Köşger (Yemeni)

The term ‘köşger’ is used in some regions for ‘yemeni’, which is described as a light type of shoe.

Yemeni, which is a hand-sewn product in which no plastic materials are used, gets different names in accordance with its color and size.

One of the most important characteristics of sandal and yemeni manufacturing is that root dye is used to color these products.

A recent research shows that yemeni, which are easy-to wear shoes without any lateral sections and shaped in two directions, are manufactured in two different colors in Kilis -black yemeni named as ‘rumper yemeni’ and red yemeni named as ‘rose peach yemeni’- and the back section is manufactured in different sizes for purposes of easy wearing -‘eared yemeni’ and ‘non-eared yemeni’ named in accordance with the presence of the ear-like back section. 

Another research found that it has other names like çariko, basuk, fireman’s yemeni, gelik and simple yemeni in Safranbolu. It was also found out that instead of the red yemeni produced in Gaziantep, black yemeni is manufactured in here and only few craftsmen manufacturing them remains today. 

Also in another research, it was found out that there are a small number of craftsmen in Malatya-Arapgir who manufacture leather studded shoes and yemeni from calf leather.  

Some examples to these products can be found in Antakya. Here, master craftsmen manufacture another type of shoes named as ‘hedik’ which have a flat sole like yemeni and curved tip. 

Another authentic example is a type of sandal with a back section which is called ‘edik’ and manufactured in Tahtakuşlar village of Edremit. The most exclusive examples of these products are displayed in the special museum in Tahtakuşlar. 

Modern examples of yemeni can be found in Gaziantep, Kilis and Kahramanmaraş. They are named as ‘peach yemeni’, ‘metelik’, ‘zerden’ and ‘gez’ in Gaziantep.

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