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Our Highland and Highland Culture

Not so long our house was built in 2002. At that time, it was possible to reach the plateau by vehicle up to a certain distance. We are the last generation to have the privilege of being able to walk to the plateau with cows and mules and with our loads on our backs. My longest hike to the Pokut plateau took 5 hours. Our families had 8 hour or even 1 day long walks. In fact, there were highland residents who came from a village in Çayeli by staying in tents for one night. Of course we didn't see it. During the construction phase of our house, the closest road was on the Sal plateau. Materials were transported by wheelbarrows between Sal plateau and Pokut plateau. Anyway, the Pokut plateau actually has a history of 100 years. There are 60 hearths (home place) on the plateau. Many of these are unusable. There are three villages using the plateau, Ortan village, Konaklar district, Pogina village (Hemşin). It is registered as a pasture area in official records and is defined for the use of village residents. By establishing the Pokut and Sal Plateau Union, a unity was tried to be achieved in the plateaus, but it did not help. There is no property right in the plateau, no sale or transfer can be made.

Until 2002, it was not possible to reach the plateau by car, and until 2010, there was no telephone reception. There was no electricity and no running water in the houses. In those last days of our stay, we used to sit in the light of luxury, sleep early, and get our work done with transport water. It was not possible to take a bath. As you can see, houses with small toilet cabins were privileged, and there were no toilets. The houses were made of wood, airy and split in two. Large families would stay in the form of women in one room and men in another room. They slept together, only two meals a day were eaten with limited food opportunities. During the day, daily chores were done, and in the evening, either horon was played or games were played to spend time together. It was during these times called vartevor that it was possible to meet with other village residents. Migration to Samistal plateau, the real plateau of the residents, was also done together. Our generation had the fun part of the job. Generations before us have seen very difficult conditions both in the village and on the plateau. Maybe we are so attached to the highland because it is the only alternative to come together even for a short time of the year and we have the opportunity to collect valuable memories in the highlands.

We started to serve as a hostel in 2005 in our plateau house. With the arrival of Ayşe Arman in 2007 and publishing our highland and our highland house on Hürriyet pages, the recognition of both our highland and our highland house increased. We have hosted many people so far. Our visitors left good memories in the diary in our house. You can visit our guestbook and arrivals page. As we respect the privacy of individuals, we do not want to publish name and date information.

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We, as Pokutyaylaevi, are trying to serve you with an average capacity with a sense of responsibility to share such a beauty. Of course, we also need your support. Would you share with us this privilege and responsibility to protect this privilege that we are obliged to share? Filling out the suggestions form on our website may open new doors for us.

About us

Miss Filiz

Filiz, who was born in 1956 in Istanbul, is married and has 3 children. He has a colorful personality who spent his childhood and youth in difficult conditions in Çamlıhemşin. After completing his children's education, he took slow and sure steps to establish his own business. With the support of her husband, Ömer Bey, she started her boarding business with the demands coming from the environment in the building, which was first built as a house. He started his business small and now continues his activities with a small cafe business.

Filiz has received the appreciation and admiration of the guests with her versatile personality and unique local dishes. In general, his ability to fight in difficult life conditions has enabled him to continue this job, which has various difficulties although it seems easy, and then develops it.

With the construction of the plateau house on the Pokut plateau by his wife in 2002, he turned his activity into hostel business, which he started by hosting small-scale groups of close relatives. In 2007, a significant increase was achieved in the number of guests when Ayşe Arman hosted her home and Ayşe Arman moved her plateau to the pages of Hürriyet newspaper. We would like to express our thanks to Ayşe Arman in this regard. It even started to host guests in its own house as a result of high demand during the season. Afterwards, he took initiatives to establish his own cafe business with the encouragement of serving food to groups of 30-40 people (thanks to Tema Foundation) at his house in Çamlıhemşin Konaklar district. After the closure of the place, formerly known as Çaynig, it continued its activities by opening the Sini Local Breakfast and Dining Place. (We would like to thank Bukla Tur for its contributions.) It has now started service in its new place (Renovation of the place where they used to operate as a dairy farm, next to the Gendarmerie in Konaklar district).

Mrs. Filiz- Mr. Ömer

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