shak.
1277
It was determined that Gök Madrasah was built in
1277; it was started by Anatolian Seljuk statesman
Pervane Muineddin Süleyman in that year and was
completed by the daughter or a relative of the visier.
1289
Niksar was swept off by a flood.
1296
To¤açar Noyan governor of ‹lhanl› rioted Tokat.
1327 – 1381 As the successors of ‹lhanl›lar, first Sivas
and then Eretna Principality with its center in Kayseri
were founded in Tokat and surroundings.
1381 – 1399 After the death of the last Eretna ruler Ali
Bey, Kad› Burhaneddin, took over the seigniory by
killing his son Mehmed II whom he was the regent to.
In 1381 he defeated his rival Hac› fiadgeldi the ameer
of Amasya and announced his reign. Kad›
Burhaneddin who expanded the borders of the
seignior state by invading Niksar in 1387 and Turhal in
1388, have also invaded Tokat but was not able to
take over the city. After the years lasting struggle with
Zile, Turhal, Niksar and Tokat ameers, the local
people asked for the help of Y›ld›r›m Bayezid. After
that Y›ld›r›m Bayezid’s son Süleyman Çelebi took over
Sivas, Amasya and Tokat in 1392. As per Evliya
Çelebi, Y›ld›r›m Bayezid who named Tokat as Darü’n
Nasr, has also had money printed here. Tokat and its
surrounding could become Ottoman land entirely
only in 1399.
1474
The name of Meydan Mosque built in the name of
Bayezid II’s mother Gülbahar Hatun is Hatuniye
Mosque in registeries.
chronology
151
1518
1572
152
1535
1617
1684
1863
1878
1883
Celâl from Turhal and also a Bozok Turkoman man
aged to gather a great power like 20.000 people
around him when he revolted againts Ottoman
Empire.
Ali Pafla Mosque in the south of Cumhuriyet Square,
an important Ottoman building built by Ali Pafla
during the period of Selim II.
Behzat Mosque, built by Hoca Behzat the son of Fakih
in Kanuni Sultan Süleyman period, is near Behzat
Creek in Behzat Bazaar one of the characteristic
places of Tokat.
“The voivodeship of Sultanas (Mothers of Sultans)
took place”.
Tokat and surroundings were greatly damaged in the
1684 earthquake.
Tokat became a “district”.
Tokat was accepted as “governorship”.
Tokat became a “shire” in 1883.
25 February 1919 Turkish Greeks, who were a mi
nority group in Tokat before the Independence War,
initiated activities aimed at founding a Pontus State
in the region including Tokat and Samsun was desig
nated as a centre. Muslims living in Tokat
established the Tokat Branch of “Defense of the
Rights of Black Sea Turks” as a precaution.
1920
Was identified as an “Independent shire"
26 June 1919
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk spent the night of June 26-27
1919 in Tokat when he was sent to Anatolia as the
examiner of 9th Army.
chronology
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ACUNSAL, Ferit, Gerçeklerin Diliyle Tokat, ‹stanbul 1948.
ADIGÜZEL, Selahattin, Gülü Barda¤ ‹çinde Tokat’ta Folklor,
Tokat, 2004
ASLANAPA, Oktay, Türk Sanat›, C.1 – 2, Kervan Yay›nlar›, ‹stanbul 1984.
BAKIRER, Ömür, “Sivas Darüflflifas› Türbe Cephesinde
Geometrik Süslemenin Tasar›m›”, 1. Araflt›rma Sonuçlar›
Toplant›s›, s. 161-166 (resimler s. 299-302) ‹stanbul 1983.
CANTAY Gönül, “Tokat’ta T›p Medresesi ve fiifahanesi”, Bilim ve
Teknik Dergisi
ÇAL, Halit, “Tokat Evleri”, Türk Tarihinde ve Kültüründe Tokat
Sempozyumu 2-6 Temmuz 1986, s. 365-418
ÇAL, Halit, “Zile Grand Mosque”, E.Ü. Sanat Tarihi Dergisi, C.7,
s.27 – 51, ‹zmir 1994.
