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Cevat Şakir Kabaağaçlı (
Cevat Sakir Kabaagacli ) Fisherman of Halikarnassos  The one or two weeks lasting holiday trip on the
Mediterranean Sea from bay to bay and island to
island is called here "blue cruise", Blaue
Reise,
blue voyage, or in Turkish "mavi
yolculuk". Really: the sky and the sea can't be
more blue than here. But the origin of the expression blue cruise has its own story. Bodrum is very proud of the poet Cevat Sakir Kabaagacli, for whom some memorials were built. Cevat gave himself the nickname "fisherman of Halikarnassos". He was born in Crete in 1886 and died at the age of 87 in 1973 in Izmir and was buried in Gümbet near Bodrum In 1925 he wrote an article for the magazine "Resimli Hafta" ( pictorial week ) which created obviously too much sympathy with army-deserters. The title was really shocking:  "How the
prisoners who are sentenced to death are going
in full possession of their consciousness to the
gallows?"
For this article he was sentenced to 3
years arrest in the tower of
Bodrum. But
the exile in Bodrum
made him happy. He made friendship with the
fishermen and sponge divers and went crazy by
going with the fishing boats to the many bays
and ancient places. But when military got wind
of his pleasures they took him back and he had
to suffer the rest of the punishment in
Istanbul.In 1957 he returned to his beloved Bodrum and spend the rest of his life there. Cevat had studied history in London and was a passionate poet. He began to make poems about the time he spent in Bodrum calling it "blue exile" and the journeys on the sea "blue cruise". He wrote stories about the fishermen of Bodrum and about the ancient history of the Karians, the nation which lived in this area 2000 years ago. In the 1980s the clever fishermen of Bodrum began to make their boats fine and finer. So began the era of holidays on the nostalgic wooden boats of Bodrum. What could inspire a man like Cevat to write such a shocking article? So I read that he murdered his father in 1908 because both fell in love with the same woman. So if you are a father don't fall in love with the sweetheart of your son. It may be the last mistake you do. Cevat came to prison and had the opportunity to learn the sentiments of his cell mates deserters and what they felt on their last walk to their execution. Those are experiences you will never forget.  As mentioned in the beginning the indignation
about Cevat meanwhile has passed into unlimited
admiration of his person. In 1998 they
celebrated in
Bodrum two days lasting commemoration
with many speeches. Also his daughter Ismet
Noonan held a speech entitled: "My father the
fisherman". In those days they emphasized that
Cevat brought his sad experiences into verses.
On these days especially his merits were
stressed. Cevat boosted the export of sponges
which the divers gathered near the coast and
imported lots of seeds, plants and trees which
enriched the flora of
Bodrum for
instant the Grapefruit. The people tell that he
took always some seeds in his pockets and put
them into earth at places he liked very much. He
also met regularly with highbrows from Istanbul
with whom he dreamed up new philosophies.At the entrance of Bodrum they put up a big board with Cevat's "advance warning" about Bodrum: "Hello, if you come to this top of the hill you will see Bodrum. Don't think that you will return as the very same person as you came. To all those who came before you happened the same. They lost their heart in Bodrum and left it." |
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