Tarzan of Manisa (Turkish: Manisa Tarzanı) is a pseudonym of Ahmet bin Carlak (1899, Samarra, Ottoman Empire – 31 May 1963, Manisa, Turkey), a Turkish environmentalist who lived on Mount Sipylus near Manisa, in western Turkey, for 40 years. He is considered the first environmentalist in Turkey, [1] and received his nickname because of his skimpy clothing and his life in contact with nature. Carlak called himself "Ahmet Bedevi" ("the bedouin Ahmet").
Carlak was born in 1899. [2] Depending on the sources, his hometown is reported as Baghdad or Samarra. [3] His family was of Iraqi Turkmen descent, originally from Kirkuk, Iraq. [2] In his early teens, he met Meral, the daughter of Sheikh Tahir, a Turkmen tribal leader, and got engaged to her. [3] Just before the wedding, World War I broke out and Carlak had to leave her. His activity during the war is unknown, but at the end he was in India, where he lived for some time in the jungle. [3] While in Iran, he found out accidentally that the family of his fiancée had moved nearby. [3] While planning his wedding again, he read in a newspaper that in Turkey the struggle for independence had begun. [3] Deciding to join the insurgents, both tried to reach Anatolia. As they passed through a steep-sided gorge, his fiancée slipped, fell down a cliff and was killed. [3] Carlak then reached the insurgents, serving under Kâzım Karabekir in the eastern front of the Turkish War of Independence. [3] Then Carlak fought in Antep and Kilis, [3] and belonged to one of the formations that recaptured Smyrna from the Greeks. He was wounded in the war and for his courage he received the Medal of Independence with red ribbon. [2] Immediately after the war, Carlak settled in Manisa, which had been devastated by a fire caused by the retreating Greek army during the Greco-Turkish War. [2] Struck by the consequences of the fire, Carlak made it his life's goal to reforest the region, single-handedly planting and cultivating innumerable trees on Mount Sipylus. [2] [1]
Carlak was noted for his appearance. He ceased trimming his beard in 1924, and started to become known as Hacı ("the pilgrim"). [2] He began to dress only in a pair of shorts, with a naked torso, [2] and lived alone for 40 years in a hut, which he called Topkale ("castle of the cannon"), named for an old cannon which he used every day to signal midday by firing a shot; because of that, the adjective topçu ("artillerist") was added to his nickname "pilgrim". [2] Inside the hut, Carlak slept on a plank covered with old newspapers, washing himself in summer and winter with cold water. [2] At that time he adopted the name of Ahmet Bedevi ("the Bedouin Ahmet"), although it is possible that it was the people of Manisa who called him that. [4] Carlak learned to write the new Turkish alphabet in Latin characters at one of the Halk Mektepleri ("school of the people", a primary school for adults established by Atatürk), and started to take part in public life. [2]
He regularly visited the city, where he stayed at Dede Niyazi's lokanta. [5] [2] [6] In exchange, Carlak brought a jar of water from the mountain to the restaurant. [2] Sometimes he worked as an auxiliary (firefighter or gardener) for the city administration. [2] In 1933 he may have been hired on the monthly salary of 30 Turkish liras as an assistant gardener. [2]
In 1934, following the showing of the movie The Revenge of Tarzan at the cinemas of Manisa, Carlak was nicknamed Manisa Tarzanı (Tarzan of Manisa). [2] Bearded and bare-chested, Carlak took part in the official victory parades commemorating the revolutionary war, wearing his medal placed on a leaf of an ornamental palm tree that he had tied around his neck. [2]
Carlak was also a mountaineer. Together with members of the local mountaineering club, he climbed Mount Ararat, Cilo Dağı (1957), Aladağlar and Demirkazık Dağı (1959). [7] [8] In 1959, he was a guest in Konya and Niğde with members of the Manisa Alpine Club. His presence attracted tens of thousands of spectators. In Konya, he was initially denied entry to the Mevlana Museum because of his naked torso. [2] At that point, he pointed to Mevlana's inscription above the door, which said, "Come to me, whatever you are!" and went in. [2]
Carlak never married: however, he allegedly received many love letters over the years which were lost after his death. [9]
Carlak died on May 31, 1963, at the Manisa State Hospital of heart failure. On 1 June 1963, Hürriyet reported on his death with the article "The Tarzan of Manisa is dead". [10] Carlak was buried in the new cemetery ("Asrî Mezarlık") of Manisa, despite his last wish, that he be buried at Topkale. [10]
The city of Manisa continues to pay tribute to Carlak. The environment week in the Aegean city has been named "Manisa Tarzanı Çevre Günleri Haftası". On this occasion, the municipal administration awards the "Tarzan awards". Furthermore, the city has named an elementary school (the "Manisa Tarzanı Ahmet Bedevi İlkokulu") and a boulevard ("Tarzan Bulvarı") named in Carlak's honour. In 2012, a solar energy car developed by students from Celal Bayar University of Manisa was named Manisa Tarzanı . [1]
In the Fatih Parkı of Manisa, a life-size monument representing Carlak has been erected, known as Tarzan Heykeli. Each year, the authorities of Manisa commemorate him on the anniversary of his death, honoring him as a precursor of Turkish environmentalism. [11] In sports, fans of Manisaspor call themselves Tarzanlar ("Tarzans") [12] and, in 2015, a local cross-country skiing event was named Manisa Tarzanı.