DEM‹R, Necati, Daniflment Gazi Destan›, Niksar Belediyesi
Yay›nlar›, Tokat 2005.
153
DEM‹R, Necati, Tokat ‹li ve Yöresi A¤›zlar›, Niksar Belediyesi
Yay›nlar›, Tokat 2005.
DEN‹Z, Bekir, “Anadolu- Türk Dokuma Sanat›nda Cicim”, E.Ü.
Sanat Tarihi Dergisi. C.7, s. 59 – 66, ‹zmir 1994.
ERAVfiAR, Osman Tokat Tarihi Su Yap›lar›, Arkeoloji ve Sanat
Yay›nlar›, ‹stanbul 2005.
ERDEM, Sargon, “Tokat Kelimesi Üzerine Düflünceler”, Türk
Tarihinde ve Kültüründe Tokat Sempozyumu 2-6 Temmuz 1986,
s. 11-16
ERDEM‹R, Yaflar, “Tokat Yöresindeki Ahflap Camilerin
Kültürümüzdeki Yeri”, Türk Tarihinde ve Kültüründe Tokat
Sempozyumu 2-6 Temmuz 1986, s. 295-312
EY‹CE, Semavi, “Divri¤i Ulu Camii ve Darrüflifas›”, Vak›flar
Dergisi, Vak›flar Genel Müdürlü¤ü Yay›nlar›, Ankara 1998.
EY‹CE, Semavi, Contributions a L’Histoire de L’Art Byzantin:
Quatre Edifices Inédits ou Mal Connus III. Un Mausolée
Musulman (?) a décoration céramoplastique a Tokat” CHARIES
ARCHEOLOGIQUE, N.10, Paris 1945-1959.
GÖDE, Kemal, “XIV. Yüzy›lda Tokat/Eretnal›lar Hâkimiyetinde
Tokat”, Türk Tarihinde ve Kültüründe Tokat Sempozyumu 2-6
Temmuz 1986, s. 17-22
bibliography
KURAN, Aptullah, “Tokat ve Niksar’da Ya¤›-Basan Medreseleri”,
Vak›flar Dergisi, C.7,
ÖKSE, Tu¤ba, “Sivas ‹li Yüzey Araflt›rmas›”, 12. Araflt›rma
Sonuçlar› Toplant›s›, s. 317-330, Ankara 1995.
ÖKSE, Tu¤ba, “Sivas ‹li Yüzey Araflt›rmas›”, 13. Araflt›rma
Sonuçlar› Toplant›s›, s. 205-228, Ankara 1996.
ÖKSE, Tu¤ba, “Sivas ‹li Yüzey Araflt›rmas›”, 14. Araflt›rma
Sonuçlar› Toplant›s›, s. 375-400, Ankara 1996.
ÖKSE, Tu¤ba, “Sivas ‹li Yüzey Araflt›rmas›”, 19. Araflt›rma
Sonuçlar› Toplant›s›, s. 229-238, Ankara 2001.
ÖZCAN, Birsen, “Sulusaray – 1990 Kurtarma Kaz›s›”, 2. Müze
Kurtarma Kaz›s› Semineri, s.167 – 187, Ankara 1992.
ÖZCAN, Birsen, “Sulusaray – Sebastopolis Antik Kenti”, 1. Müze
Kurtarma Kaz›s› Semineri, s.261 – 308, Ankara 1991.
ÖZGÜÇ, T., Maflat Höyük, II. Bo¤azköy’ün Kuzeydo¤usunda Bir
154
Hitit Merkezi, TTYK V.-38a, s. 39-43, Ankara 1982.
ÖZSA‹T, Mehmet, “1997-98 Y›l› Tokat-Zile Çevresi Yüzey
Araflt›rmalar›”, 17. Araflt›rma Sonuçlar› Toplant›s›, C. XVII, s. 7388, Ankara, 2000.
