Cevizli, also known as Lohan, is a village in the

Şahinbey Şahinbey is a district of Gaziantep Province of Turkey named after Şahin Bey (1877-1920), a Turkish National Movement commander. It is part of Gaziantep Metropolitan centers in Turkey, Metropolitan municipality. The population is 730,562 as of 2 ...

district of

Gaziantep Province Gaziantep Province ( tr, ) is a province in south-central Turkey. It is located in the westernmost part of Turkey's Southeastern Anatolia Region and partially in the Mediterranean Region. Its capital is the city of Gaziantep. It neighbours Ad ...

in south-central Turkey, southwest of Turkey's sixth largest city,

Gaziantep Gaziantep (), previously and still informally called Aintab or Antep (), is a major city and capital of the Gaziantep Province, in the westernmost part of Turkey's Southeastern Anatolia Region and partially in the Mediterranean Region, approximat ...

Etymology

The village was recorded as ''Lohan'' or ''Luhan'' since the Ottoman times. This name was derived from ''Uluhan'' ( 'grand inn'), which was used by traveler Alexander Drummond in mid-18th century as the name of the village. Cevizli, the other name of the village, is also a Turkish word meaning "with nuts," named after the village's walnut and pistachio trees.

History

18th-century Scottish consul Alexander Drummond visited the village and described it as the handsomest he has ever seen in the region in his travel book. He implied that the village then lacked a mosque. The village is inhabited by Turkomans of the

Elbegli Elbegli ( tr, Elbeyli or ) is a Turkoman tribe mainly residing in Kilis, Gaziantep, and Sivas provinces in Turkey. History The tribe was mainly found around Sivas and Kemah before the Ottoman authorities resettled them near Sajur River during th ...

tribe.

Geography

Geographically, the village sits on the slope of a small hill, opposite a much larger hill with a

spring water A spring is a point of exit at which groundwater from an aquifer flows out on top of Earth's crust (pedosphere) and becomes surface water. It is a component of the hydrosphere. Springs have long been important for humans as a source of fresh w ...

stream passing between the two hills. In times past the region was heavily wooded and green. Now, most of the greenery that survives, clings to the banks of the spring water stream running between the two hills. The native fauna once included leopards, bears and tigers. All that remains are striped hyenas, spur-heeled tortoises, the occasional wolf, various species of skink lizards and chameleons, semi-domesticated dogs and cats, as well as geese and poultry. Along with farming animals such as sheep, goats, cattle, mules, donkeys and horses. Some other

native species In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often popularised as "with no human intervention") during history. The term is equ ...

exist, although a new fauna census needs to be conducted in the region to determine what exactly remains. Summers are dry and hot, swept by hot Saharan and Arabian desert winds. Snow falls in the winter for an average of 17 days during the coldest months. The weather is considered Mediterranean.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cevizli, Sahinbey Villages in Şahinbey District