A LIVING SAFAI, I'D CALL HIM A 'DERVISH', YOU MIGHT CALL HIM A 'PHILOSOPHER'...

HAMLE NEWSPAPER

16.04.2025

Journalist: Özcan Özgür

To read the news: https://www.hamlegazetesi.com.tr/

I didn't know S. Safai Özer, the co-founder of the EGET (Education, Geriatrics, Ecological Agriculture, Tourism) Foundation with philologist H. Özlem Uzman. However, based on what I heard from Op. Dr. Naki Bulut, the Foundation's online posts, and the events at the Türkan Saylan Contemporary Life Center in June 2022 – a month when "dying is difficult" – where he was commemorated as "Safai the Living," I felt as if I knew him and regretted not knowing him before.

However, if I had accepted the invitation to the introductory event held when the Foundation was established 10 years ago, I too might have had the opportunity to meet him. It's harder to overcome prejudices than to split the atom, and back then, I was among those who hadn't yet freed themselves from them. The invitation was brought by someone who is still involved with the Foundation today, someone I didn't consider "acceptable" back then. I had looked at the Foundation with some suspicion, partly because of him…

It turns out Dr. Naki Bulut was also involved… I didn't know. If I had known, his presence there would have been a 'reference' for me. I would have met Safai 10 years ago. We might even have become friends…

His friends and those who know him closely call him "The Last Quixote," inspired by Cervantes' Don Quixote. It's an apt description. I too would describe him as "the last dervish of the modern age"...

In my article yesterday, I described him as someone who "did not develop any expectations for himself in life and based his entire life philosophy on helping others," such a person should be called a 'dervish'...

I learned that he used tobacco from a post made by Prof. Dr. Nurettin Demir, a former CHP MP from Muğla, from Göcek. Professor Nurettin described him as follows: “But there was one, Safai, who transformed every moment of his first puff into an artistic act – the way he opened his cigarette case, carefully rolled the tobacco, moistened it with his tongue, closed the paper, and lit it with pleasure…”

It’s almost an encouraging description. Absolutely not… I quit 10-15 years ago. I started in middle school. In high school, I used to smoke 2 or 3 packs of Birinci cigarettes. I quit when I was promoted to Parliament in higher education. I felt relieved… Now I’m disgusted even by the smell…

Professor Nurettin, with his description, wasn’t actually describing Safai, but rather the contemplative ‘Anatolia’; our villagers, the people of the land. City dwellers don’t usually smoke roll-your-own tobacco. Those who smoke it, smoke it packaged and flavored... The people of the land (mostly the older ones) chop, roll, and smoke the tobacco they have grown and dried themselves...

The way they roll and smoke it is the same for all of them, a ritualistic act of being alone with oneself... If Safai had been a contemporary, 'Sitting Gardener,' who was the first to encounter tobacco, would probably have smoked it with the same ritualistic, mystical atmosphere...

At the "Living Safai" commemoration night, Safai Özer's journey from Antalya to a mountain village in Burdur, and then to Muğla, was recounted through various video presentations.

I believe Professor Nurettin summarized Safai in the text he wrote after that commemoration ceremony with the words, "Looking at the lines on his face, he was a patriot who carried the traces of the last 70 years of Anatolia."

This Safai, based on what was said about him, seems to me like a 'dervish,' a 'saint'...

At that memorial evening, I learned from the narrators about his life with Fikret Otyam and others like him, whose lives were like 'Anatolia, the scent of Anatolia, its crushed grapes, its weariness, patience, and resilience.' I learned that he restored an old Greek house in Kaleiçi, Antalya, turning it into a 'culture and art house' that brought together the Otyam family, where he held story and poetry evenings. But that 'sanctuary' was deemed too much for them, for humanity, and was set ablaze one evening on December 8, 1992, and then he turned his back on life to the point of abandoning his beloved country.

Safai, an architect passionate about culture and art, traveled abroad, almost retreated to Macedonia, where he discovered himself, became aware of his creativity, and then sought a place in Anatolia to return to…

Professor Nurettin said in his account, “Safai was a very different, very unique personality.” I find it more appropriate to say, “A person who was a stranger to those who were different from humans.” I don't know if he might have inadvertently said “Ene’l Hak” (I am the Truth), but I also don't know if I would be exaggerating if I said he was one of those who had reached the level of “Perfect Human”…

