The Analysis of Cultural-Historical Resources of Goycha

The Analysis of Cultural-Historical Resources of Goycha

Gulnar Nazarova

Ph.D. Student, Azerbaijan Tourism and Management University, Baku, Azerbaijan

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2024.807033

Received: 12 June 2024; Revised: 19 June 2024; Accepted: 24 June 2024; Published: 30 July 2024

ABSTRACT

Goycha is one of the most historically and geographically rich regions of Western Azerbaijan. It is surrounded by Lake Goycha, which in turn shows the importance of the region for tourism. However, the article analyzes only the cultural and historical resources of the region. The article provides a general review of Goycha’s cultural resources The resources are described by categories. Then in the manuscrift discusses the cultural importance of resources and their role in tourism.

Keywords: Goycha, cultural-historical resource, monument, culture, tourism

INTRODUCTION

Goycha is considered one of the most famous regions of Western Azerbaijan. Its cultural-historical resources, as well as the Goycha Lake located in its territory, have created conditions for its recognition. The history of Goycha and its cultural-historical resources are analyzed in the article. The relevance of the article stems from this. Each work in the territory of Goycha represents the culture of Azerbaijan. The area is a place that can be useful for tourism. The research object of the article is the cultural and historical resources of Goycha. Its subject is the disclosure of the importance of resources in the cultural and tourism sector. The scientific innovation is the general study of Goycha resources and the investigation of the development rate in the tourism sector.

The History of Goycha

The natural and geographical conditions of Western Azerbaijan are quite diverse. There are many rivers and lakes in the region, as well as the biological and zoological world is vast (Nazarova, 2024).

One of the regions of Western Azerbaijan is Goycha. Goycha is a region in Western Azerbaijan that differs both in terms of its population and territory. The region surrounds Goyce Lake. The region is bordered by Shamseddin and Gazakh mountains from the north, Derachichek from the northwest, Ganja from the east, Karabakh from the south, and Kirkhbulag, Vedibasar, Garnibasar from the west. Its rich natural and geographical conditions show that the region is useful for tourism.

Figure 1. Western Azerbaijan. Goycha and Goycha Lake

(https://anl.az/el/emb/Qerbi_Azerbaycan/inzibati.htm)

The states like Saji, Salari, Ravvadi, Seljuk, Atabay, Hulaku, Garagoyunlu, Aggoyunlu, and Safavi existed in the territory of Goycha. For the first time, the phrase “Goycha province” was mentioned in the decree of Jahanshah of Karakoyunlu in the XV century. In addition, in the decrees of Aggoyunlu Hasan Shah and Safavid Shah Ismayil Khatai, Goycha was indicated as a separate administrative area. Also, during the Safavid era, the region was part of Chukhur-Saad Baylarbayi (Nasibov, 2019, p.13,16)

The Etymology of Goycha

Goyche’s name has been found in many Turkish literary works in different centuries: “The Book of Dede Korkut”, “History of Albania” by Movses Kaghankatvatsi, “The world-adorning history of Abbas” by Iskandar Beg Munshi Turkman, “The Tarikh-e Alam-ara-ye Abbasi” by the anonymous author of the Safavid era, “Tarikhe-guzide” by Hamdullah bin Abu Bakr bin Nasr Mustovfi Qazvini, “Zayl-e tarikhe-guzide, talif-e Zeynaddin bin Hamdullah Mustovfi Qazvini” by Hamdullah Mustovfi Qazvini’s son Zeynaddin, “Kitabi-Diyarbakriya” by Abu Bakr al-Tehrani al-İsfahani and others.

İt was presented as Goycha lake, Goycha sea, Goycha mountain, Gokcha sea, Aglagan mountain, Aygır, Gokcha mountain, Altuntakht, Gokce (Goyca) sea or Gokca Tangiz in these works. The researchers associate the etymology of the name Goycha to be Goychay with beautiful place, beautiful-blue land, blue, blue water, as well as goycha-sea, blue sea, holy place, sweet sea, sweet water, sue “su”, pure, clear, the word abode of heavenly beings (Nasibov, 2019, p.13-16; Valiyev, 2011, p.17).

