Bilal
Bilal is a shepherd from Gedikli village in the southern Turkey Taurus mountains. Unlike his 8 brothers and sisters who all embraced city life after university, Bilal has been a shepherd ever since he turned 8, when he stopped school.
As he does not own enough animals to meet his family’s basic needs, Bilal regularly works for the Kemali family, a wealthy local clan owning more than 600 sheeps and goats.
I met Bilal in the summer 2013 and I became quickly fascinated by his both poetic and practical vision of life and how he made choices to avoid what he calls the « illusionary aspects of modern times ». Bilal loves his mountains, he doesn’t talk much and he needs to be alone.
We spent 10 days together during the summer transhumance from the high plateau to his home village down in the Chukurova valley along with the Kemali clan’s animals.
In captions are quotes from interviews with Bilal conducted along with Elcin Turan.
"If you’re a "coban" (a shepherd working for an employer), you cannot sleep."
Bilal one early morning after he had spent the night in the mountains with the herd
Bilal and members of the Kemali clan milking the animals
"The summer ends and you are turning to winter (...) each year, you are going and coming back."
The summer camp on the high plateau shortly before the transhumance back to the valley.
"The modern world appears dirty to me, I cannot get used to this kind of society, this job is the only thing I can do."
Bilal during the transhumance
A member of the Kemali clan gathering the herd
"I have a relationship with goats that I could hardly recreate with someone."
"Although I live in a village now, I still need the mountain feeling, I am hooked."
A member of the Kemali clan climbing a rock to keep track of the herd
"Climbing the mountains, going to the wild is filling me with happiness."
At night, Bilal hardly sleeps as the sheeps keep moving all the time
Bilal gathering the herd
"Sometimes at night in the mountains, I'm afraid of the monsters (wolves) but I must protect the animals from them."
The herd at night
The herd going through a village at night
"I don't talk with everyone easily. I don't like it. But I am sensitive and good-hearted. I can cry easily."
Bilal and a neighbour friend who joined him for a chat around the fire
Members of the Kemali clan around a fire
Bilal sleeping at dawn
Early morning, the clan getting ready to hit the road
"The doctor says my legs hurt because I walked too much in the mountains and that I should stop doing so, but there is now way, it’s too late."
Bilal on his way back home
Bilal in front of his home
Bilal and his wife taking care of their sheeps
Bilal's interior
"The plateau life is difficult and tough but a house walls are restricting me and get me bored."