İskilip Tokmaklı Kağnı
İskilip Tokmaklı Kağnı (“mallet cart”) is a handmade wooden toy cart born of İskilip’s deep woodcarving tradition. It was registered as a mark of origin by the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (TÜRKPATENT) on 3 August 2023 (registration no. 1432; the application was filed by İskilip Municipality on 8 June 2022), making it the only non-food entry on our Geographical Indication Products of Çorum list.
What It Is and How It’s Made
The tokmaklı kağnı is a wooden toy cart carved from local woods such as poplar, with wheels mounted on an axle and painted with simple motifs. As its name suggests (“tokmaklı” means “fitted with a mallet”), the cart has a small mallet mechanism: as the cart is pulled along, the mallet strikes and produces a distinctive clattering sound. The toy is therefore both something to pull and push and a noise-making plaything for children.
Its Ties to İskilip’s Woodcarving Tradition
As described in İskilip’s Fading Handicrafts, the woodcarving masters around İskilip’s Salliler neighbourhood continue to produce everyday objects such as spoons, ladles and rolling pins alongside toys such as the tokmaklı kağnı and the small “kağnıcak” cart made to help toddlers learn to walk. The tokmaklı kağnı belongs to the children’s-toy branch of this broader woodcarving tradition. Another well-known İskilip wooden product, the İskilip Cradle, comes from the same tradition; both are handmade objects tied to birth and childhood and passed down through generations — the cradle for newborns, the mallet cart for slightly older children.
Geographical Indication Registration
According to İskilip Municipality’s announcement, the tokmaklı kağnı was one of six applications the municipality filed with TÜRKPATENT; İskilip Ramazan Keşkeği was registered as a geographical indication in the same round. Filed under file number C2022/000180 on 8 June 2022, the tokmaklı kağnı was registered as a mark of origin on 3 August 2023 under registration number 1432, recorded in the product group “handicraft products other than carpets, kilims and woven textiles” (TÜRKPATENT Geographical Indications Portal).
Cultural Significance
When announcing the registration, İskilip Municipality described the cart as a value “belonging to our region and our childhood.” As factory-made toys have become more common, handmade traditional toys of this kind have grown scarcer; the registration aims to protect the product’s authenticity and its identity tied to İskilip. For more on the district’s historic bazaar fabric and arastas, see İskilip History.
Sources
- Turkish Patent and Trademark Office — Geographical Indications Portal: İskilip Tokmaklı Kağnı (reg. no. 1432, file no. C2022/000180)
- İskilip Municipality — “Tokmaklı Kağnı Registered as a Geographical Indication for İskilip”
- habercim19.com — “Tokmaklı Kağnı registered” (05.08.2023)