Historical Turkmen Cemeteries in Kırşehir

Abstract

Turkmen cemeteries are areas where tombstones, whether naturally decorated or not, are erected
on the graves of Turkmen communities. Kırşehir is one of the cities that has historically hosted
Turkmen communities migrating from Turkestan to Anatolia. When Turkmen communities
arrived in Kırşehir, they established villages, establishing their own living spaces. They brought
with them movable cultural heritage, traditions, and customs from Turkestan, and these were
reflected in the places they seIled. They also named the villages they seIled after their own tribes,
clans, tribes, and communities. Similarly, the Turkmen who seIled in Kırşehir and its
surrounding areas brought with them their burial and burial customs and reflected these customs
in the cemeteries established in the region. They erected the tombstones as they were, leaving
them plain, and in some areas, they also carved the tribal tombstones into the stones. No Turkmen
tombstones with tribal tombstones have been found in the Kırşehir area. Based on data obtained
during research in the Kırşehir region, Turkmen cemeteries and Turkmen gravestones were
identified in the Çağırkan Village Cemetery in the Kaman district of Kırşehir province, the Central
Cemetery in the Akpınar district of Kırşehir province, the Savcılıkışla Village Cemetery in the
Kaman district of Kırşehir province, and the Asmakaradam Village Cemetery in the Mucur
district of Kırşehir province. Today, the gravestones are located either in vacant lots or around
seIlements, surrounded by walls or wire fences.