The Researching of Cultural-Historical Resources

Goyca is a region with a rich cultural history. The archeological findings, historical-architectural monuments, weaving, religious values, customs and traditions, cuisine and other resources available in its territory are quite famous. The cultural-historical resources of that region, which characterizes the elements of Turkish culture, can be studied on two bases:

a. Material cultural-historical resources.

b. Intangible cultural-historical resources.

Material cultural-historical resources

Ancient settlements, stone signs, large stone chests, small tombstones depicting rams, camels, and bulls were found along Goycha Lake. These are usually attributed to the late Iron Age. The habitats included the forest, forest-shrub and dry desert landscape zones of the high (1800-2400 m), middle and low mountain ranges, and the low hilly, the riverside beds near the lake. The other hand, the weapons, the various decorations, the cemeteries of the Bronze-Iron Age were discovered in a little outside the lake.

Each of the archeological samples found embodies ancient Turkic-Muslim beliefs (Yunusoglu, 2023, p.17).

In addition to archaeological finds, there are many historical and cultural monuments in Goycha district, each of which has the characteristics of Azerbaijan culture. The classification of monuments includes an archaeological monument, a mosque, a tomb, a castle, a dome, a grave monument, a temple, a caravanserai, a church, a temple. Examples were built in the period from the 3rd millennium BC to the 20th century. Monuments are distributed in areas such as Basarkechar, Chambarak, Kasaman, Narimanli, Tashkant, Qizilbulag, Zolakhach of Goycha. Examples of these are:

1. Tower – Sivang, Teysheba;

2. Sanctuary – Bala Seyid, Duldul, Kara Dash, Gosha-pir, Mashadi Mir Yaqub aga, Mirali aga, Miskin Abdal, Seyid Bayram, Seyid Mahmud, Seyid Rahim;

3. Mosque – Agbulag, Agkilsa, Kizilbulag;

4. Gravestones – Zolakach, Aghbulag, Oghuz cemetery gravestones in Bala Marza village, Narimanli village gravestone monuments, Noratus cemetery;

5. Temple – Albanian temple in Ardanish village, Albanian temple in Goshabulag village, Makenis temple;

6. Caravanserai – Jil village caravanserai;

7. Albanian church – Ganli the Albanian church in the village, the Albanian church in the village of Kasaman, the Albanian church in the village of Goturbulag;

8. Dome – the dome of Gulam Rahim gizi Bayramova, the dome of Hajililar, the dome of Kekilik Abbas gizi, the dome of Karbalayi Yusifli, the dome of Molla Ali Bayram oğlu and others. (Alakbarli, 2021; Alakbarli, 2007, p.26, 92, 94, 102).

Figure 2. 9th century tower and temple on the island in Sivang-Goycha Lake (https://anl.az/el/emb/Qerbi_Azerbaycan/foto.htm) 

Intangible cultural-historical resources

In Goycha, there have been many talented people in the field of fine art and decorative applied art. Those arts include: handcrafts, blacksmithing, shoemaking, tailoring, locksmithing, electrical engineering, welding, plastering, milling, carpentry, painting etc.

The following names can be indicated as examples of people who have worked in those art fields: Yahya Heydar oglu, Asgar Ali oglu, Atici Asgar, Bald Akbar, Mashadi Alas, Ismayil Karbalayi Karim, Huseyn Asgar oglu, Hasan Shaban oglu, Iman Ali oglu, Akbar Ali oglu, Sabir Khaliq oglu etc.

In fine art, the works of artists such as Zeynab Valiyeva Alashraf gizi (Zeynab Goychali – the first female caricature artist), Sayavush Hasanov Hasan oglu, Abbasali Alekbarov Alekbar oglu, Ibrahim Abbasov Gurban oglu, Yagub Aliyev Hasan oglu have been specially selected (Valiyev, 2011, p.210-212).

Carpet weaving and felting have a special role in Goycha crafts. The carpet weaving was one of the main occupations of women living in the village. They made blankets, mats, and rugs from wool. They wove carpets with piles (carpets, mats, rugs, etc.) and carpets without piles (palaz, kilim, cecim, etc.). For the development of carpets, they did special work on methods such as wool spinning and yarn dyeing. They used solutions made from different plants to dye the ropes: the branches of wormwood and berberis, the green shell of a freshly ripe walnut, oak and willow etc.

