Ahmet Dede Shrine
The Ahmet Dede Shrine (türbe) stands on a hill that overlooks the centre of Laçin. The Çorum Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism lists it, alongside the Kapılıkaya monumental rock tomb, among the places visited in the district, and the Laçin District Governor’s Office presents it as one of the district’s most important places of visit.
Location and structure
According to the District Governor’s text, the shrine is on a hill about 300 metres above the district centre; stone foundation remains around it point to a settled community having existed there. The Provincial Directorate likewise writes that the foundation stones on the hill show that people once lived there.
Ethem Erkoç reports that Ali İzzet Efendi, in his Tezkire-i Makamat (printed in 1899), wrote that Ahmet Dede lies in a wooden shrine on the mountain opposite, in the village of Küçük Laçin, and gave no further information. Erkoç also writes that Büyük Laçin and Küçük Laçin appear among the endowments of the Mehmet Paşa Imaret in Osmancık in the survey register of 1575-1576, and that the 1845 land and tax register (temettuat) lists Küçük Laçin as a village of 10 households and 62 people. The sources used give no details of the building material or plan of the present shrine.
Ahmet Dede
The Laçin District Governor’s Office writes that Ahmet Dede is known to have lived alone in Laçin between 1481 and 1522, and that he is said to have been the brother of Koyunbaba, whose shrine is in Osmancık. Erkoç gives no biographical information about Ahmet Dede beyond Ali İzzet Efendi’s record. Neither source cites a document for Ahmet Dede’s dates or family ties.
The Governor’s Office text adds that local people regard Ahmet Dede as a saint with miraculous powers; that a handled mallet (topuz) inside the shrine is believed to cure back pain; that walking around the shrine is believed to benefit those without children; and that it is believed that anyone who cuts the trees around the shrine will come to harm.
Walking route
According to the Provincial Directorate, one of the routes of the Kızılırmak Basin Gastronomy and Walking Trail starts in Kırkdilim village, passes near the Köşk Evi and the Ahmet Dede shrines and ends in Laçin. For the route, see the Kızılırmak Basin Gastronomy and Walking Trail. For the history of the district, see History of Laçin.
Sources
- T.C. Laçin District Governor’s Office, “Ahmet Dede Türbesi”. https://www.lacin.gov.tr/ahmet-dede-turbesi
- Çorum Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism, “Laçin”. https://corum.ktb.gov.tr/TR-58699/lacin.html
- Ethem Erkoç, Çorum’da Sahabe ve Evliya Makamları (Companions of the Prophet and Saints’ Shrines in Çorum), Çorum Municipality Cultural Publications, December 2015, pp. 483-487. https://www.corum.bel.tr/public/uploads/2023/05/sahabeevliyamakamlari.pdf