ÖZSA‹T, Mehmet, “1997 Y›l› Tokat ‹li ve Çevresi Yüzey
Araflt›rmalar›”, 17. Araflt›rma Sonuçlar› Toplant›s›, s. 1-14 (harita
ve resimler 73-88), Ankara 2000.
SAVAfi, Saim, “Tokat’ta Hoca Sünbül Zaviyesi”, Vak›flar Dergisi,
C. 24, s. 199 – 205, Ankara 1994.
fiAH‹N, Kamil, Daniflmendliler Dönemi’nde Niksar, 1999
fiAH‹N, M.Adnan, ‹çinde“kiler”: Tokat Bölge Mutfa¤›, Ankara
2003.
TÜRK TAR‹H‹NDE VE KÜLTÜRÜNDE TOKAT SEMPOZYUMU,
ANKARA 1987.
TÜRKER, Kemal, A¤aç Bask› Tokat Yazmalar›, Türkiye ‹fl Bankas›
Kültür Yay›nlar›, Nisan 1996.
UYSAL, A. Osman, “Tokat’taki Osmanl› Camileri”, Türk
Tarihinde ve Kültüründe Tokat Sempozyumu 2-6 Temmuz 1986,
s. 313-364
ÜÇER, Müjgan, “Tokat Efsaneleri, ‹nan›fllar›”, Türk Tarihinde ve
Kültüründe Tokat Sempozyumu 2-6 Temmuz 1986, s. 217-230
YAV‹, Ersal, Tokat, Tokat Otelcilik ve Turizm Yay›n›, Tokat 1987
bibliography
USEFUL
INFORMATION
GENERAL INFORMATION
AREA AND POPULATION
The surface area of the city is 9.958 km2
Last recorded population of the city is 624.439.
EMERGENCY NUMBERS
Ambulance
Police
Gendarme
Fire
112
155
156
110
AVERAGE HIGHEST TEMPERATURES
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May Jun
July Agu Sep Oct
Nov
Dec
9.4
9.0
12.7
19.1
23.3 25.8 30.5 32.3 26.6 17.5 11.8
8.4
AVERAGE LOWEST TEMPERATURES
156
Jan
Feb
May Apr
May Jun July Agu Sep Oct
Nov
Dec
0.5
0.1
2.5
16.2 12.5 16.7 17.9 12.6 7.9
3.3
0.6
7.5
Temperatures are in ºC.
OFFICIAL INFORMATION
GOVERNORSHIP
GOP Bulvar› Cumhuriyet Meydan›
Tokat
T. +90 356 214 10 01
F. +90 356 214 54 54
www.tokat.gov.tr
MUNICIPALITY
GOP Bulvar› No:184 Tokat
T. +90 356 214 22 20
F +90 356 212 07 07
www.tokat-bld.gov.tr
TOKAT CITY GOVERNOR ADMINISTRATIVE STRUCTURE
Atatürk Kültür Saray› Tokat
T. +90 356 228 90 30
F. +90 356 228 90 38
www.tokatozelidare.gov.tr
POLICE STATION
Uzunburun Tokat
Phone 0356 214 55 40
www.tokat.pol.tr
useful information
GOP UNIVERSITY
GOP Üniversitesi 60250 Tokat
T. +90 356 252 16 16
F. +90 356 252 16 27
www.gop edu.tr
TOKAT CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY
GOP Bulvar› No: 412 Tokat
T. +90 356 214 10 33
F. +90 356 214 50 40
www.tokattso.org.tr
TRAVEL TO TOKAT
TOURISM OFFICE
T. +90 356 214 82 52
TRANSPORTATION
DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL TRANSPORTATION
TOKAT AIRPORT
T. +90 356 238 73 30
157
BUS TERMINAL
T. +90 356 214 24 12
TOPÇAM TOURISM
Cumhurtiyet Meydan› Next to the Municipality Building No: 1 Tokat
T. +90 356 444 00 60
F. +90 356 212 86 86
www.topcam.com.tr
TOKAT SEYAHAT
