Let’s start with our family. Those who know me well are aware that my mother’s side is from Trabzon. As is well known, my mother’s side has the most common surname in Turkey: Öztürk. For some reason, I don’t see my mother’s side very often. And while there’s no particular reason for this, I can only say that my father’s side, who is from Gaziantep, is large, lives close to me, and has a strong presence.
However, I also personally have a great affection for my mother’s side. They are generally clean, honest, and kind-hearted people. Six or seven years ago, we took a trip to Trabzon, the primary purpose of which was to reunite and research our roots. This trip, which stretched from Trabzon to Gümüşhane, was very enjoyable for me.
Incidentally, we can trace my mother’s side back to the 1800s, to the village of İstavri in Gümüşhane. In the 1900s, my family migrated and settled in the Akçaabat district of Trabzon. Afterward, I listened to many stories about my mother’s father, Ali Öztürk.
He treated me like his son.
On that trip, I got to know many of my relatives on my mother’s side. Among those I knew was Cevdet Öztürk, whom we recently lost. From the moment he saw me, he approached me with great love and affection. There were several reasons for this. First, he had unfortunately lost his youngest son to cancer a few years ago, and his son’s name, like mine, was Serhan. From the very beginning, he told me that my actions resembled his son’s. He seemed to be treating me like his son, as if he were fulfilling a deep longing. Second, the Öztürk family is very close-knit. Having last seen me as a child, he was moved to see me grown up. Finally, my grandfather, the late Ali Öztürk, a Korean War veteran, had a profound influence on all my mother’s relatives. He looked after them all, doing everything he could to support them and educate them. All the relatives who knew this had a special love and respect for me because I was Ali Öztürk’s grandson. I was happy to witness this and proud of my grandfather. Let’s get to know this wonderful man:
Cevdet Öztürk’s short biography
Born in Trabzon on 7 June 1958, he attended primary, secondary, and high school in Trabzon. At 18, he was accepted into the Geology Department of the Ankara Faculty of Science, but later dropped out for various reasons and graduated from the Open Education Faculty’s Department of Economics. He completed his military service as a Marine in Tuzla, arrived in Büyükçekmece in 1983, and began working shifts at the Akçansa cement factory.
He got engaged to his wife, whom he would remain with until his death, in 1985 and married in 1986. His eldest son, Denizhan, was born in 1988, and Serhan in 1995. He retired from Halit Uzun’s engineering firm in 2007. His son, Serhan, was diagnosed with cancer in 2009, and we sadly lost him in 2010. In 2015, his eldest son, Denizhan, got married, and in 2017, his first grandchild, Eylül, was born, and in 2022, his second grandchild, Çınar Serhan, was born. Unfortunately, we lost him at 3:55 a.m. on the night of 26 June to a brain embolism. May God have mercy on his soul. May he Rest in Peace, dear Cevdet Öztürk.
I have to say that Cevdet Öztürk, like the rest of the family, was a staunch Atatürkist. When Atatürk was mentioned, his eyes would well up, and he would sincerely share his knowledge and thoughts. He also had another characteristic that set him apart from everyone else: he resembled Atatürk in character. That’s why we always joked among ourselves, “You’re like Atatürk, well done.” Let me share his pictures, and you decide:
These are pictures of him with his family:
Our childhood flying kicks and our astroturf match
We lost Cevdet Öztürk, the star of our family, on the night of 26 June. Two days later, we lost Cüneyt Arkın, Turkey’s leading actor. May God have mercy on him; Cüneyt Arkın was one of my favorite Turkish actors.
Both Cevdet Öztürk, our leading actor, and Cüneyt Arkın, Turkey’s leading actor, were good family men throughout their lives. Whatever they did, they did it with passion, sincerity, and genuineness. They never strayed from Atatürk’s principles and reforms. They left a beautiful legacy. May they Rest In Peace.
Cüneyt Arkın is the actor whose films I’ve watched the most in my life. As a child, my twin brother Baran and I would watch Cüneyt Arkın’s films and practice the fighting moves we saw in the films, like the flying kick, on each other. As you can imagine, the resulting scenes were quite entertaining.
I know I watched the late Baran and I’ve watched the late Cüneyt Arkın’s film “Kara Murat” 17 times. The heroes Cüneyt Arkın brought to life meant the same to us as Marvel heroes do to young children today, and I personally admired him greatly. And of course, unlike Turkish actors who act with facial expressions, his ability to incorporate action and execute fight scenes with technique, his excellent horsemanship, his good looks, and his image as a real man solidified my admiration for him from a young age. About 15-20 years ago, Cüneyt Arkın and I were rivals in an astroturf match. I was delighted to play football against the actor I admired. His athletic spirit and determination were always strong, but his football technique wasn’t as good. Because everyone on the field admired him, none of us could get a solid grip on the ball. I remember, even though we were rivals, we tried to play politely and respectfully with him. Of course, back then, there wasn’t the same interest in taking pictures as there is today. I wish we had taken our picture.
