If you think of vast lavender fields with purple flowers, the first thing that comes to your mind is Provence in the south of France. But it's not... This is Dersim, where you can breathe the fragrant scent of lavender, with its enchanting nature... The rich Dersim mountains, where there are tens of endemic plants, offer a different beauty with the purple colour and scent of the lavender flower.

The village of Tekeli, where Nadir Hozat lives in Çemişgezek in Dersim, is one of the places where these beautiful lavender fields appear...

Hozat, who started with 3,008 roots of lavender in his village and ended up planting 20,000, got his first harvest about 2 years later. Hozat wants to make economic gain by processing the lavender he planted in the future, and to encourage the villagers to plant lavender.

It started as a hobby

Stating that they started lavender cultivation as a hobby, Hozat said: "It was the first trial in our city and our district. Now we are getting our products. This gives us great happiness and pleasure. We will be even happier if we install our machine and extract our oil ourselves. We will be able to provide employment for our friends in the village here, too. Young people come here to work when they don't have a job, which is a small source of support for them.

Unfortunately, agriculture in the country has come to an end. Everyone who produces will realize that their labor is not exploited. My hope is that other friends in the village will also plant lavender…"

'There is a lot of interest'

Hozat stated that lavender was met with great interest by photographers and travellers and added: "Lavender is a very beautiful flower. Planting its seedlings and weeding it gives a different pleasure and peace.

Lavenders also provide a very beautiful image. It also attracted the attention of photography lovers. Lavender, which is very popular in perfume and cosmetics, is also used in soap making, the pharmaceutical industry and aroma therapy.”

'Female labor'

Expressing her support for lavender cultivation, Meliha Kolan said that lavender cultivation is the area where women's labor is least exploited and that women should be encouraged in this regard. Kolan said: "Supporting the youth allows them to focus on more production and thus increase production. It is also a job where women's labor is less extinguished. The difficulties faced by the country are obvious. I hope that those who migrated to big cities will return to their villages and see in lavender planting, agriculture and stockbreeding a way out to the crisis."