A walnut tree estimated to be 350 years old in the eastern Anatolia region of Türkiye continues to bear fruit.
Located on land in the Arıtaş neighborhood of the Oltu district of Erzurum and donated to a mosque, the tree is believed to be between 300 and 350 years old. Once yielding approximately 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds) of walnuts, the tree’s trunk is so wide can only be encircled by seven people holding hands.
Halil Bektaş, the mukhtar of Arıtaş neighborhood, said: “Its branches used to be much larger, but over time they began to decay and break. Still, it produces fruit every year. Seven people can barely surround its trunk. It is still very productive.”
Bahattin Çakır, a 70-year-old resident of the neighborhood, said that no one knows who planted the tree but estimates it to be between 300 and 350 years old.
Eighty-year-old Hafız Bektaş added that the walnut tree still provides the mosque with valuable walnuts today.
Osman Aslan, another resident, explained that the products obtained from the tree were sold to pay the salary of the mosque’s imam when imams were salaried employees. “This walnut tree is on endowed land. In the past, imams were paid salaries, and the walnuts harvested from this tree were sold to cover the imam’s wages. That’s why it’s called the ‘Imam’s Tree,’” he said.
