 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
| Iran (West Azerbaijan Province),Turkey (Black Sea Region) | |
| Languages | |
| Turkish (in Turkey) Azerbaijani,Persian,Kurdish (in Iran) | |
| Religion | |
| Sunni Islam,Alevism[2] | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Oghuz Turks |
Chepni (Azerbaijani:Çəpni;Turkish:Çepni;Turkmen:Çepni) is one of the 24Oghuz Turkic tribes.[3]
In thelegend of Oghuz Qaghan, the Chepni was stated as one of the clans of the tribe ofGök Han that consists ofPecheneg (Beçenek),Bayandur (Bayındır),Chowdur (Çavuldur) and Chepni, a part ofÜç-Oklar branch of theOghuz Turks.[4] According toMahmud al-Kashgari'sDīwān Lughāt al-Turk, it was the 21st tribe of the 22Oghuz tribes.[1]
They had been converted toIslam (Sunni andAlevi). According to a Turkish historian,Faruk Sümer, the firstmurids ofHaji Bektash Veli may have been the Chepni residents ofSuluca Kara Üyük (now a town ofNevşehir Province in theCentral Anatolia region ofTurkey)[5] and some Turkish historians claim that Haji Bektash Veli may be of Chepni origin.[6]
In the 1330s, someTurkmens appeared in the coastal regions of thePontus. A remarkable feature of the Pontic situation is that some groups of nomads apparently wanderedTrapezuntine territories as subjects of theGrand Komnenoi. In addition to the case of the Christian Çepni, this is substantiated by linguistic data. According to Brendemoen, by the 14th century, a group of Pontic Chepni nomads was bilingual and spoke bothTurkic andGreek. Moreover, the earliest Turkic dialect of the Pontos was based on theAqqoyunlu Turkic dialect under the influence of Pontic Greek.[7] Historian Michael Meeker states that the linguistic Hellenization of some Turks who settled in the region is not "altogether improbable".[8]
Giresun province and its region is known as Chepni province in history.[9] Chepni are mainly concentrated in the provinces ofGiresun[10] andOrdu[2] in theEastern Black Sea Region but also live inGaziantep,Trabzon, andBalıkesir.[2]
InTurkmenistan, Chepni is a clan among GeklenTurkmens living in the west of the country.[11]
significant group of Pontic nomads was bilingual and spoke both Turkic and Greek. Moreover, the earliest Turkic dialect of the Pontos was based on the Aqquyunlu Turkic dialect under the influence of Pontic Greek.207 This implies that the Aqquyunlu stayed long enough on predominantly Greek-speaking territories in relatively peaceful contact with local Greeks to form a new Turkic dialect
That some Turks who settled in the Pontos may have become Greek-speaking does not seem altogether improbable. Eventually the Greek-speakers could claim that they were better Muslims than the Turkish-speakers, since their villages became the most famous producers of religious teachers. Even today some of these teachers tutor their students using Pontic Greek as a language of instruction.