Cumhurtiyet Meydan› Next to the Governor Building, Latif Han No:1
Tokat
T. +90 356 444 11 60
F. +90 356 212 60 05
www.tokatseyahat.com.tr
TOKAT STAR
Cumhurtiyet Meydan› Next to the Municipality Building TOKAT
T. +90 356 444 00 90
www.tokatyildizi.com.tr
TRAVEL AGENCIES
AY fiAFAK AIR
GOP Bulvar› Next to Sivri Dervish Lodge 8. Street 1/C Tokat
T. +90 356 214 72 54
F. +90 356 212 41 69
useful information
KOMANA TOURISM
Cumhurtiyet Meydan› Latif Han No: 1
Tokat
Phone. +90 356 212 00 34
Fax. +90356 212 69 29
HOTELS
CITY CENTER
GRAND BALLICA HOTEL
****
Tokat-Turhal Highway
Tokat
T. +90 356 232 08 08
F. +90 356 232 08 00
Room: 100 Bed:200
www.grandballica.com.tr
BÜYÜK TOKAT OTEL‹
158
****
Demirköprü Karfl›yaka
Tokat
T. +90 356 229 17 00
F. +90 356 229 17 06
Room: 59 Bed: 120
‹fiER‹ HOTEL
Cumhuriyet Meydan›
Tokat
T. +90 356 214 80 00
F. +90 356 214 99 55
www.iseriotel.com
Room: 40 Bed: 76
ÇAVUfiO⁄LU HOTEL
**
GOP Bulvar› No: 168
Tokat
T. +90 356 212 28 29
F. +90 356 212 12 69
Room: 28 Bed: 58
YEN‹ ÇINAR HOTEL
GOP Bulvar›
Tokat
T. +90 356 214 00 66
F. +90 356 213 19 27
Room: 32 Bed: 82
useful information
GÜNDÜZ HOTEL
GOP Bulvar› No: 200 TOKAT
T/F +90 356 212 12 78
N‹KSAR
DORUK HOTEL ‹K‹ZO⁄ULLARI HOLIDAY VILLAGE
Çamiçi Plateau Ünye Road
Niksar Tokat
T. +90 356 542 14 44
F. +90 356 542 14 14
Room: 22 Bed: 55
ERBAA
ÖNDER HOTEL
**
Cumhuriyet Mah. Hükümet cad. No:120 Erbaa – Tokat
T. +90 356 716 03 00
Room: 50
RESTAURANTS
CITY CENTER
159
‹fiER‹ HOTEL RESTAURANT
Cumhuriyet Meydan› Tokat
T. +90 356 214 80 00
F. +90356 212 99 55
www.iseriotel.com
Turkish Cuisine
C 07.00 – 24.00
‹fiER‹ PETROL RESTAURANT
Sivas Hihgway ‹fleri Dinlenme Tesisleri Geyraz - Tokat
T. +90 356 213 13 63
F. +90356 214 97 33
Turkish Cuisine
C 09.00 – 24.00
LIVA RESTAURANT
600 Evler Kavfla¤›
Ǜnar Sitesi Tokat
T. +90 356 228 70 00
F. +90 356 229 00 78
07.30 – 23.30
Turkish and International Cuisine
C 07.30 – 23.30
m Live Music on Tuesdays and Fridays
useful information
SULTAN RESTAURANT
Cumhuriyet Meydan›, Ulaflo¤lu ‹fl Merkezi
TOKAT
T. +90 356 214 81 47
Turkish Cuisine
C 07.00 – 23.00
YEfi‹L VAD‹ RESTAURANT
Sivas Highway,
Next to Saraço¤lu Fountain
Geyraz - Tokat
T. +90 356 214 44 66
Turkish Cuisine
C10.00 – 24.00
KENT RESTAURANT
GOP Bulvar› Kentmar Shopping Center
TOKAT
GÜNEfi RESTAURANT
Taflköprü TOKAT
T. +90 356 212 49 02
160
YEN‹ HUZUR RESTAURANT
Sivas Cad. Next to Meridyen Shopping Center
TOKAT
T. +90 356 214 26 85
SAKLIBAHÇE RESTAURANT
Sivas Highway, Fatih Mosque
TOKAT
