Köküröktük (Dress)

The köküröktük (Iradi, "chest piece") is the large embroidered panel on the front of an Iradi woman's long dress (köynök). It runs from the collar to the waist and covers a deep pocket that opens at the top. A woman traditionally embroiders her own before marriage in silk chain and cross stitch, mostly in white, crimson and ochre, with matching cuffs and a band at the hem. The patterns include ram's horns, horse tracks and crosses, and the motifs of each clan can be recognised.^[1]

The pocket holds money, keys and the family's papers. Since 2007 it has also held the tribal travel permit needed to cross the Qara-Chik Demarcation Line, and Iradis joke that "the ATR's passport office is a pocket". The dress is everyday wear in the Autonomous Tribal Regions; in the Irad Special Economic Zone it is worn to church, at weddings and on Iradi Dress Day. The Irad Palace of Art holds examples from the 19th century onwards.^[1][2]

References

1. ^ Irad Palace of Art (2021). Collections and Conservation: Twenty-Five Years. Iyık Janyl.
2. ^ Central Asian Cultural Studies Review (2018). 'Roads, Refuge and Reputation: Honour Customs of the Iradi Clans.' Vol. 11, pp. 5–29.