The tradition of tattooing in Siverek, Turkey*

This article aims to analyse tattooing and tattooing tradition in Siverek, in the Turkish province of ¸Sanlıurfa. Although Islam prohibits tattooing with strict injunctions, several tattooing practices have existed in Siverek in the past, and some have survived until now. However, even though Islam prohibits tattooing, it does not explicitly condemn adorning techniques. It was precisely in this liminal terrain that a number of tattooing practices developed and even prospered, although in specific cultural and topographic contexts. However, if on the one hand the religious dimension of tattooing-related beliefs changed, on the other hand the tradition of tattooing continued through its decorative functions. When people eventually forgot the last remains of the religiously driven characters in tattooing, they kept the tradition by continuing the practice with exclusive reference to its adorning function.