Zaki () or Zegani () is a village that has disappeared from the Turkish part of the historical Javakheti region. The settlement area is now within the boundaries of the village of Dirsekkaya (formerly Zarabuki), which is part of the Çıldır District of Ardahan Province in Turkey.
History
There is no clarity regarding the meaning of the Georgian place name Zaki (ზაქი or ზაკი). This place name is written as Zak (زاك) in the Ottoman land-survey register (mufassal defter) of 1595.გურჯისტანის ვილაიეთის დიდი დავთარი: გამოკვლევა: წიგნი III), Sergi Jikia, Tbilisi, 1947-1958, 3 volumes, volume III (1958), p. 428. In 1902, Georgian historian and archaeologist Ekvtime Takaishvili wrote the name of the village church as Zaki (Заки) as well as Zegan (Зеган) in Russian language. Е. Такайшвили, "Материалы по археологии Кавказа, собранные экспедициями Московского археологического общества: Выпуск XII", Moscow, 1909, pp. 64-68. In the Georgian language, ‘zegani’ (ზეგანი) means plateau.- Wiktionary
The Javakheti region, where the village of Zaki is located, was one of the areas that made up historical Georgia. Indeed, the Ottomans seized this region and the village from the Georgians in 1578. The Zaki Church or Zegani Church, built no later than the 10th century, indicates that this was a very old settlement.წიქარიშვილი, ლევან; გელაშვილი, ანა; გოზალიშვილი, ბებურ; კოღუაშვილი, შალვა; იმედაშვილი, ანა; გაჩეჩილაძე, დავით; მაისურაძე, დავით - "ტაო–კლარჯეთის ძეგლების 2014 წლის საკვლევი ექსპედიციების ანგარიშები", Tbilisi, 2015, p. 32
In the Ottoman land-survey register (mufassal defter) of 1595, the village of Zaki was listed as belonging to the Kurd Kalası district (nahiye) of the Çıldır Province (liva) within the Vilayet of Georgia (Vilayet-i Gürcistan). Its population consisted of 12 Christian households. The fact that this was a Georgian settlement is evident from the names of the heads of households. According to this register, the village engaged in the cultivation of wheat, barley, rye and flax seeds, beekeeping, and the rearing of sheep and pigs.გურჯისტანის ვილაიეთის დიდი დავთარი: გამოკვლევა: წიგნი III), Sergi Jikia, Tbilisi, 1947-1958, 3 volumes, volume III (1958), p. 428.გურჯისტანის ვილაიეთის დიდი დავთარი: გამოკვლევა: წიგნი III), Sergi Jikia, Tbilisi, 1947-1958, 3 volumes, volume II (1941), p. 291.
According to the Ottoman cebe defter covering the period 1694-1732 in the Province of Çıldır, the village of Zaki held the same administrative status in the year 1119 AH (1705/1706 AD). The village's income was granted as a timar to a man named Ali."ჩილდირის ვილაიეთის ჯაბა დავთარი : 1694-1732 წწ.", Tsisana Abuladze, Tbilisi, 1979, Registar number: 168. However, the name Zaki does not appear among the villages of the Çıldır district (uchastok) in the 1886 Russian census.Свод статистических данных о населении Закавказскаго края, извлеченных из посемейных списков 1886 г., Tbilisi, 1893, "Kars oblast": 403-442 It is understood that the village of Zaki, located 3 kilometres southeast of the village of Dirsekkaya, had disappeared before this date. Indeed, Ekvtime Takaishvili did not mention the existence of the village when he examined the Zaki Church in 1902. Е. Такайшвили, "Материалы по археологии Кавказа, собранные экспедициями Московского археологического общества: Выпуск XII", Moscow, 1909, pp. 64-68.
References