T. +90 356 214 12 34
T. +90 356 214 12 34
KARAGÖZ HAC‹VAT RESTAURANT
GOP Bulvar› 257/B TOKAT
T. +90 356 212 94 18
SARNIÇ
Dr.Remzi Topçam Cad. No: 2
TOKAT
T. +90 356 212 67 00
TOKAT SOFRASI
Across Ali Pafla Hamam› No:5
TOKAT
T. +90 356 213 38 18
PARAD‹SE
Kiler Shopping Center TOKAT
useful information
OCAKBAfiI
Next to Governor Building, behind the Atatürk Statue TOKAT
T. +90 356 212 67 68
HOCAO⁄LU KEBAB
SYMBOLS
GOP Bulvar›, next to the overpass TOKAT
MER‹DYEN RESTAURANT
Next to the Latifo¤lu Mansion,
Meridyen Shopping Center TOKAT
YEfi‹LPARK RESTAURANT
Across Medical Park Hospital TOKAT
fiEHRAZAT RESTAURANT
Sivas Highway, Yeflilvadi TOKAT
h
t
@
C
k
d
m
Pool
Meeting Room
Internet
Cuisine
Opening Hours
Alcholic Drinks
Credit Card
Outdoor Seating
Live Music
Phone
HANEDAN RESTAURANT
Next to Meydan Mosque TOKAT
MAHPER‹ HATUN CARAVANSARY
Pazar TOKAT
T. +90 356 261 39 00
161
MEDICAL SERVICES
HOSPITALS
GOP UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL OF SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
Next to the Tokat Dr. Cevdet Aykan State Hospital Tokat
T. +90 356 212 95 00
www.gop.edu.tr
TOKAT DR. CEVDET AYKAN STATE HOSPITAL
T. +90 356 214 54 00
KARfiIYAKA OBSTETRIC AND CHILDREN NURSERY HOSPITAL
600 Evler Karfl›yaka Tokat
T. +90 356 228 42 00
VAL‹ RECEP YAZICIO⁄LU STATE HOSPITAL
GOP Bulvar›, Sivas Road, (former SSK Hospital) Tokat
T. +90 356 212 23 81
MED‹CAL PARK HOSPITAL
Yeflil›rmak Mah. Vali Zekai Gümüfldifl Cad. No:29 TOKAT
T. +90 356 214 01 11 F. +90 356 213 02 02
www.medicalpark.com.tr
useful information
DAILY LIFE
BANKS
VAKIFBANK
GOP Bulvar› Tokat
T. +90 356 214 15 67
www.vakifbank.com.tr
Z‹RAAT BANK
GOP Bulvar› Tokat
T. +90 356 214 32 50
www.ziraat.com.tr
HALKBANK
GOP Bulvar› No: 88 TOKAT
T. +90 356 214 10 30
F. +90 356 214 30 93
www.halkbank.com.tr
162
CARGO SERVICES
ARAS CARGO
Yeflil›rmak Mah. Çeçenistan Cad. No: 9/B Tokat
T. +90 356 214 81 45
www.araskargo.com.tr
MNG CARGO
Yeflil›rmak Mah. Çeçenistan Cad. No: 22 Tokat
T. +90 356 213 07 50
www.mngkargo.com.tr
SÜRAT CARGO
Alipafla Mah. Gazipafla Cad. 4. Sokak No: 9 Tokat
T. +90 356 212 00 01
www.suratkargo.com.tr
UPS CARGO
Yeflilirmak Mah. GOP Bulvar› 4. Sokak No: 7/A Tokat
T. +90 356 213 19 61
www.ups.com.tr
VARAN CARGO
Yeflilirmak Mah.Ça¤gölü Cad. Gizem Apt. No: 13/B Tokat
T. +90 356 212 80 63
www.varankargo.com.tr
useful information
YURT‹Ç‹ CARGO
Mustafa Satan Mah. Gülbahar Hatun Cad.2. Sokak
No: 6/D Tokat
T. +90 356 214 47 78
www.yurticikargo.com
CULTURE AND ART CENTERS
