Bezirgan

Merhaba

I found out that bezirgan  has a secondary and derogatory meaning the hard way. I had the name of the local village Bezirgan in mind when I dubbed my friend Barış, of Blue Turtle Bar and Club fame, Bezirgan Barış in a post I had written and published. It had a nice ring in a random sort of way.

“Why would he call me that?” he complained angrily to a friend, who passed it on to me, explaining that bezirgan in Turkish meant shopkeeper or merchant but also was used as a slang term meaning ‘wide boy’.

I was flabberghasted. My flabber, as the long departed Frankie Howard used to say, was absolutely ghasted. But the damage was done. It was in writing. And as the Turks say ‘The spoken word has wings but writing remains (söz uçar, yazı kalır)’.

So now you will not be surprised to learn why the willage in question, which was founded some 250 years ago by Turkmen merchants from the Urfa region of Eastern Turkey, was named Bezirgan.

But perhaps you do not know Bezirgan? If you have not mounted your camel and made the trek up to this delightful farming village some 500m above sea level on the way to  Elmalı, about 8 km above Kalkan, then I strongly suggest you make the trip.

There are many reasons to visit; first and foremost, it as yet largely unspoilt. Tractors still carry bales of hay not bags of cement, grape vines, olive groves and orchards shading small flocks of goats or sheep still abound. Houses are single or double story stone or rendered village houses, with pitched red tiled roofs. There are no air conditioning units. The modest electricity supply is carried on wooden poles not grey concrete pylons. Generally the houses nestle in the landscape, shaded by their vines and trees, making them quite hard to spot from a distance.

And you certainly will not find the latest hot trend, the psychedelic ‘Chinese restaurant style’ neon light arrays that have taken hold in the once picturesque villages of Islamlar, Sarıbelen and Üzümlü turning them into the lurid capitals of tacky rental (and illegally built) villa land.

If you walk around the village (and it is the only way to see it) of Bezirgan, chances are a villager will lean over a wall or rush out and deposit an armful of apples, or grapes or pomegranites or an ear of corn as an offering.

It is also naturally cool, even in the crazy heat of July or August. The story is that when parents divided up their lands between their offspring the sons got the fertile plots in Bezirgan and the daughters the scrub and olive trees of Kalkan. Then the tourists came to Kalkan bringing a property boom and suddenly the daughter’s holdings were looking decidedly the better deal. Karma.

If you want another reason to go to Bezirgan then I can tell you that one of our most talented and original restauranteurs Murat, previously the creative force behind Bel Muar, is opening a new restaurant in a restored village house in Bezirgan. It is called Şahika, meaning ‘Top’.

I visited recently with the Special and St Teresa, consort of the Turk Who Moves in a Mysterious Way and is, if not God, at least Omnipresent, Tony Basoglu. To say we were impressed is a considerable understatement. Murat has brought the precision that was his trademark at Bel Muar to every aspect of the development. It is a beautifully renovated old building (Hint! Hint! ) set in stunning grounds and will be on every tourist’s agenda.

But in your haste for the new do not forget Sibel his sister who is continuing to maintain standards of cuisine and hospitality at Bel Muar which continues to delight. Well you will just have to eat out more often. Anyway Murat’s new venture will offer a different cuisine. I will leave that to surprise you. Watch out for announcements about its forthcoming opening.

While you are in the village do not fail to vist the collection of grain stores (ambar). These Ottoman era wooden structures made of cedar and hoisted on staddles were a common feature of rural life. You will have seen them dotted around the country.  there are even one of two that have survived in Kalkan. The Bezirgan collection is an important one and hopefully, under a preservation order.

Talking of which, get to Bezirgan soon, as the vultures are circling. A few ominous concrete bunker style tourist villas are going up and experience says once this dynamic gets hold it goes through a village like wildfire. With everybody on the bridge asleep or looking the other way, a Titanic style disaster is certainly not off the agenda. Tourism could be such a great and welcome development for hard pressed villagers struggling with subsistence agriculture. But please let it be managed with sensitivity and respect. Bindiğin dalı kesme. Do not cut the branch you are on!

If you care about the region of Kaş and its beautiful mountain and coastal treasures click on the button below to visit and follow my other blog. You can keep you touch with the ongoing efforts of a small but growing Turkish resistance movement determined to halt the onward march of concrete and the destruction of the natural beauty of the area in pursuit of short term incomes