Sacks of Yeşilovacık and Büyükeceli nomads (Mersin, Silifke, Gülnar)

In this thesis, the woven sacks of Sarıkeçili yoruks belonging to the last nomadic communities of Anatolia are discussed. The research area is restricted to the Sarıkeçili yoruks which are located in, Karadere area in Büyükeceli neighborhood of Gülnar town and Ilıca area in Yeşilovacık neighborhood of Silifke town in the province of Mersin. Büyükeceli and Yeşilovacık regions are rugged and mountainous due to their geographical location and contain more than one plateau in the foothills of the Toros Mountains. A number of nomadgroups were found in these highlands, which provided their livelihoods by farming and related nomadic activities. Between years 2016 -2018, a field research has been done that included the examining of woven sacks by their patterns, colours, composition and motives. This thesis has been prepared by examining both the socio-cultural structure and everyday details of the nomadic life of nomads in the area and both the materials needed for the research with observation of the source people in living spaces of yoruks and with personal observations during the field research. With the field research the sacks of Sarıkeçili yoruks which are one of the indispensable items of nomadic life have been examined in person and has been observed with great attention. Today, due to yoruk groups being forced to permanent settlement, problems encountered when migrating and end of hand weaving with quickly developing technology, the woven sack's use have been reduced and industrially produced sacks are being used. Due to the spread of industrial type sacks in yoruk tents, yoruk women have almost abandoned sack weaving. Because of this reason the recording and research of last woven examples of sacks that are in the hands of yoruk is very important. With a field research the woven sacks that have been produced by yoruk women are examined and categorized by their patterns, colours, composition, material and features and the obtained findings have been backed up with literature sources.