26 HAZ‹RAN ATATÜRK CULTURE CENTER
Karfl›yaka Tokat
T. +90 356 228 90 30
F. +90 356 228 90 38
CINEMAS
V‹ZYON
Özel ‹dare ‹flhan› Kat: 2
TOKAT
T. +90 356 212 17 52
ASBERK
Kiler Shopping Center
Tokat
T. +90 356 214 11 96
163
FESTIVALS
Z‹LE
Z‹LE CHERRY FESTIVAL
Place: Zile
Date: Second week of June
Organization: Zile Municipality
T. +90 356 317 50 80
ALMUS
ALMUS SOUR CHERRY FESTIVAL
Place: Almus
Date: July 11 – 12
Organization: Almus Municipality
ERBAA
TRADITIONAL PLATEAU FESTIVAL AND CULTURAL
ACTIVITIES
Place: Erbaa
Date: July 15 – 17
Organization: Erbaa Municipality
T. +90 356 534 41 41
useful information
BAfiÇ‹FTL‹K
BAfiÇ‹FTL‹K CULTURE AND ART FESTIVAL
Place: Baflçiftlik Date: 05 – 06 August
Organization: Baflçiftlik Municipality
T.+90 356 451 20 01
TOKAT KAZOVA – KELK‹T – TOPÇAM GOLDEN TOMATO
FESTIVAL
Place: Merkez Borough Date: August
Organization: Tokat Governorship, Tokat Municipality,
Gaziosmanpafla University
T. +90 356 228 07 00
N‹KSAR
CONQUEST OF N‹KSAR AND TRADITIONAL CIRCUMCISION
FEAST ACTIVITIES
Place: Niksar Date: August 24
Organization: Niksar Municipality
TURHAL
164
TURHAL CULTURE AND ART FESTIVAL
Place: Turhal Date: 29 August- 04 September
Organization: Turhal Municipality
T. +90 356 276 11 92
SOUVENIRS IN TOKAT
Tokat, the production center of most beautiful kerchieves for
sultans of Ottoman palaces is stil the center and various hand
painted kerchieves are sold mostly at “Yazmac›lar Çarfl›s›”.
Antikac›lar Çarfl›s›, located at the end of Sulusokak (Street) is a
remarkable marketplace for ones who are interested in antiques. K›z›k Kilimleri, in Merkez K›z›k Village, has an authentic atmosphere that you can feel the traditional Tokat homes. Also
you can buy hand made rugs and carpets as elegant souvenirs
for your friends or just for yourself to remember your great trip
to Tokat.
TOURISM ACTIVITIES
MUSEUMS
GÖK MEDRESE TOKAT MUSEUM
GOP Bulvar› No: 155
Tokat
T. +90 356 214 15 09
F. +90 356214 52 61
www.tokatmuseum.org.tr
useful information
Ball›ca Cave
TOKAT MEVLEV‹HANES‹ MUSEUM
So¤ukp›nar Mah. Beyhamam Sok. Tokat
T. +90 356 213 30 83
LAT‹FO⁄LU MANSION MUSEUM
165
GOP Bulvar› Aksu Mh. Tokat
T. +90 356 214 36 84
ATATÜRK HOUSE AND ETHNOGRAPHY MUSEUM
Devegörmez Mah. No:23 Tokat
T. +90 356 214 54 99 – 214 37 53
CAVES
BALLICA CAVE
Ball›ca Cave
Pazar - Tokat
T. +90 356 261 42 36
Ball›ca Cave is in Ball›ca Village of Pazar town 26km southwest
of Tokat. The distance to the town center center is 8km and the
altitude is 1,085m.
