Don't just dismiss the hometown association

Welcome, Mr. President.

Goodbye, Mr. President.

The style is top-notch.

Their word is their bond.

The lead actor at the card table.

They lend money, but never borrow.

They pay for the match subscription out of their own pocket.

They are greeted the moment they step into the association.

The confidant of the city's administrative officials.

You fill in the blanks.

I, too, humbly served as the general secretary of such an association for quite a long time.

As a Board Member of the Eskişehir Black Sea Association.

I had the opportunity to get to know the people of the Black Sea diaspora in Eskişehir—and more specifically, those from Trabzon, Rize, and Giresun—up close.

I established close contact with people from every class and every viewpoint.

From the richest to the poorest, from the furthest left to the furthest right, from the most educated to the least.

On such a broad plane, differences were neutralized at the point of being fellow townsmen.

When the Okey game ends, when the racks are overturned, class differences are ignored.

When the market vendor finishes, he doesn't care about the professor's feelings; he wins the game and sticks him with the bill.

After watching a Trabzonspor match at the association, a horon dance is formed, and the joy of victory is celebrated by dancing shoulder to shoulder.

Cheers are shouted.

Politics are discussed, but it doesn't turn into party propaganda.

Those who get too excited are gently warned not to go too far, so that no hard feelings arise.

Weddings, but especially funerals, in the diaspora are packed with association members.

Condolences are taken seriously; fellow townsmen reduce pain by sharing it, and they multiply joy.

If there is a need, it is met through collective effort.

Poor students coming from their hometown are never forgotten; they offer scholarship opportunities, however small.

The city's administrators also attend the highland festivals held every year, along with other associations from the region.

Once, we even organized a Volkan Konak concert at a hotel.

He was the most spirited artist of the Trabzon region. A very valuable artist who emerged from the zifin flowers of the cultural town of Maçka.

His journey, which began in the highlands, reached indescribable heights.

He took his place at the center of the Trabzon diaspora in Istanbul.

May he rest in peace, even our conservative uncles whose political views were opposite to Volkan Konak's paid a hefty fee to take their places at the front tables.

Perhaps they spent the money to watch the Horon and Volkan up close and remember their youth.

These hometown associations have many more traditions.

They are even more active in Istanbul.

With the migration that began in the 1950s, they have become, in a way, the owners of the city.

The transition from apprenticeship to industrialization has been completed.

Now, it is politics' turn.

The neighborhood headman positions (muhtarlık) that began on the periphery in the 1980s have now turned toward the center of the city.

Now, it has evolved to the level of governing the country.

No matter what, a fellow townsman will not be left alone.

Regardless of their political view, class, sect, or origin.