A female candidate and the candidate rumored to have beaten a woman

We were in Eskişehir last week. 

We visited Prof. Yılmaz Büyükerşen for the last time in the office he has occupied for 25 years—the man who transformed Eskişehir into an open-air museum, created a European-style city in the middle of Anatolia, laid the foundations of Anadolu University, which provides real education to hundreds of thousands of students rather than being one of the "apartment universities" that have emerged today, opened an aviation school when a pilot was needed, established a tourism school when a tourism professional was needed, and because he is as talented as he is visionary, created a museum with the sculptures he crafted himself, while also paving the way for countless other museums. We heard from his own mouth that he is making plans to collect his personal belongings in this office, which he will bid farewell to starting early next week.

Yılmaz Büyükerşen Hoca, who also underwent surgery the following day and is in good condition, is actually a senior colleague of ours who began his life as a journalist. During the years when the Democrat Party began censoring newspapers, he was the Editor-in-Chief of the local Sakarya Gazetesi. When the authoritarian government of the period constantly censored newspapers, he once ran the headline “How to make stuffed eggplant” on the front page. Another day, he carried a giant hand gesture on the front page with the headline “The Word Belongs to the Nation,” which was the Democrat Party’s own slogan, and published Atatürk’s Address to Youth underneath it; these two pages have a special place in the history of the press.

Yılmaz Hoca was also involved in the establishment of the 38-year-old Press Council, which is why a plaque was prepared for him on the Council’s anniversary. Press Council President Pınar Türenç presented this commemorative plaque to Yılmaz Hoca during our visit last week. Also with us during the visit was Üstüner Ünügür, the current third-generation owner of Sakarya Gazetesi, where Yılmaz Hoca worked years ago. Yılmaz Büyükerşen now plans to exhibit everything gifted to him by establishing a new museum in Eskişehir and to share his experiences as a municipal administrator at a municipal academy planned to be formed within his party.

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In the local election to be held this weekend, CHP nominated Ayşe Ünlüce to replace Yılmaz Büyükerşen. Ayşe Ünlüce is a municipal administrator who has worked with Yılmaz Büyükerşen for years, and if she wins, she will be the first female Metropolitan Mayor from the CHP in Turkey.

In Eskişehir, we also had the chance to join Ayşe Ünlüce’s bazaar tour and make observations. Ünlüce went from shop to shop in the old bazaars of Eskişehir with her entourage, mostly consisting of women, to ask for votes, and she stated that she was 3-4 points ahead in the polls according to her own account.

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As in every election period and everywhere else, various allegations about the candidates are circulating from mouth to mouth. The most talked-about issue in Eskişehir concerns the private life of one of the candidates; according to what local journalists say, this candidate used to commit violence against his first wife, whom he divorced, and furthermore, left her on the street in her house clothes one night. According to what is told, this first wife avoided talking to those who reached out to her to ask about the incident and verify it, saying, “That incident is far in the past, I have a new life now.”

Another allegation is that a candidate harassed those working under him, that there is an investigation against him, and that he told those who reminded him of this, “What is the problem with that, I didn’t harass a man, did I?” However, those who make the allegation cannot find and prove the file if this investigation exists.

Therefore, we do not know how much of these rumors flying around is true and how much is false; rumors are rampant, and they will continue until the election.

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When one thinks of Eskişehir, the museums that Yılmaz Büyükerşen spearheaded and opened for the Metropolitan Municipality naturally come to mind. After the Wax Museum, the Bath Museum is already a pioneer in its field, and the Odunpazarı Modern Museum (OMM) is a masterpiece. Now, new ones are being added to these. In the Odunpazarı Contemporary Art Gallery, which is a modest architectural imitation of New York’s famous Guggenheim Museum, miniature copies of painter Ergün Başer’s works are exhibited, and at the point you reach after touring them, there is the ‘Fashion Design Museum’ where the outfits of fashion designer Zuhal Yorgancıoğlu are displayed. The costume that the 1926-born Zuhal Yorgancıoğlu designed for the famous singer Dalida is also here.

Whoever emerges from the election to be held this weekend, Eskişehir has already raised the bar very high as a prototype of modern urbanism; in this respect, the new mayor’s job will be quite difficult. Such a city is at a point where it cannot be taken backward even if one wanted to.

You should definitely set aside a weekend and go to Eskişehir; see and observe how Yılmaz Büyükerşen made a difference as a mayor; you will return with pride and pleasant memories.