Turan Karakaş commemorated in Buca

Lawyer Turan Karakaş, who had a multifaceted career ranging from his role as CHP İzmir Provincial Chair to his defense in the Ergenekon conspiracy cases, and from his position as Chief Legal Counsel at the Ministry of Culture to his work in children's literature, was commemorated with a ceremony held at the Buca Republic Library on the first anniversary of his death.

Karakaş's family, colleagues, political associates, and friends gathered at the ceremony to share their memories and once again highlight the legacy he left behind. As part of the ceremony, the library named after Karakaş was also visited.

Speaking first, Buca Deputy Mayor Filiz Yurtkoru said: “Our Republic Library was opened to the service of our fellow citizens at the beginning of this year. All the books in the library were created through heartfelt donations. We carefully compiled and organized the incoming donations and made them available to the people of Buca. We have established our library with books donated in the name of the late Turan Karakaş through Hüseyin Benzer, as well as books donated by his family. And today, the Turan Karakaş Library, which you visited just a moment ago, is currently living with us through its content and his memory, which is the purpose of our being here. We are happy about this. I hope that from now on, you will also donate books—not just when people are alive, but in later processes—and we will evaluate them in our library; they can also be academic books that can be read and utilized.”

MY GRANDFATHER WAS PASSIONATELY ATTACHED TO BOOKS

His grandson, Mert Velioğlu, expressed the following in his speech: “He loved books very much. As you can see, we collected them for a while; we used to go on long journeys together. He would have a separate suitcase just for his books. How many times would he say, ‘No, that one is missing, this is a separate file that will go’... He was very meticulous about his books. He was always searching, finding something, finding a book, and calling: ‘Mert, could you get this?’ We had so many memories like this regarding books. He was a writer himself; he wrote many children's books here. We would sit together at the computer. ‘Mert, let this be, let that be...’ When I was little, he was trying to think with a child's mind. It was a great talent for a person of that age to do this.”

Velioğlu concluded his speech by saying, “Seeing his name live on in a library here today is a great source of pride for us. I thank everyone who carries my grandfather's love for books into the future.”

PROTECT THE REPUBLIC

Former CHP Muğla Deputy Prof. Dr. Nurettin Demir said in his speech: “The Republic and Turan Karakaş truly suited each other. Because his passion was the Republic. He loved animals, he loved flowers, he loved people. He was a friend to humanity. He never looked at anyone's negative side. Such great sainthood, such great dervish-like quality... I have not seen it in anyone else. But the thing he loved most was books. One day we were in Ankara. There is a large bookstore on Sakarya Street. ‘Let's buy this too, let's buy that too...’ I said, ‘How are we going to carry these?’ He said, ‘It's easy, we'll find a porter and take them.’ He truly has very valuable works here. Especially law books. He was a literature teacher and a writer. He provided great services to İzmir. He was a great chairman. He served as the Karşıyaka District Chair. Those were the periods when internal democracy was best practiced in the party. Then the Provincial Chairmanship... Then losing the İzmir Metropolitan Municipality election against Yüksel Çakmur by a small margin of votes... İzmir owes him a debt. He had a huge contribution to my becoming a deputy today. I served as a Muğla Deputy for three terms. His mentorship is very important to me. This morning, I visited his grave with Mert. There were very beautiful flowers. A quote about Atatürk stands at the head of it. I thanked him there too. His greatest passion, and what he said while leaving, is this: Protect the Republic. Protect democracy. Do not abandon friendship.”

HE FOUGHT BRAVELY AGAINST ILLNESS

Former CHP Deputy Bülent Baratalı said in his speech: “I was removed from office while I was the Mayor of Urla during the September 12 coup. Then I took on the defense of leftists; I worked as a pro bono lawyer. I met Turan in those years. Later, we were together in politics. There were times when we were not on the same side, but we were one in our love for the Republic. He was an intellectual; I never saw him with a frown. There is a story about him: He had filled a donkey with plums in Kars and went to sell them to the Kurdish villages above. Someone there bit into a plum and said, ‘Hırç!’ Meaning it was sour. And that was his last attempt at trade. Later, he dedicated himself to nature, literacy, and the enlightenment of the Republic. He had resigned from the party recently, but he never broke ties. He fought a brave battle against his illness. May he rest in peace.”

