A Hidden History on the Black Sea Coast Evrenye and Evren Baba
On the shores of Evrenye, a quaint seaside village beaten by the ravenous waves of the Black Sea, legendary for its sailors, you feel that many sailor stories that have been ground between the wheels of time lie under your feet while you breathe in the salty smell of seaweed.
On these shores famous for their sailors, it is still possible to hear the echoes of the hectic days when Black Sea-type ships were being built not 50 years ago. You can start digging into the memories of these lands by chasing many stories that have been ground up in the wheels of the time mill.
Unfortunately, we do not have precise written information and documents about the history of Evrenye and where its name comes from. Today, our only source of written information beyond the rumors is a tombstone that Gazi Nurettin Peker mentioned in his work “Kastamonu in the War of Independence” and stated that he personally found it. According to the inscription, this stone, dated 1841, belongs to a historical figure named Es-seyyid Şeyh Evren Bey. According to Peker, the sailor and scholar Sheikh Avran Bey, who was once a member of the Ottoman navy, provided both a national and religious culture and instilled seafaring with the school and shipyard he established in the region; the name of the village is also from him.
From the phrase “Küfeli Hacı Hüseyin aga ihya eyledi this maqam for Allah” on the gravestone, we understand that this grave and stone were renovated in 1841. Therefore, since we do not know the exact period in which the deceased lived, it is necessary to listen to the legends circulating among the people about the origin of the name.
Ahi Evran's son Evren Bey
According to a legend, Evren Bey, the son of Ahi Evran, settled here and engaged in the education of Turkmens and died here, giving the region its name. Considering that Ahi Evran lived between 1171 and 1261 and the conquest of the region, it is possible that it was one of his descendants or students, if not his son, who settled on these shores.
Another rumor is that a captain named Evren, whose ship sank, swam ashore and settled here, and in time he won the love of the people and his name was given to the village.
Silent Witnesses of Cultural Heritage
The treasures in the region are not just rumors. A total of 20 tombstones dated between 1757 and 1873, 13 of them belonging to men and 7 to women, stand here as silent witnesses of time. Considering that tombstones were almost completely looted in the recent past, the fact that even some of these stones, each of which is a historical document, have been preserved here is priceless.