The place he sought in Anatolia, where he would spend part of his life, turned out to be a village in Gölhisar, Burdur: Kargalı Village… Here, Safai settled in a mud-brick house he built with his own hands on the hillside. The year was 1993… He never spoke of the village to anyone. He lived in this village, which he named Esenliktepe, almost hiding, with his sheep. While living there with his sheep, he painted, wrote books and poems, and did translations. He rediscovers himself and describes it as follows:

“Our productivity and tranquility increased geometrically. We faced no difficulties in establishing a holistic life with nature. Yet, we come from a family that has lived in cities for three or four generations. Perhaps we were very prepared for such solitude and simplicity. The secret lies in eliminating the duality between the doer and the work done, and in becoming the work itself. You must abandon your ego and become one with the earth, the grass with the grass, the grasshopper with the grasshopper, the cloud with the cloud, the tree with the tree, the sheep with the sheep, the vegetable with the vegetable, so that you can discern their troubles…”

I have described this person as a ‘dervish’ or ‘saint,’ but you can also call him a ‘philosopher’ or ‘philosopher’…

Let’s hear the rest from Professor Nurettin:

“He struggled through his life to explain the importance of agriculture and animal husbandry in Turkey’s development. He tried to contribute to the studies of crossbreeding Chios rams and Tahirova sheep to obtain the Sönmez type of sheep. The resulting hybrid…” He and his friends worked hard to improve the offspring by crossbreeding them with Tahirova rams in the second stage. He believed that the Sönmez sheep, created on a 25% Sakız + 75% Tahirova genotype, would make a great contribution to Turkey's small ruminant livestock industry. When I said I wanted to start sheep farming, he spent hours describing the characteristics of Sönmez sheep; he spoke at length about their abundant milk production, high lambing rate, and how soft and valuable their wool was. His eyes would light up whenever sheep and goats were mentioned.

They came to Muğla with Özlem Uzman and worked day and night to pave the way for and nurture young people, especially in a time when the importance of education has increased even more. They established the EGET Foundation. The future of our country and its youth was one of their greatest endeavors. As a foundation, they planted oak saplings in Armutlu, Ula district, to cultivate truffles. They created a lavender garden. Their biggest dream was to sell the truffles and lavender they produced and to raise modern, Atatürkist youth committed to the principles of the Republic. They commissioned geothermal field research in Muğla Menteşe. They had projects prepared. They worked for health tourism.”

We'll elaborate on this topic tomorrow. Let me just say this: I believe the truffle mushrooms and the lavender garden also formed the foundation of the "Economic Enterprise" established to contribute to the education of young people…

Professor Dr. Nurettin Demir, currently the President of TÜLOV, shared from Göcek: "In response to persistent phone calls from Ms. Özlem, she informed me that they were organizing a 'Living Safai' memorial evening on June 3, 2022, and that they were expecting me. I had to go no matter what. The invitation reads, 'Safai, the multifaceted individual, architect, painter, writer, poet, and thinker whom we bid farewell to on March 9, 2022, left indelible marks on the hearts of many.'"

I too had received an invitation from Op. Dr. Naki Bulut. Although there were one or two people I didn't like (and of course, there were those who didn't like me), all the wonderful people of Muğla had gathered there that day.

I went with my dear daughter, Delfin. In the Türkan Saylan Contemporary Life Center conference hall, we were greeted by an exhibition of Çoban Safai's "Last Quixote paintings" and artistic photographs, reflecting his "status in Gölhisar."

To the left of the entrance, a stand displaying his novels, poems, and essays filled the hall.

The best part of the event was that those who had come from Muğla and beyond, filling every corner of the hall, weren't gossiping during the pre-program cocktail reception; they were talking about Safai…

I could write pages about this, but I benefited greatly from Professor Nurettin's insights.

Let's conclude with his words:

“There was so much we didn't know about Safi. Our admiration grew as we listened and saw more. From the students he helped bring back to life and strived to make into modern individuals, to the heartfelt love he showed his neighbors in Esenliktepe village, there was so much to tell. From Cervantes' Don Quixote to the Last Quixote of the Anatolian steppes, his life couldn't be contained in a single night.

He wasn't just an environmentalist, nature lover, writer, and painter; he was a true Anatolian nightingale…”

Professor Nurettin, quoting Safai's words, "We are only changing form, in a way: We are neither truly being born nor entirely dying. We are among those for whom even death is an illusion. That death which is truly pregnant with new births, that death which is rest!", says, "He is now only resting, continuing to live on in the Anatolian lands, with the values ​​he left behind with his friends during his 70-year life. Safai should live on not only through the EGET Foundation, but also through a street or avenue named after him."

I hope Mayors Ahmet Aras and Gonca Köksal will also hear this...