Hakkari

Cultural heritage

Hakkâri has a rich cultural tourism potential in every respect, with a great many values relating to customs and traditions, religion, language, ways of life and art, some belonging to the past and some still alive today. Each of these draws visitors to the region. Hakkâri is richly varied in its cultural heritage. Some of the region's distinctive social values and material remains have been put on display or found ways to express themselves, while others have not yet had the chance to be shown at all. Among the most important of the latter, without doubt, are the finds uncovered by archaeological excavations. It is said that Hakkâri's rural areas contain many archaeological sites, even though they have not yet been registered.

Rock paintings have been found at two separate sites in Hakkâri: on the Tirişin Plateau near the city centre and in the Gevarok Valley in Yüksekova. Just as important as the rock paintings, and perhaps more so, are the Hakkâri stelae. Found on the north-western slopes of Çölemerik Castle in the city centre, in today's Dağgöl neighbourhood, the Hakkâri Stelae are a group of 13 standing stones. Kept in the Meydan Madrasa in Hakkâri from 1998 to 2000, they were moved to the Van Museum in 2001 and put on display there. The stones known as stelae are rectangular but irregular in shape. Their most striking feature is that their front faces are filled, in relief and incised line, with figures of people, animals and weapons. On 11 of the stones a naked male figure with the traits of a warrior dominates the composition, and on two others human figures do. The stelae are dated, though not with certainty, to the middle of the 2000s BC. Who made them remains a mystery.

Food and drink tourism (gastronomy)

Especially in recent years, gastronomy has found a place in the development and shaping of international tourism and has even become, to a limited extent, a primary reason to travel. Gastronomy (food and drink) tourism, which acts as both a supporting and a complementary attraction, shows that around 25% of total tourist spending goes on food.

Known for the variety of its distinctive dishes, the cuisine of the Hakkâri region reaches across an area too wide to be confined to the province's borders. It is very difficult, even impossible, to draw clear lines between the cuisines and food cultures of Hakkâri and Van to the north, Şırnak to the west, north-western Iran to the east and northern Iraq to the south. Among people who share a similar geography and socio-cultural make-up across this wide area, trying to pick out only what is unique to Hakkâri from their naturally similar eating habits and food cultures is both difficult and unnecessary. Hakkâri cuisine is one of those in which geography, and the natural environment that comes with it, the natural determinants of food habits and cuisine almost everywhere, clearly dominate. So much so that the two basic ingredients of Hakkâri dishes are meat, because the land is above all suited to livestock, and wild herbs, a gift to the people of Hakkâri from the mountains and high pastures.

In Hakkâri there is a tradition of the sağdıç breakfast on the Sunday morning of a wedding. The sağdıç (the groom's best man) invites neighbours, in-laws and relatives to breakfast, either the evening before or early that morning. By the time the guests begin to arrive, the groom, who has spent the night at the sağdıç's house, has long been woken, bathed, shaved and dressed in his wedding clothes; he greets the company and everyone sits down to breakfast. Tandır bread, herb cheeses and cacık-style dishes made with pancar (wild greens) gathered in the mountains in spring, and specialities based on flour and butter are served.

Every motif in Hakkâri kilims lives on through stories told among the people, born of a cultural heritage that has flowed down through the centuries. Hakkâri has cultural and folkloric features, coming from the depths of history, that it both shares with neighbouring communities and holds quite apart from them: customs, traditions, ways of life and more. The rich folkloric and ethnographic features still seen today show that the region has a deep-rooted historical and cultural heritage. Handicrafts, which can become one of the main attractions of a tourist destination, play an important role as a way of remembering the places visited. The place and importance of handicrafts in Hakkâri is beyond dispute. Kilims, saddlebags (heybe), parzun, reşik, bags, socks, shawls, yazma beadwork and oya and cross-stitch embroidery are made in many homes in the province. Hakkâri kilims in particular are recognised nationally and are a favourite with visitors.

Traditional houses and goat-hair tents

Hakkâri is a region of high mountains and valleys in the south-eastern corner of Anatolia that has stayed on the edge of great civilisations (such as the Sasanians, Byzantines, Abbasids, Seljuks and Ottomans) throughout history. This did not change in the Middle Ages: difficult geography made travel and settlement hard, and nomadism, together with the livestock farming that goes with it, gave the culture its local character. Throughout the Middle Ages, Islam and Christianity were the two main elements shaping the cultural fabric of this mountainous land between Anatolia, Iran and Iraq. Traditional houses and rural dwellings are another of the region's important cultural attractions for tourism.

Hakkâri's mansions and palaces matter both for presenting local culture and for showing visitors how the houses of Hakkâri and their outbuildings have developed from the past to today. Local people's ways of behaving are among the subjects that interest tourists most, and this is exactly why these historic places attract so much interest. The province's main historic mansions and palaces are the Dervişoğlu Mansion, the Pirozbeyoğlu Mansion and the Enver Parlak House in central Çukurca, and the Kayme Palace and Kelat Palace in Bağlar (Nehri), Şemdinli. A look at these houses shows that their layout, their construction and their form are all products of necessity, of the experience people gained and of communal life. Still, in shaping Hakkâri's traditional architecture, way of life, economic activity and, of course, geographic factors such as topography, climate and building materials have played an important part.

