Yukarıovacık is a village in the Hamamözü district of Amasya Province, known locally also by the name Yalaklı. This second name comes from speech more than from any written document: an elderly woman living in neighboring Aşağıovacık, asked where her own village's name came from, says she does not know, but adds of the village above, "they call that place Yalaklı". Nor can the village's administrative story be separated from the neighbor whose name it shares: in 1990 the two were attached to Hamamözü together, and in 2008 Aşağıovacık returned to Gümüşhacıköy. With 136 people registered in 2025, Yukarıovacık is among the Hamamözü villages that have best held on to their population.

Lower and Upper Ovacık

In the appended list of the law of 20 May 1990 that made Hamamözü a district, "Aşağı Ovacık" (Lower Ovacık) and "Yukarı Ovacık" (Upper Ovacık) are written one under the other among the seven villages transferred to the new district from the Gümüş sub-district of Gümüşhacıköy. The two villages stayed in the same district for eighteen years. By a decision of the Ministry of the Interior dated 17 October 2008, Aşağıovacık, attached to the central sub-district of Hamamözü, was attached to the central sub-district of Gümüşhacıköy; the decision was published the following day. Yukarıovacık remained in Hamamözü. Thus the lower and upper halves of the same name today belong to two different districts. The text of the decision gives no reason for the separation.

The name Yalaklı, too, is learned from within this paired relationship. In Gülşah Gödek Arslan's doctoral study on the dialect of Gümüşhacıköy, the word occurring in the text recorded in Aşağıovacık is explained in the thesis glossary as "Yalaklı: used as the other name of the village of Hamamözü-Yukarıovacık". Why the name was given, and whether it has anything to do with the word "yalak", the stone or wooden trough from which animals drink, is not stated in the recording; it would therefore be wrong to attach a meaning to it. Since Yukarıovacık is not in Bekir Başalan's table of the settlements in Hamamözü whose names were officially changed, it cannot be shown that Yalaklı was an official former name either.

Ovacık in the 1530 Register

The published index of the 1530 accounting record of the provinces of Karaman and Rûm records a village called "Ovacık" attached to the Savcı-Sunkur dîvân of the Gümüş province, with a reference to page 389 of the register. One of the villages of the same dîvân is Korkud; the village of Korkut, today part of Gümüşhacıköy, bears this name. The appearance of the name Ovacık in this dîvân fits the area. In 1530, however, only a single Ovacık appears; the index does not reveal which of today's Lower and Upper Ovacık it corresponds to, or whether the village had not yet split in two at that date. This entry can serve only as a starting point for the history of Yukarıovacık.

Settlement and Services

According to the district's official description, Yukarıovacık is one of four Hamamözü villages whose houses are laid out in a scattered pattern. The same text lists Yukarı Ovacık among the villages outside the district seat that have a telephone exchange and gives the capacity of the exchange there as 254 lines. Since the year the text was written is unknown, it cannot be said when this exchange was installed or whether it still operates; but it shows that the village once had enough subscribers to require an exchange of its own. The village, written "Yukarı Ovacık Köyü" in the municipality's list, has Fatih Ekiz as its muhtar (headman). On its buildings, for instance whether it has a mosque or a school, the accessible sources are silent.

Population

Yukarıovacık's population was 197 in 2007; the lowest value in the series belongs to the last year, 2025. In 2010, 196 people were registered, 168 in 2013 and 155 in 2016. The 181 seen in 2018 is a marked rise over the 163 of the year before; in the following years the figure stays between 148 and 162. The 136 of 2025 corresponds to a loss of about thirty percent over eighteen years; beside the Hamamözü villages that have lost half or more of their people, this is a moderate decline. In 2025, 68 men and 68 women were registered in the village.

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • 387 Numaralı Muhâsebe-i Vilâyet-i Karaman ve Rûm Defteri (937/1530), II: Dizin ve Tıpkıbasım, Ankara: General Directorate of the State Archives, Prime Ministry, 1997, index ("Ovacık k., Savcı-Sunkur dîvânı, Gümüş vt." and "Korkud k.", register p. 389).

Academic studies

  • Gülşah Gödek Arslan, Gümüşhacıköy Ağzı (İnceleme-Metinler-Sözlük), doctoral thesis, Bursa Uludağ University, 2024, p. 425 (text 74, Aşağıovacık) and glossary ("yalaḫlı").
  • Bekir Başalan, "Amasya İlinde İsimleri Değiştirilen Yerleşim Yeri Adları Üzerine Bir İnceleme", Folklor Akademi Dergisi, 7(3), 2024, pp. 1386-1387. https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/4249891

Official sources

Other sources

Online sources