The great folk poet, Karacaoğlan, is one of our poets with the widest geography of poetry. He carried the geographical features, natural beauties, folklore and social life of the region he visited, seen, lived in, and brought them to the present day by giving a wide place in his poems. Karacaoğlan's poetry world, on the one hand, extends from this mortal world to the beyond, on the other hand, it extends from Europe and the Balkans to China and India. In his poems, regions and environs, mountains, rivers, cities, towns, even villages, passages and straits form a very wide and rich geography. Although Karacaoğlan had traveled and seen the vast Ottoman country at that time, he lived the longest period of his life in the south of Çukurova, especially in the Maraş region.

The period in which Karacaoğlan, who is considered the greatest poet of our folk literature, lived, where he was born and died, have not been fully clarified. Just like Yunus, Karacaoğlan was loved by our people, so every region, province, and tribe wanted to see him as the man of their own province or region, and even saw Karacaoğlan as one of their own citizens. This situation made it even more difficult to understand the life and period of Karacaoğlan, whose written documents were scarce and mostly based on rumors. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is not to claim or prove that Karacaoğlan is a poet from Maraş and that he is from Maraş. True, there are such claims, and these claims are not far behind the others in terms of accuracy. However, we must state that the main purpose of this study is to show how much Maraş and its region take place in Karacaoğlan's poems, in the geography his poetry established.

The Poetry Geography of Karacaoğlan

We can say that Karacaoğlan is our folk poet who puts geography into poetry the most and gives the most place to geography with all its elements in his poems. When we read his poems, or even when we randomly open a divan containing Karacaoğlan's poems, we see that his poem is full of geographical elements and it abundantly includes geography. The fact that geography takes such a large place in Karacaoğlan's poems should be considered quite normal since he is a folk poet who travels from country to country, from province to province away from his homeland. Although the period in which he lived cannot be specified, opinions suggesting that he lived in the late 16th and 17th centuries have gained weight from the available documents and poems. Considering that the Ottoman Empire still dominated a wide geography in three continents, namely in Asia, Europe and Africa, despite the significant loss of territory in these centuries, it will be easier to see and understand the width and perfection of geography in Karacaoğlan's poems. First of all, Karacaoğlan is a poet of love and a poet in whose poetry natural beauties spread in waves. But he experienced most of these beauties in the triangle of Maraş, Adana and Antep. Although his poetry geography extends all the way to India and China, he is a Turkmen poet who was born and lived among the Turkmens, mainly in Southern Anatolia and especially in the Taurus Mountains, and spent most of his life there:

Sararıp da dökülmüyor gazelim
Gönül der ki diyar diyar gezelim
Soyum Türkmen Türkmen olsun güzelim
Ölürsem ben o illerde ölürüm

Karacaoğlan, following the tradition of the period in which he lived, traveled throughout the Ottoman country, singing a song with his saz in his hand. His poems clearly show that this is so. In his poems, he traveled around the provinces of Maraş, Konya, Karaman, İçel, Hama, Egypt, Tokat, Bor, Ankara, Aydın, Adana, Diyarbekir, Kayseri, Mardin, Bursa, Sivas, all the way to their villages and highlands. As he talked about the Danube tribes and the Austrian war, he went as far as the western borders of the empire, and even saw foreign border countries. It is certain that our poet spent most of his life in Çukurova and the southern provinces, which is his original homeland, and traveled there step by step. Karacaoğlan is one of our poets who uses geography in his poetry most skillfully. He also makes use of geography while praising his lover, a mole of his lover. The countries and cities cannot escape from being a tool in praising the beauty of the lover in his poetry:

Bir benin bahası Gürcü, Gürcistan
Bir benin bahası Hind ü Hindistan
Bir benin bahası şol Arabistan
Bir beni de Tatar Hanı bend etmiş
Bir beni bendetmiş Şam’ı Haleb’i
Bir beni bendetmiş Mısır, Anteb’i
Karacaoğlan eydür Nazlı Çelebi
Bir beni de Al’Osman’ı bendetmiş

