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'Çamlıhemşin' is a small town and district of Rize Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey.
With its mountains and valleys in all shades of green Çamlıhemşin has a reputation as one of the most attractive parts of the eastern Black Sea region, particularly with the autumn foliage.

Contents

Etymology

Geography

Places of interest

Notable residents

References

External links

Etymology

The town was originally known as ''Vija''^[1] or ''Vije'', ''Vijealtı'', ''Vijedibi''. Its current name literally translates as "piney Hamshen". This is a combination of the terms "Çamlı" which in Turkish means "pine-forested" or "piney" (after the trees found here) and "Hemşin", the Turkish spelling of the Armenian name "Hamshen". The district of Hemşin itself meanwhile is lower down the valley.

Geography

Çamlıhemşin is high in the Fırtına Valley, which leads down to the Black Sea coast, and is an important access point to the Kaçkar mountains. This is a hilly area surrounded by very high mountains that poke up into the clouds, and watered by the Fırtına River and other streams running down the Black Sea. It rains here all year round, temperatures drop to minus 7°C in winter and reach 25°C in summer.
This is a low-income district and successive generations of Çamlıhemşin have migrated to jobs in Turkey's larger cities (for example they have reputation as the best bakers and pastry-cooks in Ankara). In Çamlıhemşin some tea is grown and otherwise people live from forestry, beekeeping or herding animals on the mountainside. However the countryside here is a gorgeous mix of meadows and valleys and in recent years the district has begun to attract tourists, people on trekking holidays in the Kaçkar. There are now small hotels and guest houses throughout the district.
Çamlıhemşin itself is a small town of 2,355 people. There is a health centre and some blocks of public housing, residences for teachers and civil servants posted here. There are high schools in Çamlıhemşin and primary schools in the mountains villages. The traditional Çamlıhemşin village house is wooden, with a steep roof to run off the rain and a wooden terrace at the side. Many of these homes seem stuck to the steep hillsides by magic.
The majority of the residents of Çamlıhemşin are Muslim Hamshenis, an ethnic group of Armenian origin who speak a Turkish dialect Hemşince which was adopted under Turkic rule.^[2] They have a distinct folk culture as well as their language, for examples the women wear bright orange headscarfs which they tie in a certain way to declare their availability (or not) for marriage.
The local cuisine includes mıhlama, the fondue-type hot cheese, butter and flour pudding.

Places of interest

Çamlıhemşin has a great many places for walking and escaping into the countryside, including:

★ Ayder - the village has mineral baths and plenty of accommodation for visitors.

★ the Fırtına Valley, runs through the heart of Çamlıhemşin.

★ ''Kale-i Balâ'' a castle high on a rock

Notable residents

★ Mahmut Turan - player of the tulum, a kind of bagpipes

References

1. http://www.kadirkalemci.com/mohti.html
2. Bert Vaux, ''Hemshinli: The Forgotten Black Sea Armenians'', Harvard University, 2001.

External links

★ the Çamlıhemşin-Hemşin foundation

★ a forum for discussion of all things Hamsheni