Carlak's life has been the subject of several books, and of a 1994 film shot by director Orhan Oğuz entitled Manisa Tarzanı . [13] [14] [15] The film is considered the first Turkish film with an ecological subject, and was submitted by Turkey for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, [15] although later it did not reach the nomination. [16]
Konya is a major city in central Turkey, on the southwestern edge of the Central Anatolian Plateau, and is the capital of Konya Province. During antiquity and into Seljuk times it was known as Iconium. In 19th-century accounts of the city in English its name is usually spelt Konia or Koniah. In the late medieval period, Konya was the capital of the Seljuk Turks' Sultanate of Rum, from where the sultans ruled over Anatolia.
The Mevlevi Order or Mawlawiyya is a Sufi order that originated in Konya, Turkey and which was founded by the followers of Jalaluddin Muhammad Balkhi Rumi, a 13th-century Persian poet, Sufi mystic, and theologian who started his life as a muslim. The Mevlevis are also known as the "whirling dervishes" due to their famous practice of whirling while performing dhikr. Dervish is a common term for an initiate of the Sufi path; whirling is part of the formal sema ceremony and the participants are properly known as semazens.
Ahmet Cevdet Sunay was a Turkish politician and army officer, who served as the fifth President of Turkey from 1966 to 1973.
Mount Spil, the ancient Mount Sipylus, is a mountain rich in legends and history in Manisa Province, Turkey, in what used to be the heartland of the Lydians and what is now Turkey's Aegean Region.
Mahmut Celâlettin "Celâl" Bayar was a Turkish economist and politician who was the third president of Turkey from 1950 to 1960; previously he was the prime minister of Turkey from 1937 to 1939.
Manisa, historically known as Magnesia, is a city in Turkey's Aegean Region and the administrative seat of Manisa Province, lying approximately 40 km northeast of the major city of İzmir. The city forms the urban part of the districts Şehzadeler and Yunusemre, with a population of 385,452 in 2022.
Manisa Province is a province and metropolitan municipality in western Turkey. Its area is 13,339 km2, and its population is 1,468,279 (2022). Its neighboring provinces are İzmir to the west, Aydın to the south, Denizli to the southeast, Uşak to the east, Kütahya to the northeast, and Balıkesir to the north. The city of Manisa is the seat and capital of the province. The traffic code is 45.
Manisaspor is a Turkish professional football club located in the city of Manisa. Originally formed in 1931 as Sakaryaspor, the club changed its name to Manisaspor on 15 June 1965. The club colours are red, white, and black. Manisaspor play their home matches at Manisa 19 Mayis Stadi.
Following the proclamation of the Republic, Turkish museums developed considerably, mainly due to the importance Atatürk had attached to the research and exhibition of artifacts of Anatolia. When the Republic of Turkey was proclaimed, there were only the İstanbul Archaeology Museum called the "Asar-ı Atika Müzesi", the Istanbul Military Museum housed in the St. Irene Church, the Islamic Museum in the Suleymaniye Complex in Istanbul and the smaller museums of the Ottoman Empire Museum in a few large cities of Anatolia.
Sadettin Heper (1899–1980) was a composer of Turkish music considered as an important link to the world of Turkish Mevlevi music before the foundation of the Turkish Republic in 1923.
The Mevlâna Museum, in Konya, Turkey, started life as the dervish lodge (Tekke) of the Mevlevi order, better known as the whirling dervishes. It houses the mausoleum of Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi, a Persian Sufi mystic.
Manisa Celal Bayar University or (MCBU) is a public research university located in Manisa, Turkey. CBU traces its root back to 1959 as an independent sports and teachers' college in Manisa. The main campus is in Muradiye district of Manisa. The university is composed of 14 colleges, 3 schools, and 15 vocational schools. As of 2017 university offers over 70 different undergraduate and over 90 graduate programs.Physical Education and Sports College is also one of oldest in Turkey that began offering sports science and physical education programs.
Ahmet Ali Çelikten, also known as Izmirli Ali Ahmet, was a Turkish aviator of Afro-Turkish descent regarded as the first black pilot in history. He was one of the first black men to become a fighter pilot, receiving his "wings" in 1914. He was one of the few black pilots in World War I, similar to African American Eugene Jacques Bullard, William Robinson Clarke from Jamaica, Pierre Réjon from Martinique and Domenico Mondelli from Eritrea. Ahmet's maternal grandmother was born in Bornu and was brought to what is now Turkey as part of the Ottoman slave trade.
Torku Şekerspor was a Turkish professional cycling team, based in Konya, Central Anatolia.They folded after the 2018 season. The team was sponsored by the local sugar and chocolate industries. It is part of the Konya Anadolu Selçukspor organisation, a Turkish TFF Second League football team.
Ahmet Örken is a Turkish professional cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Continental team Spor Toto Cycling Team.
The Fire of Manisa refers to the burning of the town of Manisa, Turkey, which started on the night of Tuesday, 5 September 1922 and continued until 8 September. The fire was started and organized by the retreating Hellenic Army during the Greco-Turkish War of 1919-1922, and as a result 90 percent of the buildings in the town were destroyed. The number of victims in the town and adjacent region was estimated to be several thousand by US Consul James Loder Park. Turkish sources say that 4,355 people died in the town of Manisa.
The Sabuncubeli Tunnel is a road tunnel located on the Mount Sipylus in Aegean Region as part of the Manisa-Izmir highway D.565 E881 in Turkey.
Tarzan of Manisa is a 1994 Turkish biographical drama film about Ahmet bin Carlak, also known as the "Tarzan of Manisa" 1899–1963, directed by Orhan Oğuz. The film was selected as the Turkish entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 67th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.
Mevlana University was a private (foundation) university located in Selçuklu, a metropolitan district of Konya, Turkey.
Arif Erkin Güzelbeyoğlu is a Turkish actor and musician. He started his acting career by acting in Keşanlı Ali Destanı in 1970. He is best known with the character of Mala Ahmet in the film The White Angel.