IT MUST BE PASSED ON TO FUTURE GENERATIONS

Aytekin Tunuslu stated the following in his speech: “Hello to everyone, dear friends... I closely witnessed the last ten-plus years of Turan brother. He was an exemplary person in politics and in life. The same sentence said by Fehmi Işıklar and Yüksel Çakmur remains in my mind: ‘He was a very honest man.’ We were like father and son with him. He would say, ‘Evils in the world will not end until imperialism is resolved.’ He was one of the most humble people I have ever known in my life. He would tell stories about being a companion to Deniz Gezmiş, but he never boasted. His stance, his personality, and his morality must be passed on to future generations. He was a very valuable elder to me.”

HIS MEMORY WILL LIVE ON IN BUCA

Buca Municipal Council Deputy Speaker Hüseyin Benzer also spoke as follows: “I don't know Turan brother very well, but he was a very knowledgeable man, like a library. We built a library in his name. He has very valuable books; you will see when you examine them. These books will continue to shed light on people. This was what Turan brother wanted anyway: to shed light. His memory will live on in Buca.”

HE GAVE HIS WHOLE LIFE TO BOOKS

His daughter, Mehtap Karataş, expressed her feelings as follows: “His departure was very sad. The pain is still within us. But it is very beautiful that his name lives on in such a library. He would give his whole life to books. We would get angry and say, ‘Dad, don't do this much.’ But he was a book lover. Two truckloads of books came here; they were sorted, and he still has books at home. This was the greatest legacy he left us.”

HE LOVED TELLING JOKES

Yücel Top said the following in his speech: “I don't know much about his politics, but he was a great intellectual. He loved telling jokes. Last year, on the fortieth day of his passing, I performed the ‘dardan indirme’ (a Bektashi ritual) as a Bektashi father. It was very sorrowful. He overcame four cancers; we thought he would overcome this one too. We visited him in the hospital a few days before he passed away. His daughter asked, ‘Did he recognize you?’ He said, ‘Of course I recognized you.’ He was from the Alevi-Bektashi culture. May his soul be eternal.”

HE WAS BY MY SIDE IN EVERY PROBLEM

Ziya Çavdar said, “He asked, ‘Who are you, what are you, where are you from?’ I said, ‘I am from Kırşehir.’ He said, ‘Do you know Sabri Yavuz?’ When I said, ‘He is my uncle,’ he hugged me. Our friendship started like this in 2007. He was by my side in every problem. He was a very good orator, a good storyteller of jokes, but he was also a good public administrator. We lived together during the Cumhuriyet Newspaper period. We argued a lot during the Vatan Party process. I would say, ‘Brother, what are you doing there?’ He would say, ‘I couldn't find a place to explain my thoughts.’ I would say, ‘I won't come if you don't leave.’ One day he said, ‘I have severed my ties.’ I went to see him one day before he passed away. His daughter Meltem said, ‘He opened his eyes when he heard your voice.’ May he rest in light,” he said.

OUR CONVERSATIONS WERE FULL OF JOKES

Nedim Sandalcı made his speech with these words: “Turan Bey did not like injustice; he was a loyal, humble, and valuable person. We met almost every day for the last 5 years. We worked together in the education sector. He took care of my work every day without expecting any benefit; he revitalized the institution. During our days at the summer house, we would go to a fisherman. He would eat lahmacun before eating fish. He would say with a laugh, ‘Kurds don't understand fish.’ He has many memories; they are endless. Since it was an Atatürkist school, he would stop by every day and be happy to see that our line had not been broken.”

MEMORIES ARE ENDLESS

Lütfi Türker also said, “Our meeting was after school. He wanted to do an internship. Our houses were close; we would meet at noon. Our conversations were full of jokes. One night he called from Istanbul; they had told everyone the joke I told, and they laughed... We had dinner in Urla with Bülent Baratalı and Mehmet Doğan; it turned out to be our last meeting. He was a person whose company was never enough. We had never broken ties,” he said.