According to a legend told about the founding of the city, a local lord had a beautiful daughter whom he had decided to give in marriage to someone from another clan. The girl was in love with a shepherd named Ali, but her father did not listen to her objections and she was obliged to give in to his wishes. On the way, the mournful strains of a flute were heard. Take me away. In time Seyirt became Siirt. In fact, it is a city of great antiquity, home to many different civilizations, beginning with the Hurrians, who were succeeded in turn by the Medes, Persians, Parthians, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs and finally the Ottomans.
The minaret, which is decorated with turquoise tiles, is slightly tilted. From the mosque, my guide took me to Aydinlar Caddesi, the main street known locally as Tillo Road, which leads in one direction to Cumhuriyet Square in the city center, and in the other to the junction where roads branch off to the towns of Sirvan, Pervari and Aydinlar.
This street marks the boundary between the old and new districts of the city. Minibuses from surrounding villages and towns set their passengers down on Aydinlar Caddesi.
Many of them bring cheese, eggs, honey, nuts, terebinth seeds, terebinth soap, fruit, and vegetables to sell and vie for a pitch on the pavement. People wearing caps, turbans and the headdress known as pusi consisting of a length of cloth with the end hanging down behind, and young boys carrying loads on dilapidated hand carts complete the scene. These mausoleums give their name to the hills on which they stand, and people come here to offer up prayers.
Streets off to the right from Tillo lead to the old-fashioned shopping center, where the narrow streets are covered by canopies of canvas and plastic. Here there are all kinds of shops selling carpets, cheese, cereals, stoves, clothing, wool, and furniture, mixed up with the workshops of craftsmen like blacksmiths, weavers, leather workers and repair shops.