A ceremony was held for Cüneyt Arkın at the Atatürk Cultural Center (AKM), followed by funeral prayers at the Teşvikiye Mosque. As the master artist’s coffin was transferred to the cemetery, chants of “Turkey is proud of you” were chanted. Cüneyt Arkın’s wife, Betül Arkın, who struggled to speak, said, “He went and saved the world. Unfortunately, he couldn’t save himself.” Crowds overflowed at Arkın’s beloved funeral:
Now, let’s get to know the master actor Cüneyt Arkın.
Cüneyt Arkın’s life story
Cüneyt Arkın, whose real name was Fahrettin Cüreklibatır, was born on 8 September 1937, in the village of Karaçay, a district of Eskişehir. His father, Hacı Yakup Cüreklibatur, participated in the War of Independence. He was of Nogay Turk origin. Arkın studied at Eskişehir Atatürk High School and graduated from Istanbul Faculty of Medicine in 1961.
While serving as a reserve officer in his hometown of Eskişehir, he caught the attention of director Halit Refiğ during the filming of Şafak Bekçileri (1963), starring Göksel Arsoy. After completing his military service, he practiced medicine in and around Adana. In 1963, he won first place in an Artist magazine competition. After searching for work for a while, Arkın began acting in films in 1963 at the suggestion of Halit Refiğ, and within two years, he made approximately 30 films.
The fight scene in the finale of the 1964 film Gurbet Kuşları (Birds of Exile) marked a turning point in Arkın’s career. After playing sentimental and romantic leading men for a while, he turned to action films again at the suggestion of Halit Refiğ. During this period, he received six months of acrobatics training at the Medrano Circus in Istanbul. He brought what he learned there to the big screen in the Malkoçoğlu and Battalgazi series, bringing a unique style to Turkish cinema.
He quickly became one of the most sought-after names in adventure films. Throughout his career, he made films ranging from westerns to comedies, adventures to social films.
He rejected an unfairly awarded award.
During the 12 March period, at the 4th Golden Boll Film Festival (1972), the jury initially voted for Yılmaz Güney as Best Actor for his role in Baba. However, due to political pressure, they later voted for Cüneyt Arkın, who had placed second in the first round for his performance in The Wounded Wolf, instead. Arkın reacted to this decision and refused the award.
His refusal to accept the award revealed his character in all its simplicity, as seen in NTV’s Yüz Yüze (Face to Face) program, when he explained his reasoning to Simge Fıstıkoğlu. Arkın said, “That award was Yılmaz’s right. Now, when Yılmaz knows this, when everyone in their right mind knows this, would that award have been fitting for me? It wouldn’t have been. I’ve played heroes in all my films. I’ve stood up to injustice. I’ve always asked myself: Am I like this in life? It’s easy to be a hero in movies, to be just, to stand against evil, but can you be that in real life? I’ve always made that calculation. That award was truly Yılmaz’s right. Yılmaz Güney was a very important person. He was a very important man of cinema. The public restored him to the recognition he deserved. In Turkey, the public has always given artists their true value.” (See:https://www.cumhuriyet.com.tr/yasam/usta-sanatci-cuneyt-arkin-altin-kozada-odulu-neden-reddettigini-boyle-aciklamisti-o-odul-yilmaz-guneyin-hakkiydi-1952137?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=%F0%9F%92%8A+%27%C4%B0nsanl%C4%B1k+d%C3%BC%C5%9Ft%C3%BC+d%C3%BC%C5%9Fecek%27).
Saving the World on a Low Budget
Cüneyt Arkın’s 1982 film, “The Man Who Saved the World,” directed by Çetin İnanç, brought a new dimension to his cinema and eventually became a cult film. While it was widely mocked, I believe it was a valuable work in terms of its conceptual framework and the innovations it attempted to introduce. Don’t even get me started: These guys have a budget smaller than the budget of an American film, so what are they supposed to do? If Cüneyt Arkın had been American and made films under their own circumstances, I believe he would have become a globally recognized and beloved actor, with all his qualities and character.
After action films like “Death Warrior, “Fight,” “Man in Exile,” and “Two-Headed Giant” in the 1980s, he turned his attention to crime series in the 1990s.
