I was born in a village that makes you feel as if the whole world is a steppe. This village, called Sürüç, is a central village 80 km away from Konya. Surrounded by villages of Aksaray, this small village is famous for its plain as well as its cenotes. My official date of birth is early 1978. As with most peasant children, this date is fictional. This is because farmer fathers had their children’s head papers taken out whenever the need arose. I was around 3-4 years old. According to my mother’s “filial calendar”, the details of my birth date coincide with the year my late father went on a pilgrimage, when the almonds had hardened and were no longer edible. With a rough calculation, mid-May 1975…
When people ask me what it is like to be the last child of a large family, I always say “Well…”. My late father, after returning from the army, married the wife of his older brother who had died young, in a levirate marriage, which was common in our region in the past. He was 14 years old when this story began. He had four children with my late mother Latife. When my mother Latife passed away at a young age due to an “unknown illness”, he married my mother, the daughter of an agha from a neighboring village. My mother, who was only 18 years old, took these four children into her bosom and raised them, and during this time her own children were born. I started primary school in the village when I was 5 years old, out of sheer enthusiasm. A year later, I had to continue in Konya, but I started Mahmut Şevket Paşa Primary School again in the first grade.
I completed middle school and high school at Karatay Middle School and High School in the famous Saman Pazarı neighborhood, adjacent to the now demolished Military Barracks. The school journey I made for 6 years from Mevlana district to Saman Pazarı, often passing through Üçler Cemetery, holds many memories in my mind.
In 1993, I took the university exam “just for fun” because my late father had serious promises. He was going to open a grocery store for me in the village. His other children were busy with their own families and businesses. I was the only one left to take care of the vineyard, garden and herds.
In July 1993, while preparing winter hay for the animals, I learned that I had passed the exam. I was going to study at Adnan Menderes University, Faculty of Science and Literature, Department of Turkish Language and Literature. On this occasion, I was going to go outside Konya for the first time in a long time and go to Aydın. It was here (Kuşadası) that I was going to see the sea, which I was now passionate about, for the first time. It should not be difficult to imagine how a steppe child feels when he sees the sea for the first time…
I’ll never forget, I went shopping with my late father before traveling to Aydın. I needed to buy a suit because I was going to university… When the shop owner found out that I was going to Aydın, he convinced us to buy a white suit. It would be very hot there; it was necessary to wear thin and light-colored clothes. I put on the white suit over my sunburnt, parched skin and started my journey to Aydın on a hot August evening. The next day, early in the morning, I took a taxi from the bus station to find the address written on the paper in my hand. The taxi driver gave me a detailed tour of Aydın, introducing all its districts. I think I could have traveled back and forth to Konya with the money I paid for this tour. The expression on the faces of the people who saw a man with a tanned skin and a white suit in the early morning was worth seeing. As the day progressed and I went out for a walk to get acquainted with the surroundings, I saw the “Otogar” sign at the beginning of the street and realized that a taxi driver’s signature was under the first rip-off I had suffered in my expat life.
After four years of adventurous university life, I graduated in 1997. A few months later, I started working as a research assistant at Balıkesir University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Department of Turkish Language and Literature. I continued to work as a research assistant until 2003. In the meantime, I completed my master’s degree. Due to the persecution and harassment at the place where I was working, I voluntarily transferred to the Ministry of National Education through inter-institutional transfer. In 2004, I started working as a Turkish Language and Literature Teacher at İvrindi High School in İvrindi district of Balıkesir. At the end of 2005, I started working at Zühtü Özkardaşlar High School in the center of Balıkesir. Approximately 15 days later, I started working as a “Lecturer” in the Department of Turkish Language and Literature at Giresun Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Karadeniz Technical University.
After continuing this duty for 7 years, I started to work as a lecturer in the Department of Turkish Language and Literature, Faculty of Literature, Karadeniz Technical University in May 2013.
I completed my doctoral thesis titled “Occupational Folklore of Giresun and Trabzon Provinces Fishermen” in the Institute of Social Sciences, Department of Turkish Language and Literature of the same university.
For 5 years, I was the General Coordinator of the independently published Black Sea International Journal of Social Sciences. I was the founding director of Giresun University Turkish and Foreign Language Application and Research Center (TÖMER). Afterwards, I worked as the director of Karadeniz Technical University Continuing Education Center for 4 years.
For 13 years, I mainly conducted comparative research on Eastern Black Sea folklore and ethnography. In addition to completing two scientific research projects with the support of TÜBİTAK on the axis of regional culture, I have written books and articles. I also served as a Member of the Editorial Board and Deputy Editor of Motif Academy Journal of Folklore from 2018 to 2022.
In March 2019, I parted ways with East Black Sea University and started my new position at Izmir Democracy University because the position I deserved was not given for 4 years due to the unscientific and meritless criteria of the university administrators of the period. Shortly after, I was awarded the title of Associate Professor. I continue my project-based academic studies in Izmir, one of the most beautiful cities in Turkey.