Blind Mountaineer Necdet Turhan met with compatriots

Komotini Turkish Youth Union and Rhodope Cycling and Outdoor Sports Group organized an Outdoor Sports Conference in Komotini.
Blind Mountaineer and National Athlete Necdet Turhan from Türkiye attended the conference held on Wednesday evening, November 9, 2022 at the Turkish Youth Association in Komotini.
The opening speech of the Outdoor Sports Conference was made by ROBIS Group President Latif Mehmet. He conveyed the purpose of organizing the conference to the participants. He thanked the speaker Necdet Turhan and the participants.
Speaking at the conference, Necdet Turhan shared his experiences gained in marathons and mountain climbing in different countries with his Western Thrace brothers with his project "Five continents, five marathons, five summits".
Türkiye's Consul General to Komotini Murat Ömeroğlu, Mufti of Komotini İbrahim Şerif, FEP Party President Çiğdem Asafoğlu, GTGB President Sedat Hasan, ROBİS President Latif Mehmet, PASOK Rhodope Provincial Organization Board Member and Rhodope City Center for Prevention Against Addiction and Mental Health ORFEAS Board of Directors Sibel Mustafaoğlu, President of BAKEŞ Hüseyin Bostancı, President of Western Thrace Turkish Teachers' Union Aydın Ahmet, former deputy Galip Galip and his compatriots, speaking at the conference Blind Mountaineer and National Athlete Necdet Turhan stated the following:
"I started doing sports at the Middle East Technical University (METU) Mountaineering branch. I am an honorary member there. I had problems due to my visual impairment in the first place. My athletics and mountaineering life started there. METU is my sports club. After graduation, I continued my mountaineering life. While I was at METU, I Climebed Mount Erciyes and Ararat twice. One is 4500 m and the other is 5137 m up to the summit of Ararat.
I participated in the 15 km stage of the Eurasia Marathon for the first time in 2000.
In 2022, I went to New York with a group from Türkiye and ran the New York Marathon. It was a great honor for me.
I became the first visually impaired athlete to represent Türkiye abroad. Later, when I returned to Türkiye, I set up my project “Five marathons, five summits on five continents”.
I ran 42 km for the first time. I already had mountaineering. I saw that 42 km was a stage that could be completed. I thought of this project with the enthusiasm of New York excitement. I gave the start in an internal sense. I gave the start, but no one around me believed me. They opposed me. I developed a defense like “as far as I am, as far as I can”. I finally made it. It took 15 years. I completed the project between 2002 and 2017
I started with the New York Marathon.
I participated to 2004 the Athens Classic Marathon. When this marathon is mentioned, I would like to commemorate the brother of Iraklis Vaçidis, a Turkish citizen, one of the Greeks of Istanbul, who passed away. We loved him very much as the Turkish athletics community. And, we used to call him “Father of Rights”. He did his military service in Erzurum. He was an electrical and electronics engineer. He went to Canada and then settled in Athens. He helped and supported me a lot when I go to Athens. In that sense, I respectfully commemorate “Hakkı Baba”. He was one of the toughest marathons. It starts from the plain of Athens, 30 km of which consists of slopes. When I finished the marathon in 3 hours and 53 minutes, Hakkı Baba put olive branches on my head in the Athens Stadium. It was a symbol. Marathon meant brotherhood, friendship, friendship of peoples. On this occasion, I would like to commemorate him here as well. Then the Japan World Blind marathon came, where I became a national for the second time.
Then I ran the Sydney Marathon in 2006. The Turkish community there showed a great interest. In 2007, I completed the stages with the Luxor Marathon in Egypt. Then the mountains series came. The highest point I reached was Mount Kilimanjaro with 5895 m. Finally, in 2017, we completed the stage by climbing the "Koseysko" summit, which is the highest point of Australia. One of the first places I visited after the climb was the "Atatürk Memorium" in Cambera, a monumental park built in memory of Atatürk.
My ‘five continents, five marathons, five summits’ project started in 2002 with the New York Marathon and ended in 2017 with the Australian Koseysko ascent. There have been difficulties. I couldn't find money, there were disruptions, but I didn't get out of my way. They say, ‘The patient dervish achieves his will’, or something like that.
The finale was just magnificent. I had contact with associations in America. They made my Koseysko climb a social project. They raised nearly $30,000 in donations in the United States. These were things that were targeted within the framework of a project.
Based on this project, I was also involved in the communication institution event. Contact was made with the scholarship officer at METU and scholarships were given to 5-6 people with disabilities, which is still ongoing.
Relief books were printed in Izmir by the Visually Impaired, Türkiye. In short it was a final that ended with a contribution to education. When I look back, I am happy."
Necet Turhan, who shared his experiences with his compatriots by making a speech at the conference at the GTGB club on Wednesday, November 9, 2022, attended the commemoration ceremony held in the garden of the Consulate General in Komotini on the 84th anniversary of the death of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Turkish Republic, on the morning of Thursday, November 10.
After the ceremony, he left Komotini and returned to his hometown Bursa.
He thanked Latif Mehmet, President of the Rhodope Cycling and Outdoor Sports (ROBIS) Group for the initiative taken, the invitation and organization of the program in Komotini.