History
History 1
Since there is no literature evidence on the history of Tepeköy, I applied to the elderly villagers. I made an interview with Osman Tekin as the oldest villager in Tepeköy. He was born in 1338 according to Islamic Calendar. However, even he is too young to learn the details on the history. The information of Osman Tekin also originates from the verbal communications.
According to Osman Tekin (as seen in the photo), the village was established around 1290, we can see it since the earliest graves belong to such times. At first, Tepeköy was only a part of Erbişim as the adjacent village today. The parents of Molla Mustafa constructed the first house on the lands of today’s village. And gradually, the population and settlement were increased. Also there were some immigrants from Yeşilli village (the other adjacent village today). At last the village was separated from Erbişim and named as Tepeköy. It is called Tepeköy (Hill Village in English) on account of it is located on a hill actually.
According to Osman Tekin; an earthquake was occurred in 1939 when he was 16 leading minor damages in the houses of Tepeköy. The poplar trees were bent back and forth, and the villagers did not know what an earthquake meant, they believed that the world is located onto the horns of a cow. They believed that the shakes were due to such cow’s movements in that time as well.
In Tepekoy, people lived in prosperity compared to the villagers of the adjacent villages. There were school, café, and gendarme station. The Old Mosque was established within Molla Mustafa`s period. And it was reconstructed in 1997 and named as Nihat Tekin Camii (Mosque).
According to Mr. Osman Tekin, among the reasons for the immigration to cities, first we should consider that the village does not have promising future for the youngsters. For example, only a primary school exists in the village, then the families immigrated to the large cities. They sold their lands and livestock making their returning to the Village almost impossible.
Deniz-Osman Tekin
History 1
Our village was established almost 180 years ago. Our village is a typical Turkmen village and consists of many Turkish clans. The first settlers in the village are Takaits (Köksal) and Hıdırs (Avcı) families.
A commander named Osman Bey was training soldiers in a place called Osman Böğrü at that time (currently Ayıp) in Ottoman Period. This man was called Takait (meaning retired son). He was a soldier with Osman Bey in the battles. After he lost some of his nose in a battlefield he was retired.
Since Osman Bey liked Tkait so much, he granted the place of our village to Takait as a gift. And later other clans also immigrated to this place. Meşeköy and Erbişim villages are also Turkmen Villages completely, however they were established before the establishment of our village. Omerhacili village is also very old village. Kurdish villages were also established at later dates by three brothers came from the east. The village established by Yusuf as one of these brothers was named as Çadırlı Hacı yusuf Village (Lower Kurd), the village established by the other brother Bayram was named as çadırlı Hacı Bayram Village (Cinderesi), and the one established by the third brother Mehmet was named as çadırlı Kör Mehmet Village (Karşı Kurd). All of the clans in our village were originated from Horasan, and they settled in our village after long travels and temporary settling in many places.
Hakan Manav