THE CITY OF BARDS: KIRŞEHİR

Kırşehir is an Anatolian city of significance that rises in the middle of the steppes with its thousandsyear-old past, entrenched customs, and rich culture. Rearing thinkers and bards, Kırşehir made Turkey proud by being admitted to the UNESCO Creative Cities Network in the music category.

Kırşehir is an Anatolian city of significance that rises in the middle of the steppes with its thousandsyear-old past, entrenched customs, and rich culture. Rearing thinkers and bards, Kırşehir made Turkey proud by being admitted to the UNESCO Creative Cities Network in the field of music.

With lands regenerated by the river Kızılırmak, thousands of years of history and natural beauties, Kırşehir is one of the most important cities in Anatolia. Referred to as the “Land of Bards,” the city has played a leading role in sciences and fine arts with the poets, thinkers, and Sufis it has raised. Famous residents of Kırşehir include Âşık Paşa who made great contributions to the Turkish language; Ahi Evran-ı Veli, the founder of the Ahi Order; and Cacabey, one of the founders of astronomy. Yunus Emre and Tapduk Emre were inspired by these lands. Thanks to this rich cultural heritage, recently, Kırşehir was granted the honor of being the first city in Turkey to be admitted to the UNESCO Creative Cities Network in the music category. As you visit Kırşehir, which hosted many civilizations throughout its 5,000-year-old past, you can observe their traces everywhere. You come across heritage ranging from the historical mosques to madrasas, mounds to underground cities. Starting to be cited with the Hittites, Kırşehir was dominated by the Persians, Macedonians, Romans, Byzantines, Seljuks, and Ottomans. Named “Gülşehir” (Rose City) by the Seljuks, Kırşehir thrived during their rule. The city was named “Kır Şehri” (City of the Prarie) because it rises in between the endlesss steppes. Changing hands numerous times during the rule of the Beyliks, it came under Ottoman rule during the reign of Murat II.

One of the city’s important destinations is the Cacabey Astronomy Madrasa, the world’s first astronomy and astrology education center. The madrasa was built in 1272 upon the orders of the Kırşehir governor Nureddin Cibril bin Cacabey as an education center where mathematics, sciences, and astronomy were taught. With its columns symbolizing the planets in the solar system, an observation well, lantern, and observation tower, it features a unique

architecture. The structure, which is impressive with the bicolored stonemasonry at its entrance, serves as a mosque today.

The Ahi Evran Religious Complex, which is named after and houses the mausoleum of Ahi Evran-ı Veli, a figure identified with the city, is one of the city’s landmarks. Establishing the Ahi Order, Ahi Evran-ı Veli, who was born in Azerbaijan, spent his life in

Kırşehir after moving around all of Anatolia. He made the first steps of the Ahi Order establishing the primacy of brotherhood, solidarity, sharing, and loyalty. Writing many books on the interpretation of the Qur’an, hadith, fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), and Sufism, Ahi Evran organized the Ahi Order and led it to prevalence among the Turks. During the Ottoman rule, the religious complex served as the spiritual center of the Ahi Order for long years.

Kırşehir has raised many individuals known today for the roles they played in their respective fields. Âşık Paşa (Bard Pasha) who played a great role in the establishing of today’s literary language and Ahmedi Gülşehri are also from Kırşehir. The writers that lived in the 13th century embraced Turkish and contributed greatly to its journey to the present. Among the contemporary masters, Neşet Ertaş was one of the new performers of the Turkoman/Abdal musical tradition which reached a peak in Anatolia. He composed folk songs rich in local elements, and successfully introduced them not only to Turkey but to the whole world. Today, the legacy of the master is kept alive in the Neşet Ertaş Gönül Sultanları Culture House. Here bards and other figures enshrined in the memory of Turks from the time of Dede Korkut together with their work are presented to visitors.

When you get to the Kaman borough famous for its walnuts, you open another door to Kırşehir’s

past. With its history dating back 4,500 years, Kalehöyük is a typical Anatolian “höyük” (mound). With a diameter of 280 meters and a height of 16 meters, the mound has been excavated for years by the Japanese. As a result of the excavations that have been carried out for the last 30 years, traces of seven civilizations have been unearthed. The Kaman Kalehöyük Archaeology Museum that has been built by the Japanese government within the scope of a “cultural heritage conservation program” is designed with a mound plan. In the museum, which is underground the greensward, you can bear witness to the excavations and get the chance to see the findings. Also, the largest Japanese garden set up outside Japan is in Kaman. Formed with ten thousand plants and trees, this area is one of the most favored spot of both visitors and locals. Harboring as many riches underground as it does above it, Kırşehir draws attention with the underground cities unearthed in the recent past. The underground cities, big and small, believed to have been built by the Christians who lived in the region in the 4th and 5th centuries AD, are concentrated around the Mucur borough. The underground cities of Dulkadirli İnli Murat and Kepez are the most important among these. Furthermore, even though a large section of the ancient ruins of the cities of Uyluk and Karadurak around Mucur are underground, it is believed that they date back to the time of Hittites.

Lake Seyfe is one of nature’s sanctuaries in Kırşehir! The lake does not only harbor 187 different types of bird species but also one of the largest flocks of flamingoes.

Teal ducks, pelicans, herons, ringed plovers, geese, avocets, seagulls, Eurasian bitterns, and common terns are among the bird species you can observe here. Thanks to the birds nesting on the small islands on the lake, this turns into a birds’ haven in spring. Declared a Natural Conservation Area in 1990, it is the natural habitat of more than 480,000 birds. Meeting the need for a body of water in Central Anatolia, the Hirfanlı Dam Lake gets a lot of attention in the summer with its beaches and recreational facilities. Fishing is a substantial source of income for the people of the villages around the lake. Quite rich in terms of thermal hot springs, Kırşehir is one of those cities that has a say in the thermal springs tourism. The hot springs in Terme, Karakurt, Bulamaçlı, and Mahmutlu are some of the most prominent in Kırşehir. “Bozlak” a type of folk song that is the expression of the saz and lyrics culture with roots that date back to Central Asia, is significant to Kırşehir. Even though they had absolutely no musical training, bards such as Âşık Said, Muharrem Ertaş, Ali Çekiç, Şemsi Yastıman, and Neşet Ertaş, one of the greatest of saz and lyrics masters, have greatly contributed to Turkish folk music, have served the development of music across the country, and enabled the arrival of new artists and new musical pieces to the scene. With projects supported by the Republic of Turkey Ministry of Culture and Tourism that aim to keep the “bozlak” culture, which is a part of the wandering bard tradition, alive, this culture is being promoted both across the country and the world. Besides the centuries-old journey of Kırşehir in music, taking into regard the cultural heritage vested in the city by the wandering bards and “bozlak” tradition, UNESCO admitted the city to the Creative Cities Network in the music category. Last October, the process run by the joint efforts of the Ahiler Development Agency, the Kırşehir Municipality, and the concerned institutions and organizations ended in success. To bring the

culture of Kırşehir, which is blended with music, to the forefront, there are plans to carry numerous projects into effect. Through collaborations with the other cities of the world included in this network, Kırşehir will be promoted on an international platform. As international artists will be hosted in the city, stages where local artists can perform will also be designed. Within this scope, along with an international music workshop, a project focusing on children and music in order to endorse the culture of music to generations to come will also be brought into action.

There certainly are more than enough reasons to visit Kırşehir which holds in its bosom a 5000-year-old past, natural wonders, and a rich music culture.