Photographer's Note
Ulupamir Village in Van, in Eastern Turkey, witnesses to an annual Kirghiz festival every June. Residents of this village are originating from the Pamir Highlands in Afghanistan.
Their story follows:
When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, the Kirghiz, a Turkic minority in the country faced a life or death situation.
One day, their leader, Khan Hadji Rahmankul Kutlu called for the Council of the Elderly, the supreme governing body in their village, to convene, in order to decide on their faith. That’s how they have, after long deliberations, taken the hard decision to leave their ancestors’ land and migrate to Pakistan.
Their migration was indeed painful, but the living conditions were not any better in Pakistan: Kirghiz who were accustomed to the highlands’ cool weather could not adapt to the tropical climate and 450 members lost their lives. Consequently, some leading figures have proposed migrating to Turkey and made an official request to the Turkish embassy in Pakistan.
In 1982, around 1,150 immigrants were accepted by the Turkish president of the time. The current village was constructed in 1983. The high altitude seems to have played miracles there and the total population more than tripled in the last three decades.
If you would like to get more information about this lovely group, I would wholeheartedly recommend a documentary movie by the English director Ben Hopkins: 37 Uses of a Dead Sheep. :-)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0496218/
Critiques | Translate
batalay
(41261) 2015-08-13 9:36
Merhaba Erdem Bey,
Another close-up portrait evocative of Rembrandt's works. I am grateful for the note. I remember in the late 80s visiting an antique store (in the Covered Bazaar) owned by immigrants Kirghiz tribesmen, and purchasing a couple of Russian coins emblazoned with Czars Nicholas I and Nicholas II. The occupying Soviet soldiers must have traded them for Afghan goods.
Regards, Erdem bey, to you and your family.
Bulent
CLODO
(45094) 2015-08-14 0:25
Hi Erdem
Good to see you back here
Nice smiling portrait of a man with the original cloth and hat well enhanced by the black FG, revealing the details of his skin cheeks and beard
My best regards
CLODO
ymrk
(15099) 2015-08-14 12:50
Merhaba Erdem bey,
Erciş'te değil de sanki kırgızistandan bir fotoğraf gibi..Hala bu denli muhafaza olmuş Kırgız Türkleri var olduğunu bilmiyordum o coğrafyada...Sevgiler.
emka
(152072) 2015-08-16 0:04
hello Erdem, Nice portrait of the Kirghiz man.
My son was in Kyrgyzstan and brought similar funny hat.
Warm regards Malgo
Waylim
(25436) 2015-09-22 8:55
Hello Erdem,
Excellent portrait, feel like a portrait back in time. Excellent quality as always with all the details and I love his expression as he glance to the side and not looking into the camera, it feel a bit more natural. I see some oriental feature in him as it get closer to the East. Similar to some of the people in western part of Asia.
I love to see this part of the world one day.
W
Photo Information
-
Copyright: Erdem Kutukoglu (Suppiluliuma)
(3931)
- Genre: ¤Hª«
- Medium: ±m¦â
- Date Taken: 2010-06-13
- Categories: ¸`¤é
- Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM
- Exposure¡Gf/6.3, 1/160 seconds
- More Photo Info: view
- Photo Version¡GOriginal Version
- Date Submitted: 2015-08-13 8:27
Discussions
- To ymrk: Video (2)
by Suppiluliuma, last updated 2015-08-15 11:59 - To Waylim: Kirghiz (1)
by Suppiluliuma, last updated 2015-09-23 07:43