Faith and Culture

The Şah İbrahim Velî ocak

In Anatolian Alevism, an ocak (hereditary sacred lineage) is a structure formed by dede families (spiritual leaders) that carries religious leadership from generation to generation. The Şah İbrahim Velîocak is one of these, and its centre is Ballıkaya Documented (Yıldız 2012, p. 129) (Coşkun 2015). Nişanyan Yeradları also records Ballıkaya as the home of the dedes of the Şah İbrahim ocak (Nişanyan place names).

Harun Yıldız notes that the ocak has not yet been sufficiently studied, either in terms of its historical development or its present state, and that the genealogies (şecere), certificates of authorisation (icazetname) and tax survey records relating to it have not been seriously examined (Yıldız 2012, p. 129). For this reason, much of what is known about the early history of theocak rests on oral tradition.

The folklorist Fuat Bozkurt, for his part, writes that the ocak takes its name from Shah Ismail's great-grandfather, Shaykh Sadreddin İbrahim, and that its centre in Anatolia is Mezirme (Bozkurt 2017). We have gathered what Bozkurt wrote about the ocak, together with his notes from a 1986 visit to Ballıkaya, in a detailed article.

As the ocak tells it

Reported The following is an account of the oral tradition within the ocak (Yıldız 2012, p. 129–130):

• Şah İbrahim Velî descended from Sheikh Safiyyüddin, founder of the Ardabil lodge, and was raised in Ardabil.
• After coming to Anatolia he went first to the village of Sün in Elazığ, from there to the village of Eymür in Arguvan, and then to Ballıkaya, where he founded his lodge (tekke).
• His elder son Hace Ali stayed in Ballıkaya and continued the ocak; his other son Alaaddin went to Çorum and founded a dervish lodge (dergâh) there.
• His descendant Şah Velî, who lived in the 17th century, restored the Karadirek lodge and travelled through the neighbouring provinces, increasing the number of the ocak’s followers.

Where the ocak spread

According to the sources compiled by Yıldız, communities attached to the ocak have historically belonged to Turkmen tribal groups such as the Salmanlı, Demirci, Çukurlu, Çanakçı, Evci, Elemen, İbrahimli, Şekerhacılı, Bıyıklı, Dedeşli and Geygel, and have been concentrated mainly in the regions of Malatya, Kahramanmaraş, Gaziantep, Sivas, Erzurum, Tokat, Çorum, Yozgat, Adana, Ankara, Eskişehir, Mersin and Denizli (Yıldız 2012, p. 130). Coşkun writes that, besides Mezirme, Şah İbrahimli dedes are found in the village of Mamaş in Kangal, in Tokat and in Arguvan (Coşkun 2015).

It is known that in the past dedes from Ballıkaya visited their talips (followers) in Sivas, Tokat, Amasya and Çorum and took part in cem ceremonies (Alevi religious gatherings) there (Çoban 2018, p. 79–80).

Places of pilgrimage

The pilgrimage sites of Vayloğ Dede and Karadirek are among the important places in Ballıkaya (Yılmaz 2023) (Nişanyan place names).

• Karadirek
• Tomb of Vayloğ Dede

Music and the minstrel tradition

Levent Çoban’s study of the musical culture of Hekimhan identifies the presence of the Şah İbrahim ocak in the area, and its central position, as one of the reasons for the richness of Hekimhan’s musical repertoire (Çoban 2018, p. 78). According to views reported in the same study:

• Minstrels (âşık) raised in Ballıkaya, such as Yemenli and Gevheri, and dede-minstrels such as Âşık Yusuf and İmam Dede, are known in almost every village from Sivas to Arguvan, Arapgir and Hekimhan Reported (quoted from Özerol 1989 in Çoban 2018, p. 79).
• In Ballıkaya there are high-pitched bozlak-like tunes sung by the dede-minstrels Reported (quoted from an interview with Özerol in Çoban 2018, p. 79).
• The journeys of the dedes to and from their talips in distant regions strengthened the exchange of melodies and dialects between the Arguvan, Hekimhan and Çamşıhı areas (Çoban 2018, p. 79).

According to Çoban, the instruments most used in the Hekimhan area are the bağlama (long-necked lute), thetambur, the kaval, the violin, the zurna and the davul; folk dances are usually performed to the accompaniment of davul and zurna. In the Alevi tradition, devotional songs (deyiş) and duvazimams have been carried to the present day through the master–apprentice relationship (Çoban 2018, p. 79–80).

Ballıkaya in folk-culture research

Mevlüt Yılmaz’s study of folk medicine, carried out in 19 Alevi villages of Malatya in 2020–2021, also covers Ballıkaya and is based on interviews with informants from the village (Yılmaz 2023).