A TRIBUTE TO ADNAN ÇAKMAKÇIOĞLU ON HIS 98TH BIRTHDAY.
By his daughter: Esi ÇAKMAKÇIOĞLU

I am sharing a very personal memory of my father Adnan Çakmakçıoğlu (27 May 1922- 2 February 1998) on his birthday 27th of May, in order to introduce him with his personality traits not commonly known, and wish to dedicate it to all those who may or not be his readers, to all those who wish to ‘leave a world in peace to all children’ and to those who love books, music and art.

I am grateful to Lightmillennium.Org for giving me a chance to share a small recollection of my life with my father who is still very much alive in my memory.

Firstly, my father Adnan Çakmakçıoğlu was a devotee of the Classical Music. He played violin. His dream, as a child, was to become a conductor, but loosing his father along with two of his siblings made him change his mind, and choose to become a teacher so he could take care of his mother and two other siblings.

It was after his passing that I found an invitation dated 28 April 1945.  It was an invitation for a 3 acts Operette, written by Adnan Çakmakçıoğlu to C. King Proctor’s music, put on stage by Cemil Türkarman and K. Erbilgil, and performed by the students of Arnavutköy Boğaziçi High School. It was in his last year at the university.

Classical music had a large part in our daily family life. My mother would tell us that my brother Can and I would sit on the floor, and listen to the classical music records my father played while he brought them to life, telling us about the swans, the horses, the nature. We had a piano at home. He would come together with some of his friends who were music teachers to practice together. I remember watching them. They were writing the scores for the Köroğlu Opera but I do not know whether it was finalised. His passion for music continued all his life.

After the university he held positions in Antalya, Kars, Sivas High Schools as a mathematic’s teacher and the Head of the Schools (1947-51). Following, he was appointed as the Director of Education(1952) in Balıkesir, and later on as the Director of the Necati Institute of Teachers (Eğitim Enstitüsü) again in Balıkesir(1954- 60). During these years, we used to go the the City Club on Saturday evenings for dinner, and after the dinner all parents danced Tango. He also liked dancing a lot.

From 1943, he had his poems published in the İstanbul and Varlık magazines under a pseudonym name A. Adnan Ardağı. He was also well known with his short stories published again in Varlık magazin, as well as his poems and caricatures.

In 1954, he attended a seminar in the USA entitled ‘Writing for Children’. In 1956, he was appointed by the Ministry of Education (M.E.B.) to represent Turkey in France for a month at an event organised by the European Council. Following year in 1957 he went to do a study on the Administration of Governance in the USA for about 8 months, and during his stay, his cartoons, illustrating ‘A foreigner’s Observations’, were exhibited at Washington International Centre Library. Washington Post published an article including some of his sketches in their paper dated 2.6.1958.

He was a very good caricaturist. My parents visited me twice when I was working as an architect and urban designer in the Far East (1994- 2000). They stayed with me for 40 days in Brunei, and 2 months in Hong Kong. His cartoons were included in Brunei Airlines in-flight magazine Munibah (November/December 1995). His observations of Hong Kong were exhibited at Lantau Island, and later on in Hürriyet Travel Weekend supplement Gezi.

ERDEK

He also loved Erdek very much. During the years when he was the Director of the Necati Necati Institute of Teachers (Eğitim Institute) (1954- 60), he started summer camps for the teachers and their families in the old masonry primary school building in Erdek. He contributed greatly to the start of Erdek Festival in 1958. He played a major role in bringing the Ankara Opera and Ballet to perform, and the concerts of the orchestra of 20-25 musicians under the conductor Hikmet Şimşek.

There were exhibitions of drawings, paintings and cartoons displayed on fishermen’s boats brought in and around the main town square. Later on, there were meetings of poetry and literature held on the larger fishermen’s boats. The boat would sail out into the sea, put anchor on a bay at the sunset, and the meetings would start. He also used to arrange the walls of the schools to be white washed for children to paint on. It would be the exhibition of their art works they enjoyed very much.

