Vezirköprü is the second big district of Samsun. It is 116 km far away from Samsun city center. It is surrounded by Havza, Bafra, Alaçam districts and Sinop and Çorum cities; and population of the district is 106 thousand. 79.166 people of the population live in rural area. Transportation with neighbors is provided by highway. You can prefer minibuses to go to Havza and Durağan. There are periodic bus services from Vezirköprü to Samsun, Ankara, İstanbul and Bursa.

 It is placed in a basin that is surrounded by hills. It is surrounded by Kunduz Mountains, Kale Hill, Tavşan Mountains and Keltepe. Hills facing to Kızılırmak are covered by forests. Kunduz Plateau on the west, Kabalı Plateau on the north, Tavşan Mountain Plateau on the south west are important in points of plateau tourism.

In point of climate conditions, Vezirköprü is between the humid climate of the coastline and continental climate of the inner parts. It has own thermic and humidity features of the transition climate. Winters are colder and summers are warmer than the coastline.

Economy of Vezirköprü

Economy is based on agriculture. People produce all sorts of crops, vegetables and fruits. Stockbreeding and forestry is also important. There are craftsman who is interested in the traditional handicrafts like saddlebag, tea urn, rope production. In period of 7500 years, Vezirköprü welcomed lots of different cultures.

Holy City of Hittites: Oymaağaç Mound Hill

Oymaağaç Mound Hill, estimated that it is a residential area for thousands of years, was one of the most important haunts and called as Nerik, the holy city of Hittites.

District Center

The district center is full of historical artifacts, which are survived till today and restored.

When you pass from one street to another, you see a historical artifact. On the other hands center of Vezirköprü is very live. There are shops that can satisfy all sorts of needs.

Municipal Park

It is enjoyable to sit at tea gardens under the pine, sycamore trees.  When it is 30-35 degrees outside; it is possible to get rest in a cool atmosphere.

Mounds and Flat Settlements

There are numerous hills, mounds and tumulus in also this region. Excavated works at Höyüktepe-Oymaağaç Hill is continuing. Ostragons were found during excavated works and most of them are from Early Bronze Age. Most popular of them are Doğan Hill, Kurudere, Yağınözü Çakmak, Keltepe, Yağbasan Tumulus, Çeltek Tumulus, Aşağı Narlı Tumulus, Avdan Village Tumulus, Çal Village Tumulus and Maltepe Tumulus.

Life at Plateau

Who are migrating?

The people, who are engaged in stockbreeding, are generally migrating. The reason of this migration is lack of pasturelands to be able to get feed of animals.

Festivals on Plateaus

Festivals on plateaus are very different to each other. Bullfighting can be seen at Susuz Village Plateau and young people play traditional game of “Çıngırşak”. Entertainments are being made fun with traditional foods.

Stopovers

People stay in tents and in wooden houses called “kelik.”

Customs and Traditions on Plateaus

·  Transhumant give one spoon of butter to the shepherd every week.  This tradition is being applied for the shepherd to be more careful to protect animals from predators.

·  Because of the fact that generally old women live there, every week girls and brides go to the plateau to churn.

·  15-20 days after migration, whole village go to the plateau for the festival.

An Iron Age City

Esenköy

Vezirköprü and periphery is an important settlement area. Most important prove of this are the architectural items that are placed in Esenköy, 15 km far away from the district, and the ones in the region that include Pa flagon type rock tombs.

Season to round trip to plateau

People go to the plateau on May generally and turn back to villages on September. Preparations for turning back are made, tagging is made, animals and wools are washed in rivers. Tents and stuff are packed, loaded to animals and tractors.

Culture of Food

Basic materials of Vezirköprü kitchen are dry bean, chickpea, corn, leaf of grape and cracked wheat. Meat, rice and pastries are also popular. Goose, chicken, duck and türkiye are important at traditional nutrition. Goose pilaf, Tirit, Goose Shawarma, Fried Chicken are the foods from poultry. Roasting and soup are prepared from the plants like kaldırayak, madımak, pancar, nünük. Katık pastry is a food special to Vezirköprü. It is prepared from cracked wheat and dill and it is very delicious.

Oymaağaç Kebab

This food, made in Oymaağaç Village, is made between May and November. It is eaten both hot and cold. The most important feature of the Kebab is goat meat.

Kebab is cooked in a kebab room with a specially made chimney. It is cooked in 3-4 hours by broiling. Goat Kebab is the traditional food of the region for centuries.