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Чеват Сакир (
Cevat Sakir Kabaagacli )
Рыбак
из Халикарнаса
 The one or two weeks lasting holiday trip on the
Mediterranean Sea from bay to bay and island to
island is called here "blue cruise", Blaue
Reise,
blue voyage, or in Turkish "mavi
yolculuk". Really: the sky and the sea can't be
more blue than here.
But the origin of the expression
blue cruise
has its own story.
Bodrum is very proud of the poet Cevat
Sakir Kabaagacli, for whom some memorials were
built. Cevat gave himself the nickname
"fisherman of Halikarnassos". He was born in
Crete in 1886 and died at the age of 87 in 1973
in Izmir and was buried in Gьmbet near
Bodrum
In 1925 he wrote an article for the magazine
"Resimli Hafta" ( pictorial week ) which created
obviously too much sympathy with army-deserters.
The title was really shocking:
 "How the
prisoners who are sentenced to death are going
in full possession of their consciousness to the
gallows?"
For this article he was sentenced to 3
years arrest in the tower of
Bodrum. But
the exile in Bodrum
made him happy. He made friendship with the
fishermen and sponge divers and went crazy by
going with the fishing boats to the many bays
and ancient places. But when military got wind
of his pleasures they took him back and he had
to suffer the rest of the punishment in
Istanbul.
In 1957 he returned to his beloved
Bodrum and
spend the rest of his life there. Cevat had
studied history in London and was a passionate
poet. He began to make poems about the time he
spent in Bodrum
calling it "blue exile" and the journeys on the
sea "blue
cruise". He wrote stories about the
fishermen of Bodrum
and about the ancient history of the Karians,
the nation which lived in this area 2000 years
ago. In the 1980s the clever fishermen of
Bodrum began
to make their boats fine and finer. So began the
era of holidays on the nostalgic wooden boats of
Bodrum.
What could inspire a man like Cevat to write
such a shocking article? So I read that he
murdered his father in 1908 because both fell in
love with the same woman. So if you are a father
don't fall in love with the sweetheart of your
son. It may be the last mistake you do. Cevat
came to prison and had the opportunity to learn
the sentiments of his cell mates deserters and
what they felt on their last walk to their
execution. Those are experiences you will never
forget.
 As mentioned in the beginning the indignation
about Cevat meanwhile has passed into unlimited
admiration of his person. In 1998 they
celebrated in
Bodrum two days lasting commemoration
with many speeches. Also his daughter Ismet
Noonan held a speech entitled: "My father the
fisherman". In those days they emphasized that
Cevat brought his sad experiences into verses.
On these days especially his merits were
stressed. Cevat boosted the export of sponges
which the divers gathered near the coast and
imported lots of seeds, plants and trees which
enriched the flora of
Bodrum for
instant the Grapefruit. The people tell that he
took always some seeds in his pockets and put
them into earth at places he liked very much. He
also met regularly with highbrows from Istanbul
with whom he dreamed up new philosophies.
At the entrance of
Bodrum they put up a big board with
Cevat's "advance warning" about
Bodrum:
"Hello, if you come to this top of the hill you
will see Bodrum.
Don't think that you will return as the very
same person as you came. To all those who came
before you happened the same. They lost their
heart in Bodrum
and left it."
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