Chaparli

38°53′52″N 46°51′22″E

A view of Chaparli from Abbasabad village.
Encampment of pastoralists from Mohammad Khanlu tribe in Chaparli.
The aggressive shepherd dogs of Arasbaran are resting in Chapali.

Chaparli (چپرلی) is a grassland on a mountain range between Abbasabad and Oskolou villages.[1] The area is the summer quarter of the Derilou branch of Mohammad Khanlu tribe, which in the wake of White Revolution included 40 households.[2] The number significantly dropped over years and in late 1990s no family migrated to the summer quarter of Chaparli for the lack of experienced shepherds. The trend has somehow reversed in recent years, and about 20 families pitch their tents in the area, albeit mainly for escaping the unpleasantly hot climate of Derilou village.

Chaparli is a prime location for observing, even experiencing, the idyllic life of Arasbaran nomadic tribes. Moreover, the topography provides an excellent sightseeing opportunity. In addition to green mountain ranges, many scenic villages of Kaleybar County and Khoda Afarin County are in full view.

In Chaparli Arasbaran dogs receive due respect

Orhan Pamuk in 2001 Turkish novel, My Name Is Red,[3] gives a vivid description of Turkic people's love-hate attitude towards dogs. Every summer, the real life version of this description is in display in Chaparli. Each family has 2-5 dogs, all with characteristic cropped ears and tails. The dogs are fed generous portions of milk soaked breads. When the sheep herds are brought back for milking near tents, dogs sleep around the camp most of the day. The inhabitants treat the beasts with utter respect, a manner which is loathed by more pious villagers of the region as a pagan act. Between dusk and down dogs regain their vicious character; strangers have to avoid crossing campsite otherwise the attacking dogs cannot be controlled even by their owners. Fending off the dogs by beating is considered an act of aggression towards the owner and should be avoided. In fact most of the feuds between settled villagers and pastoralists is about dogs.

gollark: To be fair, some people probably weren't managing well, but that's no reason to do this to everyone.
gollark: I was basically fine with the "not much supervision, you get set work" thing, but this is just stupid.
gollark: I mean, I was fine with working remotely. I could get more done, did not have to bother with (as much) busy-work, had a flexible schedule, sort of thing.
gollark: It seems like they just completely disregarded the benefits of asynchronous communication, and decided that they had to make it as much like normal in-person school as possible, even despite the detriment to... actually teaching things.
gollark: I got an email from them (not even to me directly, forwarded from my parents) and:- the removed week of the summer term is being added to the end- they seem to expect to reopen in a month or so?- half the lessons will apparently now involve "human interaction", implying video calls or something, which will be *really annoying*, instead of having them just set work- they're running a timetable?!- I'm expected to be up by 08:45⸘

References
  1. http://www.sid.ir/Fa/VEWSSID/J_pdf/50313893801.pdf
  2. P. Oberling, “The Tribes of Qarāca Dāġ,” Oriens 17, 1964, p. 69
  3. Orhan Pamuk,My Name Is Red, 2006, Random House LLC., Chap. 3
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