The Yörüks, also Yuruks or Yorouks (Turkish: Yörükler; Greek: Γιουρούκοι, Youroúkoi; Bulgarian: юруци; Macedonian: Јуруци, juruci), are a Turkish ethnic group, some of whom are nomadic, primarily inhabiting the mountains of Anatolia, and partly in the Balkan peninsula. Their name derives from the Turkish verb yürü- (yürümek in infinitive), which means "to walk", with the word yörük or yürük designating "those who walk on the hindlegs, walkers". Yörüks lived within the Yörük Sanjak (Turkish: Yörük Sancağı) which was not a territorial unit like other sanjaks but a separate organisational unit of the Ottoman Empire.
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Yörüks in Anatolia
Historians and ethnologists often use the additional appellative 'Yörük Turcoman' or 'Turkmens' to describe the Yörüks of Anatolia. In Turkey's general parlance today, the terms "Türkmen" and "Yörük" indicate the gradual degrees of preserved attachment with the former semi-nomadic lifestyle of the populations concerned, with the "Turkmen" now leading a fully sedentary life, while keeping parts of their heritage through folklore and traditions, in arts like carpet-weaving, with the continued habit of keeping a yayla house for the summers, sometimes in relation to the Alevi community etc. and with Yörüks maintaining a yet stronger association with nomadism. These names ultimately hint to their Oghuz Turkish roots. The remaining transhumant or "true" Yörüks of today's Anatolian region traditionally use the camel as a means of transportation, though these are steadily being replaced by trucks.
The Yörüks are divided in a large number of named endogamous patrilineal tribes (aşiret). Among recent tribes mentioned in the literature are Aksigirli, Ali Efendi, Bahsıs, Cakallar, Coşlu, Qekli, Gacar, Güzelbeyli, Horzum, Karaevli, Karahacılı, Karakoyunlu, Karakayalı, Karalar, Karakecili, Manavlı, Melemenci, San Agalı, Sanhacılı, Sarıkeçili, Tekeli and Yeni Osmanlı. The tribes are splittered in clans or lineages, i.e. kabile, sülale or oba.
Yörüks in the Balkans
In 1911, the Yörük were distinct segment of the population of Macedonia and Thrace where they settled as early as the 14th century. An earlier offshoot of the Yörüks, the Kailar or Kayılar Turks, were amongst the first settlements in Europe.
Yörüks and Sarakatsani
Their nomadic way of life and the fact that they spread through the Balkans led Arnold van Gennep to try to establish a connection between the Yörüks and the ethnically Greek Sarakatsani (Greek: Σαρακατσάνοι) or Karakachans of Greece. However, the Sarakatsani when for the first time mentioned under this name were Orthodox Christians and speaking Greek. While there are no actual linguistic or religious links to the Yörük, there are nevertheless connections and similarities as to the transhumant, nomadic way of life.
Kayılar Yörüks
The Kailar Turks formerly inhabited parts of Thessaly and Macedonia (especially near the town of Kozani and modern Ptolemaida). Before 1360, large numbers of nomad shepherds, or Yörüks, from the district of Konya, in Asia Minor, had settled in the country; their descendants are still known as "Konariotes" in Greek. Further immigration from this region took place from time to time up to the middle of the 18th century. After the establishment of the feudal system in 1397 many of the Seljuk noble families came over from Asia Minor; some of the beys or Muslim landowners in southern Macedonia before the Balkan Wars may have been their descendants.<
Yörüks in Iran
Clans closely related to the Yörüks are scattered throughout the Anatolian peninsula and beyond its boundaries, particularly around the chain of Taurus Mountains and further east around the shores of the Caspian sea. Of the Turcomans of Iran, the Yomuts come the closest to the definition of the Yörüks. An interesting offshoot of the Yörük mass are the Tahtadji of the mountainous regions of Western Anatolia who, as their name implies, have been occupied with forestry work and wood craftsmanship for centuries. Despite this, they share similar traditions (with markedly matriarchal tones in their society structure) with their other Yörük cousins. The Qashqai people of southern Iran are also worthy of mention due to their shared characteristics.