Ball›ca Cave is 680 m long and 95m high. 8 halls of the cave is
open for visitors. This natural wonder preserves its mystery with
the sections that are not yet discovered.
The age of the cave is determined to be around 3.4 million
years. Observing the natural formations in Ball›ca Cave is like
being in a natural museum. The cave has an international importance with the onion formed stalactites. The oxygen rich air of
the cave with average temperature 18 ºC and average humidity
54%, makes breathing easier.
useful information
Lake Kaz
ECO-TOURISM
Tokat, is among the cities joining the Ecological Agriculture and
Voluntary Exchange Project (Ta Tu Ta) organized by Bu¤day
Association for Supporting Ecological Life.
www.bugday.org
KÜÇÜK A⁄A FARM
166
Sulugöl Village Niksar Tokat
Davut Koçer and his family host their guests in an 8 room area
they arranged on the second floor of their house. The Farm also
works on popularizing organic agriculture.
Reservation: Gençtur, +90 212 244 62 30
FISHING
In Tokat there are many places for line fishing.
Almus Dam Lake - Almus
Boztepe Dam Lake - Y›ld›ztepe, Zile
Gökçeyol Pond – Central district
Bedirkale Pond - Central district
Lake Kaz - Pazar
Lake Güllüköy - Refladiye
Lake Zinav - Refladiye
BIRD WATCHING
LAKE KAZ
Lake Kaz, among the most significant of Tokat’s nature spots,
hosts many bird kinds. Therefore it is a preferred place for bird
watching.
PLATEAUS
There are many plateaus in Tokat and its surroundings. The
plateaus are areas which the locals use for summer living. Some
plateaus are worth attention by the services they offer besides
the natural beauties.
useful information
Paragliding
SELEMEN PLATEAU
The plateau in Refladiye is famous for its Friday market where
the trade is done in the old way by exchanging merchandise.
AKBELEN (B‹ZER‹) PLATEAU
The plateau 29 km from city center is at 1740m of altitude. There
are suitable areas for grass skiing on the plateau that is surrounded by pine and beech forests.
ÇAM‹Ç‹ PLATEAU
167
The plateau in Niksar is on Canik Mountains of Tokat along
Black Sea coastline. Accomodation is provided in the plateau.
CLIMBING
AKDA⁄ TEPE
Alan Plateau – Akda¤ Hill (2000m), are significant spots for
climbing and hiking. Line fishing is done in the lagoon in the
skirts of Akda¤ and the pine woods, near the lagoon, is used as
a picnic area.
PARAGLIDING
fiENYURT
There are suitable paragliding places in fienyurt of Turhal.
SAMAN MOUNTAIN
1800 m Saman Mountain in Baflçiftlik borough is the first place
paragliding was tried in Tokat.
RAFTING
Kelkit Creek in Erbaa is the most suitable place for rafting.
useful information
Almus Dam Lake
WATER SPORTS
ALMUS DAM LAKE
There are several possibilities of water sports in Almus
Reservoir Lake
THERMAL SPRINGS
SULUSARAY THERMAL SPRINGS
Sulusaray Tokat
T. +90 356 651 68 77
168
REfiAD‹YE THERMAL SPRINGS
Çermik Mah. Kapl›ca Cad. Refladiye Tokat
T. +90 356 461 55 56
F. +90 356 461 55 61
JEOTHERMAL SOURCES
Resource
Temp.(°C)
Refladiye
40 – 49
Sulusaray
32 – 44,3
Gökbel Çermi¤i – Erbaa
40,5
Sar›yaz› – Niksar
32
Ayvaz - Niksar
27
Refladiye Thermal Springs
useful information
Flow (l/s)
4,29
2,56
0,1
0,1
1,5
Usage
Thermal S.
Thermal S.
Thermal S.
Thermal S.
Min. water