In the 19th century, the Ottoman government began to settle semi-nomadic pastoralists in the plains and mountains around Adana (Çukurova). At various points the Ottoman government used both persuasion and coercion to accomplish its ends. These efforts intensified in the 1860s in the aftermath of the Crimean War with the creation of new institutions. Until recently, most approaches to this campaign of forced settlement has depended on the analysis of official documents, such as the reports of military-state commissions like Firka-i Islahiye (Reform Division). These documents reflect the vantage points of the bureaucrats and soldiers of the Ottoman government, but not the experiences of the nomads who were forcibly settled. My research attempts to tell the other half of the story by exploring oral sources like turku (folk songs), agit (elegies) and other forms of poetry produced by tribesmen and tribeswomen that were passed from generation to generation. More specifically, in my paper I explore the oral materials of the Avsarlar tribe, one of the semi-nomadic groups in Southern Anatolia. One of the most famous producers of this ‘folk history’ was Dadaloglu (c. 1785- c. 1868). Dadaloglu and other ozans (folk-singers) of the Avsarlar tribe had their own narratives to trace what happened in the mid-19th century in Southern Anatolia, specifically around Çukurova. When it was described as “civilizing mission” with reforms in the region from the state perspective, folk songs of Avsarlar constructed a narrative by bloody coercion which not only costed them lives but also their cultural identity. I will lay out this alternative perspective and compare this narrative with stories contained in the Ottoman official documents. At the heart of this paper is a story of Ottoman settlement policies (especially the Firka-i Islahiye) and how these played out in the lives and culture of the Avsarlar people.