A Father from the Western Black Sea: Hacı Yakup Usta

One Hundred and Twenty Years Sycamore: Father's Day

Father's Day was conceived in the US a hundred and twenty years ago, emulating Mother's Day, and it was decided to celebrate it officially exactly half a century ago.

I remember that only Mother's Day was popular in my childhood. In recent years, Father's Day has also been making an impact.  The role of the consumer economy in this is undeniable.

Catholics celebrate a different date as Father's Day. They celebrate it from a religious perspective and dedicate the 19th day of March as St. Joseph's Day in memory of the father of the Christian prophet Jesus. [i]

Maybe one day Muslims can celebrate Friday as Father's Day, based on the creation day of Adam, the father of mankind and the first prophet.

Who knows?

A centuries-old Western Black Sea Sycamore: Hacı Yakup

In 2022, I did not write a Father's Day message.

Because I aimed to crown it by writing about a father from the Western Black Sea region.

Who was I going to write?

Of course the father I know best.

My father... His birthday in early August is the best timing....

A centuries-old Western Black Sea Sycamore: Hacı Yakup

My esteemed father Hacı Yakup Ateş, who passed away at the age of 84 during the pandemic period, is a unique example that can mirror the life of the people of the Western Black Sea...

I do not intend to write a long biography.

Small anecdotes from his life shed light on history...

I will write briefly and concisely.

Three Martyrs Apça One Veteran Father

In the Turkic world, Apçe is used for father's brother[ii] in the Kazakhstan border region of Kyrgyzstan and Tashkent region of Uzbekistan.  In Kastamonu, Ankara and Kahraman Maraş regions of our country, it also has the meaning of father's brother. TDK has defined the meanings of uncle and friend.[iii] 

Three of my father's apças were martyrs. One of them, Mustafa Apça[iv], was martyred in Çanakkale on July 14, 1915. My father's father (my grandfather Hasan), at the age of 16, returned from the road to the front because the War of Independence was over.

Little Gazi.  My father's father.

24 Months Military Service

Everyone does military service. If you ask why 24 months of military service became a topic, there are two reasons:

1- My father learned to read and write here.

2- He was discharged in the 24th month of his 3-year military service due to a wound on his leg. Because a log slipped and hit his leg during forest cutting before the military service. The veins were damaged. He hid this discomfort in the military examination in case he would not be conscripted. .: But it was detected in the 24th month and he was discharged.

I know that my father used to wear what he called "suitcase socks" for many years, and that these were "compression socks".

The trace of that lump...

Homeland defense is ingrained in their genetics.

As in many parts of Anatolia, we do not give girls to those who are not conscripted.

It is said to give a girl to a rotten person. 

After the military service, my mother married Fatma Hanım.

Master Yakup

He worked in the fields, he was a jamber[v], a shepherd when he herded animals, a tecir when he bought and sold goods[vi], his village was a forest village and he was a forest peasant, but he was always a soldier...

His first title was Master Yakup.

He was a good carpenter.

Most of the wooden houses on both sides of the Sehriban Valley were his work.

I will never forget him telling me this with pride.

Master Yakup...

Gurbet Yolu: Istanbul (1) What Father Says, What Fate Says

It was the years of the Cyprus Operation. The silent forest of Güllüce Village was buzzing with the news of the landings of fervent party leaders about the Cyprus Peace Operation. As a child, I sensed that something extraordinary was happening and listened to the news carefully from outside. In the village that had no electricity, and none of the villages in the Şehriban Valley had electricity[vii], the only battery-powered radio was owned by Kahveci Hasan[viii]. He was the one who made this place the center.

But Yakup Usta was also busy from traveling back and forth to Cide for seven years. It was not easy, he would travel 34 km to the courthouse and 34 km back on the same day for a court case. The issue was the encroachment on the road to Harmana.

3091.[ix] The district governor should have decided to ban the encroachment, but he decided to reject the request.

However, the road could not be encroached upon. There was no statute of limitations. It should have been rejected. It was not.

Istanbul Mecidiyeköy Viaduct was under construction. It fell to Master to build a bridge.

I cried a lot when he entered the Istanbul Road from Güllüce.

However, it was the road of a just district governor.

What father says, what fate says.

Gurbet Yolu: Istanbul (2) Kastamonu Dormitory

Argentina 78 was the time of our migration to Istanbul.

This decision would change many balances.

My father, who told us there was no life here, had moved to Istanbul. 

A new and challenging period was beginning.

We didn't have a planted tree in Istanbul, but we had already moved to a house without a garden on the corner of Dikilitaş, where I was startled by the first zerzevat vendor's voice and woke up to Barış Manço's Tomato-Pepper-Aubergine trilogy.

The threshing road was blocked. The new route was Istamonu[x].

Istanbul full of Kastamonians.

Fathers Cry Too

My father must have suffered a lot.

