Yörük – the nomads of Türkiye. For hundreds of years, at the beginning of every summer, they have packed up their belongings and made the long trek from the hot coastal plains to summer in the cool prairies and grassy highlands of the western Toros Mountains where there are pastures for grazing. They return to the coast when the autumn rains arrive and the pastures grow again.

Although you still see the traditional black goat-hair tents of the truly nomadic Yörüks, the life of many of them is becoming less nomadic in modern Türkiye. According to the Turkish Cultural Foundation, records indicate that in the mid-13th century there were 200,000 Yörük tribal families living in tents between Denizli and Izmir alone. Today you will see at most five Yörük tents in any one camp during the winter while in the summer, a trip to the Taurus mountains may reward you with the sight of some twenty or thirty tents in a camp.

Of course, there is much more to the Yörük way of life than herding flocks of sheep or goats…

Click here for more information about the Yörük

Yörük traditions

Many of the traditions still continue and there are ways to see, understand and share in these traditions.

Kerimoğlu Yörük Cadırı 

The Kerimoğlu Yöruk Cadırı (Tent) in Çalış is more than just a restaurant. It is home to a museum with a collection of exhibits that demonstrate the lifestyle of these nomadic tribes. The items in the museum include tools and costumes of the Yörük people. Admission to the museum is free.

Yörük and Türkmen Festival 

You can also go along to the Yörük and Türkmen Festival held annually, usually in July, in the Yayla Karaçulha district of Seydikemer.  

The Yörük community has preserved many traditional customs.  Traditional dress is still worn by the female population while the males, almost exclusively, wear modern clothes.

Here is a selection of photographs and videos from the 2017 festival.

And finally, on a hot summerweekend, Kar Şerbeti all round…

Thank you to Nichola Chapman for sharing her photographs with us.

Featured image by Nichola Chapman Photography

This article was first published on 31st July 2017 and updated on 20th May 2024.

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Visit Kayaköy on any other day of the year and you’ll find a sleepy village, watched over by abandoned crumbling buildings, a reminder of a life gone by.

The eerie air of stillness that hangs over the deserted village was replaced by the sounds of music, dance, laughter and fun on Saturday when residents and local businesses held the Kayaköy Festival (Şenliği).

Hundreds of people flocked to enjoy the atmosphere and a packed day of entertainment.

In photos: Kayaköy Festival – music, dance and much more

To see more of Nichola’s work, please visit Nichola Chapman Photography

What a really lovely day…

Later, walking back along a road lined with lifeless houses, the wind rustling through the shrubbery in the sightless windows could almost have been a sigh of longing for days gone by…

Thank you to Nichola Chapman and Steve Parsley for sharing their photos with us.

This article was first published on 15 May 2018.

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The 11^th Yeşilüzümlü spring mushroom and dastar festival was a huge success at the weekend – despite the weather.

Supported every year by Fethiye Belediye, the programme began on Friday afternoon (April 5, 2019) and continued into Saturday when persistent, heavy rain meant crowds may have been a little depleted – but Sunday’s attendance more than made up for it.

Thousands descended on the village to take part in a morning mushroom hunt in the forests surrounding the village, tour the stalls and enjoy displays of traditional folk dancing by children from the local primary school as well as a troupe from nearby Kargı.

Rousing welcome

Visitors were also able to listen to one of the first public speeches given by the new mayor of Fethiye, Alım Karaca, who was given a rousing and exuberant welcome by the crowds.

As ever, morel mushrooms and hand-woven dastar fabric stalls took centre stage in the main market square throughout the weekend.

Dozens more offered the local red wine – made from the grapes from which the village takes its name – home-grown fruit and vegetables, handicrafts, clothes, toys and gifts.

Turkish traditions

Traditional Turkish dishes – from baklava and lokma to köfte and kebabs – were also served to visitors across all three days, often to the evocative drum-and-zurna soundtrack played by performers touring the streets encouraging visitors to join them in a dance.

A concert by the local high school band was part of the programme on Saturday while entertainment continued into the evenings, The Bluestone Band winding up this year’s programme on Sunday night.

As the first significant festival of the year, the growing event – now established on the national calendar – acts as a harbinger of the summer season, attracting people to the Muğla region from both around the country and also from all over the globe.

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