The vivid colors such as red, dark yellow, green, and blue were used in carpet weaving. The motives such as legendary epic animals, simurgh bird, camels and camel caravans, pattern compositions depicting flora and fauna, various plots and ornaments were widely used. As examples of carpet names, we can write: Chiyinni lake, Ala lake, Sini, Guzgulu lake, Khali lake, etc. (Nasibov, 2019, p.119-121; Valiyev, 2011, p.213-214).

Meat and dairy products, products made from flour, bread, dishes, various cultivated and wild plants were the basis of the cuisine of the population. The following are the main examples of cuisine culture: leaf khangali, kalacosh, kashkhangali (spoon khangali), koremaz, fluor keshili, sud ashi, jilfir, yarma keshili, roasting, noodle ashi, agsoglaq, noodle heat, halva, umaj, cad bread, katlama, fasali, donut, kata etc.

Thyme, rosehip, hawthorn, and cypress leaves were widely used to make tea. In general, because there was no paddy cultivation in Goycha, wheat semolina was used more. They usually prepared yeast to make cheese (Nasibov, 2019, p.132-157).

The customs and traditions of Goycha reflect the elements of Azerbaijani cultural heritage. There are also: “sunnet toyu”, “gizbayanma”, “elchilik”, “yaylig baghlamag”,  “bashlig”, “paltar bichimi”, “khinayakhdi”, “galinkochurma”, “bachilig evi”, “baba evi”, “sud pulu”, “toykhana”, “şax bazanmasi”, mourning according to the religion of Islam, “ehsan”, “aghi” and others. (Nasibov, 2019, p.1138-149).

In addition, there have been famousartists in the field of theater, cinema, music and ashiq. The drama works of M.F.Akhundov, A.Hagverdiyev, N.B.Vazirov, S.Vurgun have been staged in Cultural Houses.

Among the artists, the following names can be mentioned: brothers Vagif and Arif Abdullayev, Mais Ismayilov, Pullu Valiyeva Ali gizi, Ali Zeynalabduyev, Shukur Ismayilov, Firdovski Hasanov, brothers Vagif and Abulfat Bayramov, Mehman Hasanov, Ashiq Alasgar, Ashiq Aziz, Ashiq Isa, Ashiq Karim Pashayev, Ashiq Giyas, Ashiq Isbi, Ashiq Imran Khalilov, etc.

Ashiq artists include: Bash Saritel, Goyechagulu, Yanıg Karami, Asıg Arazbarisi, Tajnis, Sultani, Heydari, Incagulu, Gayrarma, Shahsevani, Yursyeri, Koroglu, Ruhani, Nakhchivan, Karaçi, Mina Garayli, Lachinı, Dastanı, Chabonbayat, etc. (Valiyev, 2011, p.196-198).

The Significance of the Cultural-Historical Resources of Goycha for the Tourism

It is known that the tourism sector develops closely with the cultural sector. The presence of cultural objects is important for the advancement of the field. Because the cultural-historical resources visually cause people to travel to the countries. Thus, Goyce can be considered one of the important places for the tourism sector. The location of the place around the lake, as well as the abundance of sights, material and intangible cultural-historical resources can facilitate this.

In the second part of the article, the cultural and historical resources of the region are briefly reviewed. The attention has been paid to the fact that each of them is an example of Azerbaijan culture. Unfortunately, at present, most of the monuments are abandoned, destroyed by Armenians or Armenianized. Nevertheless, each of the resources can be quite useful for the development potential of cultural tourism.

CONCLUSION

As a result, in the article we investigated the importance of cultural and historical resources of Goycha for culture and tourism. The article consisted of three main parts: in the first part, general information about Goycha, in the second part, its cultural and historical resources, and in the third part, the importance of the region’s resources for tourism was discussed. From the article, we have the following results:

1. The cultural-historical resources are of particular importance for the development of tourism.

2. Goycha is rich in cultural and historical resources.

3. Those resources of Goycha can be considered useful for tourism.

Based on the results, we can put forward the following suggestions:

a. It is appropriate to investigate the current cultural and historical resources of the region more deeply.

b. It would be better if extensive studies were conducted on the usefulness of those resources for the tourism sector.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This work was supported by the Azerbaijan Science Foundation – Grant № AEF-GAT-7-2023-2(44)-10/09/2-M-09

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