The mountains and highlands, which are the backbone of geography, constitute the most indispensable themes of Karacaoğlan's poems. It is very difficult to come across a poem that does not include mountains, highlands and springs. As a member of the nomadic Turkmen tribes who spent their life in the mountains and nature, he abundantly places mountains, springs and seasons in his poems. The mountains are like a friend with whom he converses and has a heart-to-heart talk as long as he is alone in his poems. The following koşma (a type of folk poetry) clearly shows how well Karacaoğlan knew the Maraş region with its mountains:

Dinleyin ağalar size söyleyim
Arş u Kürsü gider yolun var dağlar
Kar’ardıçlı kamalaklı yüceler
Selvili söğütlü yerin var dağlar
Ahır Dağı’ndan gör Maraş bağını
Engizek’te derler ilin çoğunu
Bayra’dan Bertiz’den Konur Dağı’nı
Göksün güzel derler ilin var dağlar
Gün doğanda Gündüzlü’nün başına
Göğdeli’de Sünbüllü’nün peşine
Akdağ derler, duman çöker başına
Kabaktepe derler sarın var dağlar
Karacaoğlan der de, bitirdim çağı
O yüce Binboğa Bolkar’ın dengi
Soğanlı yücesi koca Beydağı
Erciyes ulumuz, pirin var dağlar

The mountains and highlands are sometimes included in his poems in the form of pictures that one cannot be tired of their magnificent view. In his poetry, the mountains and highlands are “snowy, stormy, have forested skirts, bare hills, colorful clouds, sleet, purple hyacinths, green juniper... When the summer and spring months come, Arabian horses, camels with black lovelock, white gazelles, orphan lambs, chukars, goshawks, baby falcons, demoiselle cranes, turtledoves, swallows, francolins play in these green plains and highlands where the morning winds blow slowly. The moose, ducks and white swans swim in their lakes, doves and strange nightingales sing in their gardens” and in one koşma, he calls out to the mountains:

Yücesinde namlı namlı karın var
Seni yaylayacak zamanım dağlar
Başından aşmağa yoktur takatim
Kalmadı dizimde dermanım dağlar
Bir başka şiirinde zengin
How vivid and colorful he depicted Taurus geography:
Erisin dağların karı erisin
İnsin seli düz ovayı bürüsün
Türkmen ili yaylasına yürüsün
Ak kuzular melesin de gidelim
Medhederler Karaman’ın ilini
Köprüsü yok geçemedim selini
Kervan yaylasını perçem belini
Lale sünbül bürüsün de gidelim
Üç gün oldu bizim evler göçeli
Beş gün oldu Ceyhan suyun geçeli
Kırmızı önlüklü yüzü peçeli
Hanım kızlar yürüsün de gidelim

In summary, the wide geography, mountains, forests, highlands, climate, summers and winters, springs, cities, villages, towns, rivers, streams, creeks, valleys, crossings, springs, young girls filling their buckets at the mouth of the springs of our country and neighboring countries form part of the rich material of Karacaoğlan's poetry.

His Poems About Maraş and Its Region

We can easily argue that Maraş and its environs are included in Karacaoğlan's poems in a very large and comprehensive way compared to our other provinces. Mentioning his poems about Maraş and its region by dividing them into two parts will explain the subject better. Karacaoğlan has a few poems that are clearly related to the Maraş region. For example, the poem with redif (a type of rhyme) "atım" among these poems, if we exclude one or two villages of Antep, includes the mountains, rivers, towns and villages of the Maraş region, even some insignificant streams, and the poem really reflects the Maraş region and its geography from beginning to end. While reading these poems of Karacaoğlan, I must openly admit that I felt emotional as if I had visited Maraş and its region, and that I partially satisfied my longing for the homeland with this poem of the poet.
Among the names of villages and places mentioned in the poem, Eğrikol and Kefendiz belong to Antep. Eğrikol is a village in Antep, and Kefendiz is the name of a place in the south of Antep."