Cüneyt Arkın is a skilled horseman and karate athlete. In addition to acting, he hosted television programs and briefly wrote a health-related column for newspapers. In 2009, he was hospitalized for approximately three months for a nerve compression in his spine. It was announced on 28 June that Arkın had died of cardiac arrest. You can read his full biography at this link: https://www.cumhuriyet.com.tr/yasam/son-dakika-usta-sanatci-cuneyt-arkini-yitirdik-1952051?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=%F0%9F%92%8A+%27%C4%B0nsanl%C4%B1k+d%C3%BC%C5%9Ft%C3%BC+d%C3%BC%C5%9Fecek%27
“The man who makes nonsense real!”
I’d like to take this opportunity to share with you one of the most beautiful articles I’ve read about Cüneyt Arkın, titled “The man who makes nonsense real!” I’d like to share some excerpts from this article, written by Alper Görmüş, about Arkın’s strengths and weaknesses: (For the full text:https://serbestiyet.com/gunun-yazilari/cuneyt-arkin-sacmayi-sahici-kilan-adam-95873/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=%F0%9F%92%8A+%27%C4%B0nsanl%C4%B1k+d%C3%BC%C5%9Ft%C3%BC+d%C3%BC%C5%9Fecek%27
- Is there anyone who didn’t love Cüneyt Arkın as a child? No, there isn’t. But our childhood, which applauded wildly as he ripped out three arrows from his chest and hit the “bitch-ass Byzantine” 50 meters away with both eyes and a throat, starts to become a problem when we grow up. (Note: This is perhaps the only thing I’m unsure about regarding Cüneyt Arkın. Frankly, it’s not pleasant that Greeks, whom I personally love and respect, are portrayed as antiheroes and on the dark side in Arkın’s films, as they are in American films. But when we look at our history, it’s also true that we witness such conflicts. This is a sensitive issue today. In my opinion, Greeks, Armenians, and Jews are all our brothers and sisters. Regardless, we loved Cüneyt Arkın’s courage and sincerity.)
- “When I started filmmaking in Turkey, 20 million out of 30 million people watched my films. Turkish cinema was a learning tool, a source of morale. Women, the elderly, and widows would come and cry and relax. People learned about bravery and courage. Neighborly relationships and character were portrayed through actors. That’s why Turkish society lived so well together. Turkish cinema at the time held Turkish society together with the themes and values it addressed. Every week you watch a new film, every week you learn a value.”
- His fans sense a strange sincerity even in his most “absurd” films; such films never cast a shadow over his “Cüneyt Abi” (brother Cüneyt). I attribute this to Cüneyt Arkın’s seriousness in everything he does and his unwavering respect for what he does. I believe this dedication is what makes him an actor who makes every absurdity seem genuine. What else can we feel but respect for an actor who acts with the attitude of, “Yes, it’s absurd, but since I’m acting, I have to take it seriously?”
- “I have one last dream: To go to my village and spend my old age there. My adobe house, the barn where the swallows nest, I always think of these things. That freedom of my youth, that carefree, irresponsible freedom… Eskişehir. Karaçay Village.”
Now, here are the other interviews and articles I’ve compiled about Cüneyt Arkın:
* The interview in which he said, “I’m ready to die. I’ve sifted through my flour, I couldn’t get enough of the Turkish people”: https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cfeepo7jzLk/?igshid=MDJmNzVkMjY=
- İlber Ortaylı’s article about Cüneyt Arkın, entitled “An unforgettable name: Cüneyt Arkın”: https://www.hurriyet.com.tr/yazarlar/ilber-ortayli/unutulmayacak-isim-cuneyt-arkin-42094810
- A recording of Yavuz Seçkin impersonating Cüneyt Arkın and manipulating celebrities: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-waZWn2o6ho
- Meanwhile, Cüneyt Arkın said that he found Yavuz Seçkin very good at imitating himself and expressed his love for him: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CfWEA-RFKlO/?igshid=MDJmNzVkMjY=
- Friends who knew Arkın well in the neighborhood in Silivri, where he spent 45 years, spoke about the master actor: https://www.trthaber.com/haber/turkiye/arkadaslari-cuneyt-arkini-anlatti-691585.html
- Zafer Algöz’s thoughts on Cüneyt Arkın’s stunt-free films (watch from 06:15): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBt9N4lVCz4
Note: The title of this article was born after Cevdet Öztürk’s son, Denizhan, was chatting with him and said, “We’ve lost the leading men of Turkey and our family.” Thank you, Denizhan.
Bonus: After every beloved and iconic figure, debates about which team they support begin. I’d like to share the image below that will settle these debates:
Tag: memoir
