CHAPTER SIX
America had a huge influence on my dreams and ambitions while I was growing up. It wasn’t just about music and films, as much as I loved those. For me, America represented the kind of innate freedom that all humans deserved, no matter where they might have been born. Of course, the fact that I believed in such things while living so far from the US is a testament to my upbringing, the values expressed by Ataturk, the city I grew up in, and the people in my community, who set an example of compassion and mutual respect I’ve spent my life following.
Still, I believed that if I could only get to America, the path to discovering who I was as an individual would open up before me, like the yellow brick road in The Wizard of Oz. I had painted a picture in my mind of Americans as smart, just, honest, hardworking, talented, open-minded, fair, and compassionate people. I did not understand yet that it was a huge country, with millions of people living in it, and not all of them would turn out to be as perfect as the Americans I had imagined. I would come to learn that American history was full of mistakes and wrongdoings and that the country to this day still struggled with corruption and inequality, racism, and bigotry.
There was a US military base in Izmir, and I remember admiring the American soldiers as they strolled confidently around Alsancak in their sharp uniforms. Most people in Izmir were respectful to the soldiers, but not everyone was happy about their presence in our country. I would only learn about those tensions years later, as an adult. Many Turks saw America as an oppressive, imperialist country, and although my father didn’t reveal his feelings to me at the time, he admitted years later that he strongly disagreed with the way America controlled Turkey’s internal affairs, especially the restrictions on how and where we could export our goods.
As an adult, it was somewhat bitter to realize that the country whose way of life and freedoms I so admired had done so much damage to my homeland (although I also was aware of the benefits my homecountry received from America). Still, my father was able to respect America’s admirable qualities — and its greatest citizens, like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. — while condemning its government’s sins. He had full knowledge of most of the discoveries made by American scientists, poetry and novels written by American authors, and Hollywood movies starring Clint Eastwood, Burt Lancaster, Paul Newman, and Robert Redford. He loved Ray Charles and often sang Elvis Presley songs to me. The beautiful way he sang “Love Me Tender” still echoes in my head.
Some of my favorite times as a child and a teen were spent sitting next to my grandmother, watching television shows like Roots (each episode had the whole family in tears); Rich Man, Poor Man; Bonanza; Little House on the Prairie; Columbo; Voyagers; The White Shadow (a show that would have a huge influence on Turkish basketball); Streets of San Francisco (my grandmother loved Karl Malden); Dallas (my grandmother hated Larry Hagman’s character, J.R. Ewing); Falcon Crest; The Golden Girls; the British sci-fi show Space: 1999 (I had a huge crush on Catherine Schell, who played Maya); Shogun; and many more. I couldn't wait until ten o’clock on Sunday mornings, when the Western movies would come on TV.
Years later, as an adult, I saw an interview with Hagman. It was clear to me that he was actually a kind person, not a villain at all, which made me admire his acting ability even more.
I was in my early twenties when I saw the movie Once Upon a Time in America. It was directed by the Italian legend Sergio Leone, who made some of my favorite Western movies when I was a kid. I remember being heavily into the movie’s soundtrack, which was full of sad, melancholic, and at times even depressing but nevertheless beautiful songs composed by Ennio Morricone. Hearing that music often takes me back to my childhood. The most touching part of the movie for me is a scene when one of the characters, Dominic, is shot in the street and with his last breath says to his friend, “Noodles, I slipped...”
I also read all the comic books I could get my hands on. We had stores where you could find old books and many of the comic series, so you could follow the lengthy, complex storylines. I still read them today, because they are great stories full of exciting adventures, which can broaden a person's imagination. Some of my favorites were Mr. NO, Tommiks, Teksas, Kaptan Swing, Mandrake, Zagor, Jeriko and Judas... Many of the ones I read as a child were created by Italian writers, but the characters looked like American actors from the ’60s and ’70s. For example, Judas always reminded me of Charles Bronson, both because of his looks and his unforgiving personality. Those faces had permeated the culture of almost every country on Earth by then. I dreamt about visiting all the places mentioned in those comic books — exotic locations like Manaus, Carson City, and Ontario — to relive the stories the artists told.
Of course, there were wonderful Turkish movies and TV shows as well, and we used to go to the Izmir Fair during the summer to watch comedic plays. We would laugh so hard that it seemed to me like this was our whole purpose in life. Turkish stars like Tarik Akan, Cuneyt Arkin, Fatma Girik, Metin Akpinar, Zeki Alasya, Kemal Sunal, Sener Sen, Ilyas Salman, Adile Nasit, and Halit Akcatepe still hold a special place in my heart. Rifat Ilgaz’s Hababam Sinifi is considered a legendary comedy movie in Turkey to this day. Today Cem Yilmaz is one of the most famous Turkish comedians and well known as a talented actor. My cousin Sercan and I still watch his 1998 movie Her Şey Çok Güzel Olacak (Everything’s Going to Be Great) and laugh hard but also cry, having full awareness of the lack of opportunities and how difficult life can be for an average person in Turkey.
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