Kalk gidelim atım, harab haneden,
Kısmatımız versin Mevla’m Yaradan.
Eğrikol’da yem yedirem, atıma;
Gece Eğrikol’da yatalım, atım.
Atıma bineyim, edeyim sökün.
Sağıma, soluma hamayıl takın.
Ağyar ırak ederler, Kefendiz yakın.
Gece Kefendiz’de’ yatalım, atım
At ile Kırım’ı aştıktan geri,
Dizgini boynuma düştükten geri,
Ak Suyu’n köprüsün geçtikten geri,
Bu gece Maraş’ta yatalım, atım
Maraş’tan ötesi uzak bir yoldur,
Tatar Deresi’nde dizgini kaldır,
Öğle namazını Göksun’da kıldır.
Bu gece Göksun’da yatalım, atım.
Eyi derler Elbistan’ın ovasın,
Yaz getirir ılık ılık havasın,
Koca Binboğa’da sahan yuvasın,
Gece Binboğa’da yatalım, atım.
Gel Öğrek’de dokudayım çulunu.
Üç güzde ördüreyim palanı.
Som gümüşten döktüreyim nalını.
Bu gece Öğrek’te yatalım, atım.
Karac’oğlan der ki; yârin yar ise,
Ağyar ile muhabbeti yok ise,
Atım sende küheylanlık var ise,
Gece yar koynunda yatalım, atım.

Ağyar is a village of Maraş on the southern slopes of Ahır Mountain. Kırım is the name of a village between Antep and Maraş. Aksu is a stream that crosses the Maraş plain, passes approximately 5 km south of Maraş, and turns towards the Ceyhan River, and is one of the largest tributaries of this river. In this poem, the poet enters Maraş after crossing the Aksu Bridge and says to his horse "Let's spend the night in Maraş", "Let's sleep in Maraş tonight, my horse". After that, the poem traverses the geography of Maraş from south to north, crossing the Tatar stream, reaching Göksun and Elbistan, and then up to the Binboğa Mountains. Binboğa Mountains is the name of a mountain range quite north of Maraş (Because Ahır Mountain lies just north of it). According to Ali Rıza Yalgın, who is also a Karacaoğlan expert, Boğa is another name for Taurus. The name of Binboğa originates from this Boğa (Taurus). Today, the Binboğa Mountains form the backbone of the Southeastern Taurus Mountains with their majestic body stretching between Göksun and Afşin with a height of 3340 m. The Binboğa Mountains appear four more times in Karacaoğlan's poem, apart from this poem with the redif "atım". He even clearly states in one of his poems that his province, that is, one of the highlands where he settled and migrated, is Binboğa.

Karacaoğlan budur halin
N’eylemeli dünya malın
Binboğa’dır benim ilim
İlimden haberin var mı?
Maraş illerine giden kervancı
Selam söyle, bizim il’e, obaya

In yet another poem, Karacaoğlan expresses his longing for the Binboğa mountains and highlands as follows:
Kadir Mevlam budur senden dileğim
Oynat beni gelin inen kız inen
Çıksam Binboğa’ya yayla yaylasam
İçsem sularını namlı buz ilen

In fact, the tribes of the Binboğa highlands called a folk song called “Binboğa türküleri” that Ali Rıza Yalgın, who came to the Binboğa and examined the Turkmen tribes in the Maraş region, listened and compiled the following poem by Karacaoğlan from a villager as one of the Binboğa folk songs.

Yücelerden seyran ettim
Antakya’nın surun gördüm
El bağladım divan durdum
Bir acayip seyran gördüm
Çukurova gide gide
Mor menevşe gülden buda
Kefendiz’de Akkaş Dede
Bir acayip düşün gördüm
Aslanlı’da olur meşe
Gavur gölün kıl temaşa
Uğradım koca Maraş’a
Bedestenin şalın gördüm
Göksün yaylaların hası
Eridi gönlümün pası
Deli Ardıç Mağarası
Karataş’ın belin gördüm
Savanak’ta yatan eller
Binboğa’da ulu pirler
Avşar ilde Elif derler
Bir küçücük gelin gördüm
Çağır Karacaoğlan çağır
Taş düştüğü yerde ağır
Güzel sevmek günah değil
Dört kitapta yerin gördüm

The third poem of Karacaoğlan, which we think is completely related to Maraş and its region, is the poem he wrote on an oak tree that is about to dry in Ahır Mountain. Here, one cannot help but remember the Lonely Juniper that Cahit Zarifoğlu met on Ahır Mountain. According to Cahit Öztelli, "Karacaoğlan was on his way to Sivas, and when he came across Ahır Mountain, he saw an oak. On his return he saw that the oak had dried. When he sang this song, the oak turned green again.” In our opinion, this folk song of Karacaoğlan, like his many other folk songs, is one of the most interesting examples of environmental literature:

