KAFKASYA’DAN UZUNYAYLA’YA TAŞINAN HAFIZA MEKÂNLARI: KÖY TOPONİM VE SÜLALE TARİHLERİ
REALMS OF MEMORY CARRIED FROM THE CAUCASUS TO UZUNYAYLA: VILLAGE NAMES AND FAMILY HISTORIES

Summary/Abstract: Toponyms that are much more than a simple nomenclature are historical records for societies. Toponyms also continued this function for Caucasus region, which is the subject of our investigation. In Caucasus, Circassian and Abaza families who are landowners from upper classes gave their family names to the villages. In terms of Caucasus, toponyms which are societal signs that always have to be perused together with the concept of identity, both Circassians and Abazas who has been living away from their motherland for around 160 years, Caucasus, have given their family names to the villages in Uzunyayla. At this point, toponyms serve as realms of memory which procure to establish bonds with Caucasus. Family stories and topomys that lie from Caucasus to Uzunyayla are directly connected with landowning. This situation directly affects social life of Circassian and Abaza societies. Turkish names of the villages, on the other hand, are related with botany, zoology and physical geography. In this study, through the enquiries in our field surveys in Circassian, Abaza Chechen and Karachay villages in Pınarbaşı of Kayseri, we aim to analyse the role of the toponym as an identifier of identity within the context of Pierre Nora’s theory realms of memory.

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