Dodurga: The Shrines of Mehmetdede and Hüssem Dede
In Dodurga district, according to the official page of the Çorum Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism, the two main sites visited as part of religious tourism are the Mehmetdede Mosque and Shrine, and the Hüssem Dede Shrine. Both are Alevi-Bektashi faith centres said to trace back to the 13th century.
The Mehmetdede Mosque and Shrine
The village of Mehmetdedetekke, in Dodurga, takes its name from the shrine of Mehmet Dede Sultan located there. According to a 2008 academic study by Prof. Dr. Salahaddin Bekki of Ahi Evran University, published in the journal Türk Kültürü ve Hacı Bektaş Velî Araştırma Dergisi, Mehmetdedetekke is one of Çorum’s Alevi settlements and is considered an important faith centre both because of Mehmet Dede Sultan, who gave the village its name, and because of an annual horse sacrifice held each May on Dede Mountain in the name of “Gatırgunnadan İsmail Dede.” The study examines the folk beliefs that have grown up around the Shrine of Mehmet Dede Sultan and the horse-sacrifice tradition performed in İsmail Dede’s name. This account rests on folk belief and oral tradition rather than documented history, and should be read with that in mind.
The Hüssem Dede Shrine
The Hüssem (Hüsam/Hüsamettin) Dede Shrine stands in the Tekke neighbourhood of Çiftlikköy village, in Dodurga. Academic sources describe Hüsamettin Dede as a “Horasan eren” (a holy figure who came from Khorasan), and local news sources report that he was engaged in spreading Islam in Anatolia and is believed to have been a contemporary of, or close to, Koyun Baba, whose shrine is in Osmancık. Local residents continue to visit the shrine regularly and make votive animal sacrifices there.
According to a 2015 report by Yayla Haber, restoration of the Hüsam Dede lodge was added to the 2015 supplementary budget programme through the efforts of then Çorum MP Dr. Cahit Bağcı, with 110,000 Turkish lira allocated; the project was prepared by Dodurga Municipality and planned to include landscaping, a fountain and an animal-sacrifice area. The report also names Dede Ali Turapoğlu and the then village headman (muhtar) Mustafa Çanak as involved with the shrine.
Visiting and Current Status
Both sites are listed among Dodurga’s religious-tourism assets in the official tourism inventory of the Çorum Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism. No detailed, up-to-date source was found on how often each site is currently visited or on the present physical condition of the shrines; this remains to be verified.
Nearby Places
For the district’s general history, see History of Dodurga; for a nearby natural area, see Obruk Dam.