Annacına almışsın koca Berid’i
Farıdı da deli gönlüm farıdı
Hazreti Nuh’tan beri kimler var idi
Nuh’un tufanını bilin mi meşe
Annacına almışsın koca ardıcı
Başına yağar da boranla gıcı
Gittin kabeye de oldun mu hacı
Ol Beyt-Şerif’e yüz sürdün mü meşe
Şu meşenin bir incecik yolu var
Sayamadım yüz bin türlü dalı var
Şu dünyanın yüz bin türlü hali var
Şu dünya halinden bilin mi meşe
Karacaoğlan der ki bu da böyle olsun
Başındaki kuru dallar göğersin
Senin bahşişini Bertizli versin
Bertiz’in halini bildin mi meşe

Another poem of Karacaoğlan about Maraş and its region, full of Maraş geography, is his poem with the redif “görünür”. The poet entered Maraş and its region from the southeast, that is, from the side of Antep, in his poem with the redif 'atım'. In this poem with the redif 'görünür', he goes from Kayseri side, Yahyalı to Maraş:

Uyuma hey deli gönül uyuma
Yahyalı’dan aşan evler görünür
Sıvamış kolların hep samur giymiş
Maraş’ın arkası dağlar görünür
Ilıktır da Akdeniz’in kenarı
Orda belli koç yiğidin hüneri
Yavşanlı’da olan koca çınarı
Yel vurur yaprağı parlar görünür
Tunus ovasına her gelen çöker
Yarın Çamurlu’ya yüz ordu konar
Höyüklü yüksektir bir duman döner
Başı pare pare karlar görünür

Çamurlu, Höyüklü and Yavşanlı mentioned in the poem are villages of Maraş. It is understood that the Tunus plain mentioned in the poem is not an existing plain in Tunisia, which is one of the North African states today, but a plain inhabited by Tunisian Arabs living around Kozan Mountain and whose arrival date is unknown. Again, the poem written by Karacaoğlan for Garbi Yeli (a wind) and sung as a Maraş folk song should also be mentioned here. The garbi yeli, which we think is a wind unique to Maraş, is a wind that saves Maraş and its region from the scorching southern and Mediterranean heat of summer and gives people great relief. Blowing from the Andırın region of Maraş from the west, it crosses over Başkonuş and fills Maraş and its plain with its refreshing breeze. It is a wind that is a bit humid and sometimes blows quickly, making the dust fly. Here, Karacaoğlan wrote the following poem to this wind.

Garbi yeli garbi yeli
Ne esersin deli deli
Bahçemde açan gülü
Sen soldurdun garbi yeli
Garbi yeli yeğin eser
Deli poyraz sana küser
Ak yar duyar bana küser
Sen barıştır garbi yeli
Ak elinde sarı akik
Yüzün yıkık boynun bükük
Ak yar dargın diye duyduk
Sen barıştır garbi yeli
Garbi yeli serin değer
Akçadeniz dalga döğer
Karacaoğlan yârin anar
Sen estikçe garbi yeli

Another poem of Karacaoğlan about the Maraş region is the poem he wrote for a girl who goes to the spring in Emirler village. Although Emirler village is seen as a village of Andırın district of Maraş on the map, dear Müjgan Cumbur states that Emirler is a village of Elbistan;

Sarı edik giymiş goncu kısarak
Gidiyor da birim birim basarak
Anasr hörü de kızı besilek
Emirler’den bir kız indi pınara
Sarı edik giymiş, koncu dizinde
Arzumanım kaldı ala gözünde
Böyle güzel mi olur köylü kızında
Emirler’den bir kız indi pınara

