Will Trabzon ever see another funeral like this!

I usually don't write about the same subject twice, but after seeing the funeral ceremony in Maçka following the one in Istanbul, it became a duty to write about Volkan Konak, for the second time.

After moving to Istanbul, Volkan Konak received new nicknames.

The most popular one became the "Son of the North."

He was born in the north and had come to Istanbul for university.

Like every young man from Trabzon, he used to graze cows in the mountains. He would warm his small feet, chilled by the dew, with the warm urine of the cows. 

Anyway, to most of us, he was still a young man from Maçka.

He set out to realize every Trabzonite's dream and "tied his bed to the top of the car, exhausted the Zigana mountains with his weeping."

He laid down the law in Istanbul.

He was taken seriously.

He became a hero not just for Black Sea people, but for all of Turkey. 

In fact, it is the dream of every person from Sivas, Diyarbakır, Malatya, or Adana to become the King of Istanbul.

This dream was as much a dream for the Assyrians as it was for the Romans and the Greeks.

The 1964 Yeşilçam film "Gurbet Kuşları" (Birds of Exile) was exactly the story of this.

The head of the family, who got off the train from Maraş at Haydarpaşa station, challenged Byzantium amidst the shrill sound of train whistles, saying, "God willing, we will become kings of Istanbul."

Not everyone who came to Haydarpaşa became a king.

They couldn't.

Many stories were lived that ended in tragedy.

There were young men spent like loose change, and girls who took their own lives.

Just like in the story of "Gurbet Kuşları."

Some, however, became not just kings, but emperors.

He also became a political color. He engaged in harsh opposition.

Even when he was threatened under the table with detention, he didn't pay attention, and when he didn't cower, they couldn't muster the courage and had to take a step back.

The people of Maçka were not the kind of people to get scared and back down.

It is known that they had units that joined the Kuva-i Milliye (National Forces) never to return.

It is said that Atatürk entrusted the Karakol Society to a religious scholar from Maçka. Perhaps Volkan Konak's ancestors were among them, as it certainly seems so.

Another point was being buried in Istanbul, where one had migrated as a poor and unknown person.

His will was written when he first started his job in Istanbul, saying "Bismillah."

Bury me in my village.

The order was for Maçka.

I made the same will.

Let me note it here again so they don't bury me near the city dump where the riffraff like me are usually buried. Not in Eskişehir, which has a very important place in my life and formed the foundation of my academic success, but let them bury me at the foothills of Sisdağı.

Someone like Volkan Konak could actually have been neighbors in the world's largest Muslim cemetery with Cem Karaca, Cemil Meriç, Adile Naşit, Memet Fuat, Fikret Muallâ, Oktay Rifat Horozcu, Reşat Nuri Güntekin, Mustafa Şekip Birgöl, Ahmet İzzet Furgaç, Mithat Cemal Kuntay, Fazıl Hüsnü Dağlarca, Zeki Velidi Togan, Musahipzade Celal, and Gazanfer Özcan.

Or with his beloved Kemal Sunal, who lies in Zincirlikuyu.

But like true Trabzonites, he returned to his true homeland, his home, where he was born and spent his childhood. 

Considering that there were those who were afraid to be seen at his funeral, it became clear who was king and who was checkmated.

Trabzon has never seen a funeral like this.

Will it see another one?

I think it will, but it depends on where they have ordered their grave to be.