DERIK LEGENDS
Legends, one of the products of folk literature, are one of the areas that provide cultural transfer between the past and the present, and contribute to the understanding of humans and the cultural structure they create. Stories that are created by attributing extraordinary characteristics to real and imaginary beings, places and events, and that direct the individual and social life of the person with the belief that what is told is real, and that are passed down from generation to generation for years as if they really happened, are called legends. The events told in the legend can sometimes be imaginary. But legends are mostly based on real events and people who really lived. Most of these stories are about people who did heroic deeds. Legends have an important place in the culture of a region or people. That’s why I would like to share with you a few legends and myths that we have compiled in our district.
THE LEGEND OF ALI BABA AND THE FORTY THIEVES
The legend of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves is a legend that is told in many places, especially in movies. Our version is a narrative that takes place in settlements within the borders of our district, five to ten kilometers away from each other. This legend was told among the Kurds, Arabs and Turks, but no one has determined the place, time and place. It is not yet clear where and how it happened. There are five geographical areas within the borders of Derik district: Zeytinpınar (Heramiya), Adakent (Çildiz), Tepecik (Heramiyê), Girkemin and (Boyaklı) heremê keyfê. Forty thieves lived in this region named after them. They were very skillful, brave and bold, daring people, both in terms of their structure and their work. They would especially rob caravans along their route and hide the loot they gained in an enchanted cave. This cave was next to a stream with a lot of water that not everyone could easily pass. Their movement area was especially the Silk Road. They would determine the directions the caravan would pass on the Silk Road and determine their strategies accordingly. They would research one by one where the caravan would stay, where it would go and which roads it would take, and then they would attack. The silk road used to follow the “Girkemin and Telbisim” route long ago. These thieves would determine the places they moved according to their gender. Men would stay in Haramiya, women in Haramiyê, and their husbands in heremê kehfê. Harami is a word of Arabic origin and means thief, it is a masculine word. Similarly, the name of the village (Haramitepe) located below the silk road is Haramiyê. In other words, the word is used as a feminine word. It means a female thief. There is a village called ÇİLDİZ between the two regions, which means “Forty Thieves” in Kurdish. Their aim was to plunder the caravans passing through the silk road and direct the caravans they plundered in the opposite direction. There are also several dormant volcanoes on the same route. The most impassable of these volcanoes is called “Girkemin” hill. This is a Kurdish word and “Gir- Tepe” means “Kemin-Ambush”, that is, the hill where the ambush was laid, the silk road went from Viranşehir route to Derik via the three way road and used the Tilbisim (Tepebağ) route, which is now Derik Neighborhood, to reach the main silk road. In order to come to this route, they had to come from “Ballıköy-Zorava”, meaning difficult water, to “Beyrok” village, meaning “ber rêêk” on the road, and pass in front of Girkemin, so they would attack the caravans coming in the girkemin area and go directly to the haramya, or the settlement area where male thieves were located. In other words, they would move in the opposite direction from where the caravan came. They would live with their wives and children in the area called “Heremê Kêfê” between the two boyakli villages, and sometimes they would not rob a caravan for days, and sometimes they would stay with their wives in haramiyê and sometimes in herem. In the legend, especially known by everyone, there is a rock in the village which is a hamlet of the district, and there are two lion figures carved on the rock. The place where these two figures are located is called Derê xiznê (treasure gate) and the difficult Ava (Ballı village) used to pass the water with a talisman in his hand, It is also said that Ali Baba killed the forty thieves. Ali Baba was given the title of beylik because he destroyed these forty thieves with his own tribe and Alibey village in the district is also stated as the village where he lived. When the period of the legend which is generally said to have taken place in Baghdad is examined, In 1834, Mardin was connected to Baghdad, but since Mardin was far from Baghdad, it was connected to Diyarbakır again, then Mardin was connected to Mosul, and when this did not happen, it was connected to Diyarbakır again in 1839. That’s when Derik became one of the Diyarbakır districts under the name of “Dirik District”.
05.01.2021 – Eyyüp Güven.
