Aydın Tiryaki (March 27, 2009)

I was born on March 27, 1959, in the Yeşilöz Village of İnebolu. Looking back at fifty years after living through them, even though it seems like a very short time, when I was ten years old, fifty was so far away that I couldn’t even imagine it.

Today is March 27, 2009; fifty years have passed. What does fifty years mean?

These fifty years happened during a special era.

Within fifty years, one millennium ended and another began.

Within fifty years, one century ended and another began.

In fifty years, 50 springs, 50 summers, 50 autumns, 50 winters, 100 equinoxes, meaning 200 seasons have passed. Impatient flowers bloomed 50 times, and the first snow fell 50 times.

In fifty years, 600 months, 2,609 weeks, and 18,263 days began and ended. If we leave out the years when I didn’t know what a week or a day was, I rejoiced at least two thousand times that the weekend had arrived.

In fifty years, 438,312 hours have been lived, some flowing like water and some dragging on endlessly; when calculated, it adds up to 26,298,720 minutes, 1,577,923,200 seconds. One and a half billion seconds…

March 27, 1959, I was born. İnebolu, Yeşilöz Village…

The name of the village was Ibras back then; later it became Yeşilöz. They used to call the area where our houses were Lower Village because it was on the lower side of the village. There were 6 houses at that time; now there are 5, four of which are abandoned. I was born in one of those houses, which is now abandoned but was a vibrant living space back then.

At the time I was born, we used to live in that house with my grandfather, grandmother, great-aunt, father, mother, aunt, and our two uncles.

May 27, 1960, my sister Aysel was born.

There is a photograph from those years. My father holds Aysel with one arm and me with the other… There is curiosity on my face and fear on Aysel’s. In those days, photographs were taken in a photographer’s studio.

August 16, 1963, my brother Altan was born.

It is the first event I remember when I think back. In the village, everyone definitely pitches in with some work. When the moment of birth arrived, the task of notifying those in the fields fell to four-year-old me. I remember running as fast as I could, but whether I managed to deliver the news or not has faded from my memory.

August 1965: My father went to work in Germany.

In those years, I used to hear that there were people going to Alamanya from many neighboring houses. Where was that place? The only place I knew was İnebolu, 3 km away. Then one day, my father just went away to Alamanya too.

September 1965, I started school at Yeşilöz Village Primary School. My teacher was Hüseyin Bilal.

October 31, 1966, we moved to İnebolu.

The next day, I started Yeniyol Primary School. My teacher was Dürdane Örüklü.

In 1967, my mother also went to join my father. I couldn’t remember which month it was, but I never forgot the crowd filling the streets on the day we saw her off.

We continued our lives with my grandmother, grandfather, aunt, and my siblings Aysel and Altan in the Aşağı Hatıbbağı Neighborhood of İnebolu. My father and mother came for about a month every summer.

In September 1970, I started İnebolu Middle School.

My primary school was very close to home, while the middle school was visible from the window, situated on high ground. Climbing hundreds of stairs after steep roads was very easy at those ages; now I get out of breath before climbing half of those stairs.

In September 1973, I started İnebolu High School.

The school was close enough that I could run home and back between classes. Those years were entirely spent between school and home.

In June 1976, I finished High School. The same month, I took the University Entrance Exam. Winning a spot at a university was much easier back then compared to now.

December 20, 1976, I started the Chemical Engineering Department at METU.

In June 1981, I graduated from university.

In July – September 1981, I did an internship at the Kastamonu Sugar Factory.

In October 1981, I started my master’s degree in Chemical Engineering at METU.

In January 1983, I started working as a Research Assistant in the same department.

When I lost my maternal grandmother in February 1985, I experienced the pain of a relative’s death for the first time in my family.  

In February 1985, I finished my master’s and started my PhD in the same department.  

On August 14, 1987, I was shaken by the death of Muharrem, a close friend of both me and my brother Altan, in a traffic accident.  

In January 1988, 3 years after my maternal grandmother, I lost my maternal grandfather as well.  

On May 11, 1989, we lost my paternal grandfather. His illness lasted a week. He always used to say, Seven days in bed, then the soil, and it happened just as he said.  

On January 19, 1991, my niece Çağla was born. Çağla is messy just like her uncle.

In October 1992, I completed my PhD.

Between October and December 1993, I did my military service in Burdur.

In November 1994, I started working at the METU Research Coordination Office.

On March 1, 1997, my niece Sıla was born. Thanks to Sıla, we watched every single animated movie that came out in theaters.

On August 18, 1999, I received the news of the death of my PhD thesis advisor, Hasan Orbey.

On January 26, 2000, I lost my brother Altan; I experienced and am still experiencing the greatest pain in my life.

On March 20, 2003, 14 years after my paternal grandfather, I lost my paternal grandmother.

50 years have passed; I rejoiced at births, I mourned at deaths. I experienced the difficulty of getting used to things when starting them, and the comfort of feeling as light as a bird when finishing them. I was not afraid of being forgotten, but I was always afraid of forgetting. That is exactly why I tried to preserve the memories, with writings, with photographs.

Today, March 27, 2009, and I am 50 years old. Even though I can’t yet understand the difference between being 50 and being 49 or 48, turning 50 must be something special.

Aydın Tiryaki Ankara, March 23-27, 2009

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A Note on Methods and Tools: The original Turkish version of this work was authored entirely by the author, without any assistance from artificial intelligence. (Note: AI was utilized solely as a translation and writing assistant to prepare this English version of the original text.)