But I never once saw him cry.

A car accident took my brave-hearted 27-year-old brother.

He lived fast and died young.

His corpse was handsome.

A lion had become a martyr.

My father leaned on my shoulder on the Shahriban Bridge in 1993.

And cried his heart out:

What am I going to do now?

Of the two streams, the one under the bridge was silent.

It was as if there was no bridge under our feet...

Two fountains.

The year is 2022. August. 

Last year this bridge was flooded. No new one was built. None of the five bridges have been built yet. [xi]

Double Bull in Zeyle[xii]

A winter day. It is close to dusk.

Yakup Usta and Hüseyin[xiii] Usta are hard at work. The house of their friend Fahri[xv] Usta from Cumayanadan[xiv] (Şehribani) burned down. They have nothing left. Neither furniture nor goods[xvi].

He does not have a single gayma[xvii] to pay.

Both Yakup Usta's and Hüseyin Usta's houses were newly built.

They sold their oxen to build houses.

They don't have oxen to haul logs[xviii].

In the rural areas of the Western Black Sea, houses are made of logs and sawn timber.

Desperate....

We're not going to leave Fahri Usta homeless, they say.

Five in the morning.

Wolves are howling.

The day is still waiting to show its face.

Hasan[xix] Düzüne Big logs are crossing the Şehriban Stream.

Two bulls at the Zeyleler.

Yakup Usta at one end, Hüseyin Usta at the other.

The yoke never falls to the ground.

Their friend Fahri spends the winter at home.

While he was building a wooden house to earn his living, he got into the yoke of Hüseyin Usta and the zeylen, pulled the logs and did not leave his friend homeless in the winter.

Many families grew up in the wooden houses he built.

Grafted Fruits in Mecidiyeköy

Spring had arrived. 

The mulberry trees had begun to water and a new freshness had taken over. I went to visit him at his house in Mecidiyeköy and he was not there. I asked where he was: They said he was grafting mulberries in public open spaces.

"What's up, dad?" I said, "Are you grafting the trees of Istanbul?"   He stopped while doing pencil and split vaccinations. "You do it too," he said. I did one of them. He was plastering it with mud and tying it around with nylon.  "My son," he said, "grafted mulberry trees produce more beautiful and delicious fruits." He paused for a moment.  "Maybe we'll be lucky, but the passerby will eat it, the bird will eat it."

"It's a good deed". 

How many times I saw him doing vaccinations in the village.

He would plant saplings and make vaccinations. I can hear him saying, "It is a good deed, my son".

Wherever he saw saplings from Istanbul to the mountains of Küre, he would vaccinate them....

Both humans and birds get food from its fruits.

He was also blessed.

Hajj? Water?

He postponed his pilgrimage for 4 years, brought water to the village before the state, built fountains.

People drink, gardens flourish, animals benefit.

He also went on pilgrimage.

When he returned, he was 10 years younger.

Human Vaccination

He built many homes, their hearths are burning, their children are running in the gardens.

He built a wonderful place in Tepe, where his three martyr uncles were drafted and his father was drafted at the age of 16 but returned because the War of Independence was over.

He reflected the spirit of Çanakkale.

His children, grandchildren, daughters-in-law, sons-in-law and great-grandchildren are staying there.

He gave land to the state from his property on the hill, and a road was built on it.

Everyone passes by.

He worked hard for the construction of a village hall and a mosque in Güllüce, he attempted, he provided land....

He did not live long. Sebahattin Bağ, the brother-in-law of his son, the late Hasan, completed this task.

The village hall and the mosque were built without being left to the state.

Flowing Water Stops When You Say Hak

The cadastral service, like every public service, entered our region last.

My late Uncle Cemal was a cadastral surveyor.

He had somehow registered a parcel near the mosque in the village of Az Kalaycı to my father.

My father went and found that person.

He transferred the deed to him. And at a lot of expense from his own pocket.

Importance Given to Education

My mother had passed away.

That was the first time I saw my father smoking.

I was a successful student at Etiler High School.

In the meantime, I had also won the leyli meccani[xx] exams.

I won the Etiler Anatolian Tourism and Hotel Management High School as a free boarder.

I said to my father, "Daddy, my mother passed away, I am a successful student at Etiler High School, but if I go to boarding school, I won't bother you."

"Son," he said. "My only property since I came to Istanbul is the house I built in Çayırova."

"I'll sell it and send you to school again."

I was filled with a brand new energy.

I went to tourism school and graduated at the top of my class.

My father was like a rock behind me.

Teacher in the Civil Administration? District Governor?

I have two more memories like this, which reflect my father's perspective on the region, that I cannot pass without writing.

I had graduated from Mülkiye with honors.

I was the only one who won the 1991-1992 assistant exam at the Mülkiye.

I also did well in the district governorship exam.

I called my father.

We hadn't had the interviews yet, but I wanted to get his opinion and consent.

