Selemen is a highland pasture at 1,700 metres on the border between Reşadiye, in Tokat province, and Ordu, and the reason to come is the market. As the story is told locally, Selim I stopped here with his army on the way to the Çaldıran campaign in 1514, camping on the wide pasture at the foot of Aydogan hill for some three months and praying the Friday prayer here with his soldiers before going on. His word that a market should be held here was taken up, and the market has met ever since; the name Selemen is said to come from Selim Han.
Whatever its origin, the practice has continued for five centuries. Every Friday from spring until the first snow falls, people from the surrounding villages of about ten districts in Tokat, Giresun, Ordu, Samsun and Sivas set up on the pasture, selling what they produce and buying what they need. In earlier times, it is said, the exchange was by barter. The pasture is in Reşadiye, 91 kilometres from Tokat.
Getting there
- Access
- The plateau is in Resadiye, 91 km from Tokat.
When to go
- Climate
- Across Tokat as a whole, monthly mean temperatures run from 2 °C in January to 22.5 °C in August; the mean stays between 15 and 25 °C in May, June, July, August and September; rainfall is heaviest in May (59 mm) and lightest in August (9 mm). Long-term means for 1929-2025 from the Turkish State Meteorological Service (MGM).
