1906–1907 · ≈1,200 km
In 1906-1907, ninety-four households of the Karabağlar oymak (tribal clan) made the journey from the village of Çayır in the Hacıoğlu-Pazarcık (present-day Dobrich) area of Bulgaria to the Durayda land in Anatolia — a return migration of approximately 1,200 km that founded Mesudiye village in autumn 1907.
Migration route
Following the 1877-78 Russo-Turkish War, the political reorganisation of the Balkans put increasing pressure on Turkish Muslim communities in the Bulgarian state founded after the war. Throughout the 1890s and early 1900s, waves of muhajirs migrated from the Balkans to Anatolia. The Konya vilayet had identified ~227,000 dönüm of empty land available for settlement; ~136,000 dönüm (59.7%) were in Karaman, suitable for ~6,800 migrants.
The 94 households travelled in stages: Çayır → Köstence (Constanța, Romania) overland, then maritime crossing to Haydarpaşa (Istanbul), then by rail to Konya, and finally overland to Karaman. Their arrival was facilitated by Çotuk Ahmet Efendi, a fellow Karabağlar migrant who had gone ahead to Durayda and invited the group there.
Route
Hacıoğlu-Pazarcık (Dobrich), Bulgaria
The starting point. The village where the Karabağlar oymak had lived for ~300-400 years. The village was sold to a Bulgarian and the journey began.
Romania
The port city on the Black Sea coast. From here the muhacirs (muhajirs, the migrants) set out by ship for Istanbul.
Istanbul, Anatolian side
The port on the Anatolian side. Reached by ship; from there they were dispatched to Konya by rail.
Konya
Reached by rail. While staying at a han (inn) they came across their fellow countryman Çotuk Ahmet Efendi.
Near Karaman
Temporary shelter. The families stayed as guests in these villages until their houses were built.
Karaman, central district
The final stop — and the completion of the cycle. 94 households returned to the region their ancestors had left centuries earlier.
By the end of 1907 (1323 in the Rumi calendar), the 94 households had completed their settlement on the Durayda land. The new village was named Mesudiye — from the Arabic mes'ûd meaning "happy, blessed" — with the wish that those who would live there might be content and at peace. The name appears in the official village list of 1928.
The migration was, in effect, a return journey. In the 16th century, under the Ottoman sürgün-iskân (deportation-settlement) policy, Avşar Turkmens from Anatolia (Karaman, Maraş, Adana, Niğde, Kırşehir, Sivas) had been resettled in Dobruja and Deliorman — today's Bulgaria. The Karabağlar, whose origin, judging by the region's dialects, goes back to the Avşar Turkmens, must be descendants of those groups, and their 1907 return completed an approximately 400-year cycle. See also: overview.
The migrants came from the village of Çayır in the Hacıoğlu-Pazarcık (present-day Dobrich) area of Bulgaria. Mesudiye's old records also call the area Silistre. Çayır (Çayır-Mahalle) was a Turkish village in the south of the Dobruja plateau, close to the Deliorman region. In 1942 its name was changed by the Bulgarian government to “Hitovo”.
The families belonged to the Karabağlar (Karaballar) oymak.
The 1906–1907 migration was in fact the last link in a much longer journey. The origin of the village's ancestors goes back to the region of Horasan, near today's Iran–Afghanistan border. The migration from that geography to Anatolia took place around the year 1200 — the same era in which Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi migrated from Horasan together with his family.
Migration chain
c. 1200 — Horasan (Iran–Afghanistan border): the ancestors migrated to Anatolia — contemporaries of Mevlana.
Following centuries — Taurus Mountains (the Karaman–Silifke line): they lived a Yörük (nomadic pastoralist) life.
Ottoman period — Rumelia (Bulgaria): they were settled in the Balkans through Ottoman settlement policies.
1906–1907 — Durayda, Karaman: the final migration from Bulgaria to Anatolia.
Living as Yörük in the Taurus Mountains, these communities maintained a semi-nomadic pastoralist culture. Having spent centuries on the high pastures between Karaman and Silifke, these people were finally transferred to the lands of Rumelia (Bulgaria) through Ottoman settlement policies.
Thus the families who returned from Bulgaria to Anatolia in the 1906–1907 migration were in fact completing a centuries-old cycle: from Central Asia to Anatolia, from Anatolia to Rumelia, and from Rumelia back to Anatolia.
Çotuk Ahmet Efendi, of the Karabağlar oymak, had settled at Durayda independently, before the other muhacirs. His fellow countrymen discovered him while they were staying at a han (inn) in Konya. Ahmet Efendi's invitation — “Come here, there is plenty of land at Durayda” — led the 94 households to turn towards this region.
The Ottoman state assigned Armenian and Greek master craftsmen and carpenters to the migrants. The muhacirs made mud bricks and mixed mortar to build their own houses. When the houses were completed, they were distributed by lot. The state also provided draught animals and seed grain.
Date of founding: autumn 1907. The settlement was announced in two newspapers:
Tercüman-ı Hakikat — no. 9594, 15 December 1907
Konya Vilâyet Gazetesi — no. 1894, 10 December 1907
Karaman Şer'iyye Sicili — register no. 321, pp. 229 and 292
In April 1914, 27 Bosnian muhacir households (108 people) were sent from Istanbul and settled at Durayda. However, because of disputes that arose among them (allegations of theft), they left the village a short time later and returned to Konya.