- "Daddy, should I become a teacher at Mülkiye or a district governor"?

- "Son," he said, "become a district governor." "They say that Master Yakup's son couldn't become a district governor, he became a teacher." "No one understands an assistant at the Mülkiye."

This memory of how a father from the Western Black Sea region views my profession and the importance he attaches to it always makes me smile.   

Father's Advice to a Young District Governor

My third memory is complementary and reinforces the meaning.

I won the nomination for district governor with honors and became a district governor with outstanding success. 

Like every civil servant, I was idealistic and full of patriotism.

There was a lot of service to be done.

My state had also given me a vision abroad.

Now it was my turn. It was time to pay my debt to my state...

My first permanent duty station is Denizli Pamukkale district governorship.

I drew by lot. No torpil.

It is a higher grade, but when there were no 5th class district governorships left, I took office from the 4th class district.

My father called me, I went to him:

- "Look, son," he said. "You have become a district governor, you will act with justice. You will not deviate from the right and the right path". 

Perhaps he was heartbroken by the injustice that blocked the way to the haystack:

- "You will never violate the rights of the poor for the sake of the rich." He paused, took a breath:

- "You will never violate the rights of a human being for a political one."

- "You will never violate the rights of the weak for the strong."

- "OR I WON'T DO YOU JUSTICE"

- "Resign and I'll take care of you."

A Pleasant Sound

What lasts forever is a pleasant voice in this dome.

The wealth of the world does not even stay with the kadi.

Three things follow a person.

A person's good deeds...

His charities like the fountain he left...

And good children.

A friend from our village called yesterday.

There was a land issue.

I said the main thing is who has the right...

I reminded him of the property my father abandoned in that village.

He just said this last night:

"I know Uncle Yakup well." "I wish everyone was like him". ...

As we used to say: "The lasting legacy of this dome is a pleasant voice."

Father, may you rest in peace.

Footnotes:

[i] https://www.milliyet.com.tr/molatik/hayat/babalar-gunu-nasil-ortaya-cikti-babalar-gunu-ne-zaman-89786

[ii] The forms abice, apçe 'sister, aunt' found in some regions (Talas, Chuy, Osh) can be analyzed as (aba+ece, apa+ece). The etymology of such local usages suggests that they come from the root aba/apa meaning 'father': abece, abice, apçe > (apa 'father' + ece 'sister') 'father's sister', 'aunt' https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/2399712 Although I am not a linguist, it is also possible to use apaca as apaca apa in the sense of fatherly father.

[iii] https://kelimeler.gen.tr/apca-nedir-ne-demek-17624

[iv][iv] On October 25, 1886, a conscription law was enacted. In those years, military service started at the age of 17 and ended at the age of 40. In other words, the duration of military service was 23 years. On March 21, 1911, the duration of military service was reduced to 3 years. https://www.ahaber.com.tr/gundem/2015/03/31/askerlik-suresi-27-defa-degisti However, he was not demobilized even though he served 4 years more. He was martyred at the age of 32.

[v] He was a laborer.

[vi] A merchant. One who buys and sells animals.

[vii] My mother's village Harmancık still does not have electricity or roads.

[viii] My sister's father-in-law, the son of Üvez Ali from Saruğgil (Sarıklıgiller), a veteran of 22 years of military service.

[ix] Law No. 3091 dated 1984 on the Prevention of Encroachments on the Ownership of Immovable Property. https://www.mevzuat.gov.tr/MevzuatMetin/1.5.3091.pdf

[x] İstamonu is the name of the newspaper founded by my dear friends Yaşar Kayacan and Hüseyin Karadeniz.

[xi] Ateş, Selahattin (2022). First Year of the Western Black Sea Flood Disaster. https://strasam.org/analiz-ve-raporlar/analiz/bati-karadeniz-sel-felaketinin-birinci-yili-1017

[xii]Curved sticks that are put on the yoke to keep the ox from getting out of the yoke

[xiii] Hüseyin Bekiroğlu. They later became in-laws.

[xiv] The town center, which is both a religious and economic market on Friday, is called Cumayana or Cuma yeri. All villages hold their markets and perform Friday prayers here on Friday.

[xv] The late Hacı Fahri Tunç. Owner of Tunç Petrol in Senpazar. He and Mahir Usta, the brother of Hacı Yakup Usta, became in-laws.  

[xvi] Used for domestic animals, especially cattle.

[xvii] Kaime, the Ottoman currency, is called gayme and used instead of lira.

[xviii] They don't even have money to buy food for the house. They will build the house with a loan.

[xix] The first plain after crossing the Şehriban Bridge between the current Kalaycı Village and the district center. It was called Hasan Düzü because it was the place of Tailor Hasan (son of Ali), the father of Haci Yakup's father, Butterfly Hasan, the father of Sarı (Hü) Hüseyin.

[xx] Free boarding