Taşkale (formerly: Kızıllar)Taşkale, nisanyanmap.com is a village in Karaman District, Karaman Province, Central Anatolia, Turkey.Köy , Turkey Civil Administration Departments Inventory. Retrieved 1 March 2023. Its population is 484 (2022). Before the 2013 reorganisation, it was a town (belde).Law No. 6360, Official Gazette, 6 December 2012 .
Geography Taşkale is on the northern slopes of the Toros Mountains. It lies to the east of Karaman, about by road. In the older part of the village there is a series of caves which are used presently as cereal silos. The modern part of the village is in the plains just to the north of the older part.
History and people The town was used by early Christians who used the caves as effective shelter against the Roman authorities. The Mamazan Monastery just at the west of the town is also a cave monastery. After Christianity was legalized, the town probably lost its importance. But in the 13th century the town regained its importance as a hideaway. During Mongol expansion, a Turkmen tribe named Kızıl from the valley of along Atrek River (modern Turkmenistan) migrated to Taşkale. Some authors claimed that Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's ancestors originated from this town. According to this claim, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's paternal lineage migrated from Karaman to Macedonia. The family, which settled in the Kodžadžik village of the Debre-i Bala district of the Monastir Province, migrated to Thessaloniki around 1830. However, it is also believed that Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's father, Ali Rıza Efendi, was originally from Thessaloniki. His ancestors left Vidin and settled in Serres, from where they settled in Thessaloniki, or perhaps they settled in Thessaloniki from Aydın/Söke. It has also been suggested that Ali Rıza Efendi was of Slavic or Albanian origin.Mayor’s page (in Turkish) Falih Rıfkı Atay, Çankaya: Atatürk'ün doğumundan ölümüne kadar, Betaş, İstanbul, 1984, s. 17.Andrew Mango Atatürk: The Biography of the Founder of Modern Turkey, Overlook Press, 2002, , s. 25; s. 27. "Feyzullah's family is said to have come from the country near Vodina (now Edessa in western Greek Macedonia). The surname Sofuzade, meaning 'son of a pious man', suggests that the ancestors of Zübeyde and Ali Rıza had a similar background. Cemil Bozok, son of Salih Bozok, who was a distant cousin of Atatürk and, later, his ADC, claims to have been related to both Ali Rıza's and Zübeyde's families. This would mean that the families of Atatürk's parents were interrelated. Cemil Bozok also notes that his paternal grandfather, Safer Efendi, was of Albanian origin. This may have a bearing on the vexed question of Atatürk's ethnic origin. Atatürk's parents and relatives all used Turkish as their mother tongue. This suggests that some at least of their ancestors had originally come from Turkey, since local Muslims of Albanian and Slav origin who had no ethnic connection with Turkey spoke Albanian, Serbo-Croat or Bulgarian, at least so long as they remained in their native land., But in looks Ataturk resembled local Albanians and Slavs.[...] But there is no evidence that either Ali Riza or Zübeyde was descended from such Turkish nomads." page 28; "It is much more likely that Atatürk inherited his looks from his Balkan ancestors.[...] But Albanians and Slavs are likely to have figured among his ancestors."Ernest Jackh, The Rising Crescent, Goemaere Press, 2007, s. 31, Turkish mother and Albanian fatherIsaac Frederick Marcosson, Turbulent years, Ayer Publishing, 1969, s. 144.
Economy The main economic activity is the production of hand-made rugs. There are over 200 handlooms and the rugs produced in Taşkale are known as Kızıllar rugs (or sometimes ).
References
External links Taşkale town, Karaman