Images of Turkey and Azerbaijan #2 (Koco Kalfa)

The image here on the right is that of Koco (Kocho) Kalfa. The longtime Buyukada resident who was of Greek heritage died at the age of 102 in April. He was our neighbor on the island. He was also certainly our friend.
An internet article (from which this image was taken) verified that Koco was the oldest living resident on the island. As I stated in my earlier entry about him, he also designed many of the houses on Buyukada.
Koco also met Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey, and the island's most recognized resident the Russian intellectual/political leader Leon Trotsky, who lived in exile on Buyukada.
Koco met both men when he was a young man in the 1920s and '30s according to his son Nico.
I last met with Koco in 2003, which was my previous visit to Turkey before this trip. He was a very humble, generous man who loved his garden and his beloved Besiktash soccer team.
I'm certain that if I am somehow lucky enough to live to be 102, I will still remember him quite well.
 

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