Getting Started with First Edition

I was born in 1955 on 30th October, known by locals as the month of Gazel, the last of eight children, in a house with an earthen roof. We moved to Ankara in 1963, five to six months before my father passed away. All of my education, from primary school to university was in Ankara. The memories I have of my home village, Uğurtaşı, are from my early childhood of 7 years as well as the school holidays spent there. For more than 50 years, I had many memories of times when Uğurtaşı had no electricity, phones or television. Today we enjoy the benefits of modern technology, but in those days we had to use gas-lit lamps, luxury lamps, battery-powered radios, and wooden ploughs. During my summer holidays, I would chat with the elders and try to get details about the history and ancestry of Uğurtaşı.

Uğurtaşı, throughout its hundreds of years of history, has been a thriving settlement with a cosmopolitan structure of two to three thousand people, an economic and social life that includes different cultures, but now it is a quiet village that awaits its active days in the future.

 This book comes in two parts. In the first part, the history of the village and its pedigrees are explained. In the second part, there are photos of the people who lived and are living in our village and some flower photos representing the plant existence of the village.

In the preparation of this book, I tried to benefit from all the information and documents I could reach. It may, however, contain omissions or errors. I hope there will be an opportunity for a reprint that will include corrections and additions. I would like to express my gratitude to Orhan Karakullukçu, Sabahattin Sönmez, Ismet Mogol, and my older brother, Ylmaz Karakullukçu, as well as my fellow countrymen, for their assistance, information, and documents. In addition, I would like to thank Yüksel Süzer for his tireless efforts and contribution in transferring this information and documents to the computer environment.

I greet all residents of Uğurtaşı with love and respect.

Cahit KARAKULLUKÇU

December 2005, Istanbul