The excistance of Turk around Rize and the surrounding area in pre-Ottoman era

There is hardly any scientific research about the history of Rize until now, andunfortunately other simple research made by locals has no scientific qualification.Additionally, being Ottoman Empire - related research is the most important feature of thatkind of work. About the pre-Ottoman period of the region and surrounding area mentionedabove, there is hardly any acceptable scientific one. Moreover, less adequacy of thehistorical sources to give general information about the history of the related area withRize is the reason why an efficient research about the pre-Ottoman part of Rize historycould not be made. Because of that, we tried to search pre-Ottoman part of Rize history tocreate a clear historical point of view.In this thesis we aimed to point out that there were Turkish settlements in Rize and thevicinity of the city in the very early times before the existence of Ottoman Turks and as aproof of that situation, to represent the presence of the ancient Turks? traces in the commonlocal belief in Rize and around the city. We tried to explain the ancient Turkish beliefrelated to the most important three steps of the human being ? the birth, the marriage andthe death - resembling them with the current local belief in the region. While we wereworking on that comparision, we had discussions about the known local belief with thelocal people in the places that we determined before around Rize. As a result of theresearch done with the interviews and observations, we obtained information about currenttradition, custom and belief related to the birth, the marriage and the death although therewere some changes and differences from time to time. As a result of the ancient Turks?traces and our research, this thesis gave an evidence of the Turk existence in Rize andaround the city in the early times before the Ottoman Empire.