Şevket Akgün
I was born in Dalyan in 1928 so I’m 78 years old. My father came from Tavaş and my mother, who was Cretan, came here with the exchange of populations. I started school in Dalyan in 1935 and in those days we did 3 years. In my 3rd year, 1938, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk who led us against our enemies in the War of Independence, died. We put up flags all around the mosque and the square and there were great lamentations. After the ceremony the Dalyan public and the school children were all crying as they left. I’ll never forget that, it’s the strongest memory of my life.
After the 3 years at Dalyan school my parents decided that my education must continue and so I went to Köyceğiz Atatürk Primary School for my 4th and 5th years and stayed with relatives for those 2 years. The local education manager then was İzzet Akgül and he said to me, ‘’Şevket, you’re a hardworking student, I’m going to send you to the village institution’’ and I went in 1941 to Kızılçullu for 5 years, winter and summer to study. In the winters we studied, in the summers we learned trades like carpentry, construction, blacksmithing. I graduated in 1946 and in September at 15 years old, I started teaching at Okçular. However, there was no school then. I met with a friend of mine from our studying days, Hüseyin Yılmaz who worked at the coffee house and we discussed how to get a school building.
A year later Okçular and Kemaliye got together and started building a clinic and a school. That was 1947. I stayed as a teacher at this school until 1960.
I was appointed muhtar (village headman) of Kemaliye, so for 2 years I was both teacher and muhtar.
One moment I won’t forget is when Ali Nazlı Osman, deceased, was sent to Foça jail and a little later escaped and I heard he’d come back and so he didn’t get sent back I went to see the prosecutor. One evening while we were eating I said, ‘Look, tomorrow I’m going to hand you over to the prosecutor, I give you my word nothing bad will come to you’, and he agreed to my proposal, just as his punishment ended and he returned to the village.
In 1965 and 6 I taught at Beyobası and at that time Okçular’s muhtar, Ali Yazan, with a group of villagers requested the Vali (Provincial Governor), Şerif Tüten to ask me to come back to Okçular. So until 1973, September 15th, when I retired, I remained teaching at Okçular school. Now I’m an Okçular resident. Since 1990 when tourism started to accelerate in Dalyan I turned my house there into a pension and started that. 5 years later I closed the pension and opened the Ley Ley Stork Restaurant and since then have been in tourism.
I have ‘adopted’ a number of guides and boat captains and helped them. Doing these things I remain happy. At 78 years of age I am thankful that I have no complaints, and can read the paper and my books without glasses, I have 4 daughters and 2 sons.
I wish all our villagers peace of mind, health, a full life and much pleasure from small things.
Nuri Konukçu
I was born in Paşalı village, Fethiye in 1936. Like everyone else, when it came time I went to primary school. In those days there weren’t so many schools as no and we had to the school in the neighbouring village which was quite a distance away.
There was an epidemic of lice which made things difficult, but I finished the first
year. My family didn’t want me to go back to that school because now our village
school was finished, but what a shame, it was 7 km from our house. No road, only
a track through the forest and no bridge over the river -
Times were hard, and in 1949, with no shoes, just clogs, I finished school. My father, who in the time of the foundation of the Republic, was a teacher for a while, knew the importance of education and insisted that I carry on learning. So I entered the Antalya Aksu village institution. This was probably a turning point in my life, to have these lessons, to continue my education. Here, whilst in my 3rd year it became possible to do 6 years instead of 5. When I finished school in 1955 I was appointed a teacher at the joint Kemaliye/Okçular school.
When I first came here the school was a stone and mud-
In 1957 I got married in Okçular and we had a son and 3 daughters.
At that time our teacher was Şevket Akgün. I had to go on military service, from first class to class 5 there was only 1 teacher for all. In 1959, after 4 years I was sent to Tepearası village. I was the only teacher there until 1966. That same year I finished my house in Okçular. Around that time I worked for 2 years with a friend and then I was appointed to Dalyan. Here I worked with a number of young teachers on first appointments.
In 1969 after 3 years in Dalyan I returned to Kemaliye and then 3 years later the 2 villages got their own school. I worked for 9 years in the school at Okçular, next to the mosque.
I had a lot of work to do to get electricity to Okçular. Then our muhtar was Sabahattin Şaşmaz; he and I, Mehmet Türk, Mustafa Çakır and others went to Aydin to meet the area manager and get him to instal electricity in the village. When it was finally installed we had a village celebration on 17th December 1974.
Now it was time to clean out the canal again -
In 1981 I retired and then I started farming citrus and fruit and vegetables. I continued until 1986 when I became ill and so handed over to my son Özleyiş who was in his last year at university. In 1999 my wife died and now I live with my daughter.
These days times are difficult economically, but the reed houses are gone, the roads are made, everyone has pumps and electricity. The village has changed its shell but I believe it’s the best place in the world.
From now to the future I wish our village friendship, brotherhood, co-
