A stormy life starting from Western Thrace, across the water: Cavit Caglar

Former State Minister Cavit Çağlar's life, which started in Komotini, Western Thrace and marked the last 50 years of politics, sports, media and business world, met with the readers in the book titled "Stormy Biography".

The book, written by journalist Hulusi Turgut and edited by Sema Çubuklu, covers Çağlar's childhood and youth, his entry into politics, his experiences as a minister, his friendship with Süleyman Demirel, his activities in Bursa, the establishment of NTV, his memories of prison, and the award of the Order of Friendship for his contributions to Turkish-Russian relations.

Çağlar, the child of a Turkish family who fled the civil war in Western Thrace when he was only 5 years old and tried to hold on to life in his homeland, has a multifaceted life, his memories from his childhood years, his political life, his work experiences and documents that will shed light on his recent history are among the information included in the book.

"I threw myself in front of the vehicle with Celal Bayar and Adnan Menderes"

Cavit Çağlar, in his statement to the AA correspondent, stated that his life had passed through trials and tribulations and said that they wanted to bring his memories to the readers from the pen of journalist Hulusi Turgut.

Explaining that his ancestors travelled from Karaman to the Balkans as a pioneering force, Çağlar said, "After the Second World War, there was turmoil in Komotini. My family decided to return to Türkiye. We crossed the Evros with a boat, I was only 5 years old, we went to Karaağaç. Then we go to Akhisar. My father bought a mill in Akhisar with all his savings in Komotini. Thus, our story in the homeland began."

Çağlar, whose father and grandfather were mufti, stated that the old surname of his family was "Molla" and continued as follows

"We are labelled as 'stateless' because we came to Akhisar illegally. We don't have an identity card, and we haven't had one for many years. I was 13 years old, Celal Bayar and Adnan Menderes came to Akhisar. My friends were making fun of us as 'stateless', I was very upset. I wrote a letter. During the inauguration of Akhisar Municipality, I threw myself in front of the vehicle with Celal Bayar and Adnan Menderes. Of course there was a commotion, I gave a letter. 'We are Turks, our ancestors travelled from Karaman to the Balkans. We have returned to our country, we have come to our homeland, but we have no identity papers.' The late Adnan Menderes had a plane crash on his way to London. His friends died, he survived. Three months after his return from London, an Official Gazette was published. We became Turkish citizens."

Çağlar explained that during the time he lived in Akhisar, he worked as an apprentice in a pharmacy, sold bagels and cookies, and worked at a petrol station. Çağlar stated that he came to Istanbul after the death of his father and that his uncle raised him.

Stating that he settled in Bursa after his military service, got married and established a business here, Çağlar said, "We built an empire in Bursa. We scratched with our fingernails. We had a bank. The political atmosphere battered us, they seized our bank. We overcame that too. We paid three times our debt. We fell out with the Americans, they arrested us. We were imprisoned here for 9 months and 15 days. Then we were tried for 700 years and acquitted of everything."

"If I could go back to those days, I would listen to the late Alparslan Türkeş"

Former Minister of State Çağlar stated that the True Path Party (DYP) was the central party in the cement of Turkey and that he played an important role in the coalition negotiations between the DYP and the Social Democrat People's Party (SHP).

Stating that he is a very positive thinking person, Çağlar said, "I am one of those who believe that every night will have a morning. I have very important advice from Demirel. Demirel used to say, 'Don't fight if you don't know how to make peace. I do not like fighting, I like struggle, I do not give up and I see the future very well. My uncle, who raised me, used to say, 'If Cavit insists on something, it will be understood that he is right in the end'."

To the question "What is your biggest mistake and regret in your life?" Çağlar stated that he had made a mistake and that he should not have lost the presidency of the DYP:

"If I could go back to those days, I would have listened to the late Alparslan Türkeş. He wanted me to be the chairman of the DYP. I waited for Demirel and he didn't say anything. If events had developed differently that day, Turkey would be in a completely different place today. This is my mistake. What can we do, fate, kismet."

"I was the only person in Türkiye to be awarded Putin's Order of Friendship"

Cavit Çağlar stated that each chapter in the book sheds light on a period of history and explained that after the incident that resulted in the downing of the SU-24 type fighter jet that violated the Turkish airspace on the Turkish-Syrian border, he contributed to the relations between Türkiye and Russia through his friends.

Çağlar said, "Without the strong leadership of Erdoğan in Turkey and Putin in Russia, we could not have achieved that peace. Our President said, 'I will not apologise, I will not give compensation.' We made that agreement in this way. I was the only person in Türkiye to be awarded the Order of Friendship by Putin. I am very happy in this respect. Today Russia is our biggest neighbour, a brotherly country with which we do great business and trade."

Çağlar advised young people to pioneer initiatives that will create employment and said, "We cannot neglect technology. Selçuk Bayraktar is very successful in this sense. He gives hope to the youth with TEKNOFESTs. There should be more of these. Turkey has a good generation. We are very successful in the war industry, we are making fighter jets and helicopters. In other words, this is a great success, we should not underestimate this, the important thing is to do it, to achieve it, and it will continue to grow even more."

"The book turned from a biography into a popular history book"

The author of the book, journalist Hulusi Turgut, stated that biography is defined as "biography" and that this type of writing is a human story, and said that biography is not a history book but it feeds historians.

Turgut stated that the book has turned from a biography into a popular history book and that he included the events that affected Çağlar's life with documents.

Turgut, who explained that he started research in 1996 to write Cavit Çağlar's memoirs and biography, said the following:

"They were only in their early 50s. What he had done until then was really a success story. In the past 28 years, we have witnessed Mr. Cavit's new achievements as well as his storms. The mobility in Cavit Çağlar's life story is the result of success and storms from time to time for 79 years. Travelling through the depths of that story and capturing its details has been a great test for us. We will feel happy if we have successfully passed that test."

Source:AA