Goat-hair tents (kıl çadır), an essential part of highland pasture culture, are a cultural heritage handed down from history and have many qualities. Still used by nomadic and semi-settled herders, they are among the indispensable shelters of the summer pastures. They are woven from goat hair. They are also put up to recreate folklore and to give atmosphere to places where historical events took place and to many other venues. As the herders' most important shelter in the open, goat-hair tents have several notable qualities. In winter the weave tightens, so rain and snowmelt do not get through. In summer it loosens back to normal, letting in a dim light and keeping the inside cool through constant air circulation. One of their most important qualities is that their texture keeps creatures such as snakes, scorpions and spiders from crawling over them. Because these creatures cannot move across a goat-hair tent, people who stay in them say they are never bitten or stung by snakes, scorpions or spiders. Known for being easy to pitch anywhere and for not catching fire unless constantly exposed to flame, goat-hair tents are also easy to fold and carry.

Highland pasture festivals

Highland festivals, held in the past to mark the migration to the summer pastures and to bring herders together, have in recent years become a popular event for people looking for an alternative holiday. Festivals held in many parts of Türkiye to develop highland tourism are also supported by public institutions as a way of diversifying tourism.

Festivals, one of the fastest-growing socio-economic phenomena of the 20th century, tell of cultural life, traditions, the human character and the hard struggle with nature. They strengthen togetherness, bonding and fellowship. These ceremonial gatherings, held once a year, add a very particular value to tourism. The festivals held in Hakkâri show the natural side of our cultural and artistic life, our highland traditions and warm human relationships at their best. Besides the beauty of nature, those who come to the region for the festivals leave with memories of cultural value. The festivals are something like a meeting place for the people of the region. Nomads living on the summer pastures also hold festivals in the lamb-shearing season. After the lambs are washed and shorn, people dance the halay to drum and zurna. Women take part in the fistan dresses particular to the region, and men in the outfit called şal û şapik.

Local sporting games such as kelanê and şekanê, along with other competitions, are also held on the pastures, after which tables are laid for the guests.

Clothing, weddings and music

In our fast-developing and changing world, new tourism trends have appeared and people have begun looking for new things. Among them, a type of tourist has come to the fore who wants to learn more about the ways of life and traditions of other countries and other peoples. One of these new interests is local dress.

Tourists have a different kind of experience by seeing and observing new local clothing and sometimes by wearing or buying it.

Like many regions of Anatolia, Hakkâri has its own clothing culture handed down from the past. Although the garments resemble those worn in other provinces of Eastern and South-eastern Anatolia in some respects, they have distinctive features in their fabrics and designs. With these features, women's and men's clothing in Hakkâri is broadly as follows. Women's clothing: kiras, fistan and a belt. Men's clothing falls into two groups: everyday clothes called şel-şepik, and clothes worn mostly on special occasions.

Weddings in Hakkâri usually last three days and three nights. A wedding mostly begins after the afternoon prayer on Friday and goes on until Sunday night. The families holding the wedding invite all their relatives, friends and fellow villagers. Weddings in Hakkâri are very crowded. Invited relatives come with every member of the family (men, women and children). Of the guests who are not relatives and might be considered partly outsiders, only the men attend. The bride's guests gather at the bride's house and the groom's guests at the groom's house. From mid-morning on Saturday until late the following night, wedding guests celebrate with great enthusiasm to folk songs and stran. But a wedding is not only about entertainment. Alongside the festivities many other customs are carried out. On arrival at the sağdıç's house, a meal is eaten, much like a pre-dawn sahur meal. After the meal the groom is brought into the middle. Everyone present gathers around him in rings. Dengbêjs (bards) sing to each other in turn, giving the night a colour and flavour of its own. Henna is applied first to the groom's little finger and then to his toes. While the groom's hand is being bound, some money is placed in his palm. In the morning, when the groom unties his hand, whoever catches the money that falls keeps it.

Traditionally, apart from the drum, the zurna and the pîk or kaval (shepherd's flute), few instruments are used at Hakkâri weddings; the halay is danced to stran, folk songs sung in alternation. In recent years, however, the bağlama and similar instruments have become much more common at weddings. Although this seems to have pushed the stran sung during the halay somewhat into the background, these songs are still indispensable for the people of Hakkâri. Stran are sung and danced in dozens of Hakkâri halays with different figures. The dances go by names such as iki ayak (two-step), üç ayak (three-step) and şeyhanî. Some are known by the name of the stran being sung.

Source: http://www.hakkarikulturturizm.gov.tr/TR,159139/kulturel-degerler.html

Hakkâri's history lists Median, Persian, Seleucid, Corduene (Karduya), Roman and Sasanian rule in turn. The region was conquered by Islamic armies in 641. From the 8th century it was governed by local lords tied to the Abbasids, and after the 10th century it passed to the Marwanids.

Between 1095 and 1127 the Seljuks conquered the region, and in 1133 the Emirate of Hakkâri was founded. A Safavid occupation followed in the late 15th century; after the Battle of Chaldiran in 1514 the lords of Hakkâri took back control. The emirate came fully under Ottoman administration in 1847, with the defeat of Nurullah Bey and the other lords.

By road
The journey from Van to Hakkari takes 2–3 hours by bus. There are coach services by road to major cities along this route.

By air
Hakkari is reached by air via the province of Van. The road between Van and Hakkari is good asphalt, and Hakkari is a 2–3 hour bus ride away.

Border trade and livestock farming are Hakkâri's main sources of income. Trade runs through the border crossings to Iraq and Iran. Although the labour market is said to have picked up in recent years thanks to the private sector and state employment incentives, this is not considered enough.

The province is also known for karakovan honey, produced in traditional hives on its high-altitude pastures.