LET'S HEAR THE STORY OF MANISA'S TARZAN FROM SUNAY AKIN
Ahmet Bedevi, also known as "Manisa's Tarzan," is described in Sunay Akın's work "They Were Always There," with his most unknown aspects.
"As the invading armies retreated, they burned and destroyed Manisa, like many other places. Ahmet Bedevi, a soldier from the Turkmen of Kerkük in the Turkish army that liberated the city, was so passionate about nature that he stayed in Manisa after the war. He dedicated himself to planting trees and protecting greenery. Thanks to the trees he planted, Manisa gained rain and shade.
The people loved this tall, bearded man who wore only black shorts and called him "Hacı." When he started firing the cannon next to his hut on Spil Mountain every day at 12:00 PM, Hacı's name became "Topçu Hacı" (Cannon Hacı). One day, the famous Tarzan movie starring Johnny Weissmüller came to Manisa. From that day on, Ahmet Bedevi began to be known as "Manisa's Tarzan."
Many people don't know that Manisa's Tarzan was awarded the Medal of Independence.
Since he didn't wear much besides black shorts, he didn't have a jacket or shirt to wear the medal with.
On September 8, 1956, Engin Kongar, one of the students from the Manisa Mountaineering Club who was climbing Demirkazık Peak on Akdağ in Niğde, died after falling from a cliff. Kongar was the first mountaineer to die during a climb. Three years after the accident, the crowd attending the unveiling of the monument erected in Kongar's memory included the young climber's mother and Ahmet Bedevi. Bedevi, on that day, was reminded of his beloved, who had rolled off a cliff, just like the young climber. (While walking on a mountain road with his dearly loved wife, the woman slipped and fell off a cliff... Ahmet Bedevi could not prevent his beloved from slipping away; even with a last effort, he could not hold her...) With these emotions, Manisa's Apache said to the tearful mother: "My dear mother, don't worry at all, I will look after the flowers at the monument and make sure they never wilt."
Ahmet Bedevi, who was followed for years on suspicion of being a MİT agent, closed his eyes to the world on the night of May 31, 1963. And what remained behind him were thousands of trees, and on all of them, photographs where he turned his face away from the lens... And the monument he attended the unveiling of!
I wish we could all leave behind such lasting beauty as Ahmet Bedevi did!”
Sunay Akın, Onlar Hep Oradaydı.
