VIRTUAL London Heritages Conference

Abstract

The Kabaoğuz villages, originating from Oghuz tribes that migrated from Central Asia, consist of eleven mountain settlements marked by shared architectural and socio-cultural characteristics. These communities historically followed a semi-nomadic lifestyle based on livestock herding, with seasonal transhumance to highland pastures forming core aspect of their livelihood. Although agriculture was limited, local production such as beekeeping and the harvesting of rosehip and cornelian cherry continues today, with trade facilitated through cooperatives. Traditional houses were built using timber stacking (dizeme), log (çantı), and half-timbered wall (hımış) techniques, adapted to the local climate and geography. Storage structures like ambar, merek, and herkil still exist but are largely abandoned. Among these settlements, Derbentobruğu stands out for preserving both tangible and intangible heritage while maintaining rural identity. Field research, oral history interviews conducted in 2021 indicated strong community commitment to maintaining cultural practices, despite youth migration. Since 1992, annual Kabaoğuz Highland Festival, held each July, has enabled returnees to reconnect with ancestral roots and temporarily revive intangible heritage. Within the scope of the research, examinations and oral interviews were carried out in 11 villages. In 2021, an inventory of the architectural heritage was taken in Derbentobruğu village, where the traditional texture was more preserved. Derbentobruğu was revisited in 2025 and changes in the architectural heritage after the pandemic were determined. Finally, in order to ensure the protection of the cultural heritage of Kabaoğuz villages and to increase participatory conservation practices, collective calendar was developed by compiling events spread over all seasons of the year.