Another poem of Karacaoğlan, unique to the Maraş geography, is a poem with the redif “yavrunun”.
Yine esti muhabbetin yelleri
Attım hoş geliyor falı yavrunun
Vardı, sana uğradı mı yolları?
Parlayıp gidiyor ili yavrunun
Ayın on dördüne benzer cemali
Yâri görmeyeli, deli oldum, deli
Ak topukta şan veriyor halhalı
Akkale’den aşar yolu yavrunun
Ekbez’de batak olmuş konulmaz
Kalbur’un belinde karar kılınmaz
Aradım cihanı, misli bulunmaz,
Irgalar saç bağın beli yavrunun
Akkale’den uğradın mı Çınar’a
Kon Kazanpınar’da zülfünü tara
Şimdi kömür gözlüm Konur Dağı’na
Düzülmüş çığları teli yavrunun
Bugün geçtiğimiz Keban’ın suyu
İncedir belleri usuldur boyu
Bugün konalgamız Meryemçil beli 
Oğul balı verir dili yavrunun
Sabahtan kalkar da Çinçin’i geçer
Vurur deli gönül, kaynayıp coşar
Yükletmiş yükünü Göksun’a çıkar
Göksun’da Çalpayız Gölü yavrunun
Karacaoğlan, bırak gam ile yası
Ne hoş olur şu dağların havası
Yârin konalgası Söğüt Ovası
Ekbez ekbez olmuş eli yavrunun

The place or place names mentioned in the poem belong to the geography between Andırın and Göksun, which are the districts of Maraş.

Maraş and its surroundings in Karacaoğlan's other poems

Apart from these poems of Karacaoğlan, which we can say unique to the Maraş geography, Maraş and its surroundings are also interspersed in his other poems on various occasions. He even refers to Maraş as "our provinces" in some of these poems;

Maraş illerine giden kervancı
Selam söyle bizim il’e, obaya

In yet another poem, he says that his homeland is Adana, Maraş and Çukurova;

Vatanımız Adana, Maraş
Çukurova ilimiz var

In another of his poems, he includes the village of Kızılöz, one of the villages of Göksun district of Maraş;

Garipçe garipçe öter
Kızılöz’ün turnaları
Yiğide eğlence yeter
Ala gözün sürmeleri
Gül devşirdim deste deste
Armağan yolladım dosta
Böyle mi olur dostun dosta
Varıp varıp gelmeleri
Karacaoğlan bulur m’ola
Bu derd beni alır m’ola
Mevlam izin verir m’ola
Dost yüzünü görmeleri

In Karacaoğlan's poetry, geography has taken its place with all its richness and diversity, perhaps in a way that has not been seen in any poet. Damascus, which is outside our borders today, takes the first place in Karacaoğlan's poetry. In one of his poems, Karacaoğlan even clearly reveals how much he respects this city by saying "Şam'ı Şerif” (Honorable Damascus). The name of Damascus is mentioned 12 times in Karacaoğlan's poems. After Damascus, Yemen takes the second place among Karacaoğlan's poems with 10 times. We can easily say that the geography of Maraş and its surroundings has entered Karacaoğlan's poems many times and enriched his poems.

Andırın’la Göksün arasında bir bel.
Andırın’la Göksün arasında bir köy.
Maraş’ta Göksun’a yakın bir göl, Cumbur, 
Elbistan yöresinde bir belde.

As a city, Maraş has appeared in his poems 7 times, Elbistan 2 times and Göksun 5 times. Some of the Maraş villages in Karacaoğlan's poems are as follows; Bertiz, Çamurlu, Emirler, Çinçin, Kızılöz, Kırım, Öğrek, Tekir, Tevcik, Yavşanlı. The mountains mentioned in Karacaoğlan's poems are in alphabetical order; Ahır Mountain, Berit, Binboğa, Engizek and Konur Mountain. The rivers are Aksu and Ceyhan. The lakes are the Çalpayız Lake and the Gâvur Lake. The straits are Meryemçil Strait, Kalbur’s Strait, Karataş Strait, Çınar Strait.

REFERENCES
Cumbur, Müjgan: Karacoğlan, Milli Klasikler, Milli Eğitim Bakanlığı Yay., İstanbul 2000, 3. Edition.
Ergun, Sadettin Nüzhet, Karacaoğlan, İstanbul 1974, 21. Edition.
Kabaklı, Ahmet: Türk Edebiyatı, Vol. 2.
Öztelli, Cahit: Karacaoğlan, Milliyet Yayınları, s. XXXIV, XXXV, İstanbul 1971, 3. Edition. www.siir.gen.tr.şiir/yazılar/
Yalgın, Ali Rıza; Cenup’ta Türkmen Oymakları, İstanbul 1993, 2. Edition, Vol. II.