From 1960 he held teaching positions at state schools and at the State Conservatory in Ankara. but we still spend summers holidays in Erdek. He continued to act as an advisor for the town-hall and had a room reserved for him until his passing. In 1964 he was appointed as the director and chief editor for the Office for Preparation of Printed Educational Material, a centre founded by the Ministry of Education.

Around that time, he was also offered to become the rector for ODTU provided that he carries out and completes an academic doctorate for a Phd degree, but he declined. I recall that he was also considered for appointment as the Education Attache to London but I do not know any other the details.

He loved children and they were his best friends. In 1998, I travelled from Hong Kong to Istanbul to be with my parents during the Christmas. My father was fallen ill unexpectedly and taken to the hospital. Even in a half-coma at the hospital, he was having conversations with them. During his stay, I would take the Sea-Bus from Bostanci to the hospital, to visit him everyday. One day, half way our journey, a children’s song ‘Leave Us A World To Us Children’ was played very loud, took every one by surprise. The words belonged to my father. We lost my father the same day (2nd of February 1998).

CHILDREN

Once I had heard his conversation with my mother. My mother was expressing her sadness about not to having had any grandchildren. My father answered her; “Why are you feeling sad, all children are ours”.

“Leave A World to Us Children”, the words of the song, which was the winner of a two stage children’s song competition by TRT and UNESCO 1979, belongs to Adnan Cakmakcioglu, the music by Salih Aydoğan.

The book supplement  of Cumhuriyet Newspaper (31.10.91, no:88) includes the back cover page of the book entitled The Drum (Trampet), published by Yapi Kredi Bankasi, and introduces the book saying:

“The Drum’ is a story book of 12 short stories. Each one of these are wonderful stories based on the dreams of children, friendship, kindness, cooperation. The author, who held teaching posts in different parts of the Anatolia, has hundreds of published children’s stories. The writer, who gives the voices of children from different walks of life, always finishes his stories with a question so that the children will complete them with their own dreams. The book is for primary school age children.”

Very often I think, and consider, how lucky I am to have been born as the daughter of Adnan and Lutfiye Çakmakçıoğlu. They both have contributed to my perception and understanding of the world we live in. They still support me after their passing (my father 1998, my mother 2012). Especially the unbelievable support I receive from my father. In the last 20 years, along with my profession of architecture and Urban Design (www.esi-idc.uk), I have been involved, and published studies in the Spiritual World. His continuing encouraging support and love are given in the short stories included in my website (www.artofspirit.co.uk).

It will be a very long list if I wanted to put together the published work by Adnan Çakmakçıoğlu- more than 18 pages. So, I give a summary under the general titles below:

Radio Plays, Radio Games, Television Plays, the Epic of Ataturk, Musical Children’s Plays, Children’s Musical, Film Scenario For Television, Song Books With Pictures, Play for Secondary School Children, Novels For Children, Stories For Children, Poems, Stories In English And Turkish, Publications for the education of Public (from different authors), Erdek Poems/Photographs/Drawings and Articles.

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In Turkish: http://www.turkishlibrary.us/adnan-cakmakcioglu-nicin-uzuluyorsun-butun-cocuklar-bizim/

Source: Photo of Adnan Çakmakçıoğlu with violin

Related links

1- https://www.artofspirit.co.uk/single-post/2017/02/02/A-PROFOUND-MESSAGE-FROM-MY-FATHER

2. https://www.artofspirit.co.uk/single-post/2015/12/20/AN-INCREDIBLE-MESSAGE-OF-LOVE

3- https://www.artofspirit.co.uk/single-post/2018/04/12/REALLY-COINCIDENCES-Story-2

Esi Çakmakçıoğlu, as an architect 30 years ago:
4- https://www.artofspirit.co.uk/single-post/2017/02/10/A-LONG-LOST-VIDEO-RESURFACES

Adnan Çakmakçıoğlu’s book for Children in Turkish:
ÇOCUKLAR İÇİN NUTUK