Mehmet Cemil

Mehmet Cemil (* 1899 ; † 1953 in İskenderun ) was a Turkish globetrotter.

He fought in the First World War in the Battle of Gallipoli on the Ottoman side and organized irregular formations against the French in the Amanos Mountains in Hatay . Tired of war, he embarked in the port of İskenderun in 1919 before the Turkish Liberation War and settled in Marseille . His path then took him via New York to Paramaribo , from there to South Africa and finally to Mozambique and in 1928 to Guinea . He settled there in the capital Conakry and opened a trade in tiger skins and precious stones . Mehmet Cemil, whose name is transcribed as Muhammed Jamil Abdül in French documents, met in a village called Kasabeya, "Princess" Camara Fatumata, the then 15-year-old daughter of the leader of the Baga people. She performed as a Yankadi dancer at a festival. Mehmet Cemil's proposal of marriage, mediated by the French governor, was rejected by tribal chief Morlaye, Camara's father. With the support of a French troop , Mehmet Cemil abducted his bride without further ado. The flight from the tribal warriors lasted two years. The father finally gave up. The pair settled the people in a village called Mamu Fulani down. Mehmet Cemil opened a bakery there. It was the first bakery in the region.

The couple's first child, Ali Cemil, was born in 1932. Shortly before the Second World War , Mehmet Cemil returned to Conakry with his wife and child. He reconciled with his father-in-law, reopened a bakery and grew coffee and cocoa. Four more children were born: Aliye, Mustafa, Cemile and Suphi.

In Guinea there was resistance to the French colonial rulers, which was initially crushed, and in 1950 civil war broke out. During this time three more children were born to the couple: Sait, Yahya and Salima. In 1953 Mehmet Cemil returned to Turkey with his wife and eight children due to the turmoil in the country. The family settled in İskenderun and was given the surname Sökmen. Mehmet Cemil died a week after returning.

His eldest son, Ali Cemil Sökmen, became a well-known tenor, and his son Sait Sökmen was Turkey's first ballet dancer and choreographer .

Web links

• İpek Durkal: Büyük şef Morlaye'nin kızıyla maceraperest Türk'ün aşkı. In: Hürriyet . December 19, 2010 (report on Mehmet Cemil, Turkish)

source

• Ümit Bayazoğlu: Uzun, İnce Yolcular. 42 portre. Istanbul 2014, p. 8ff. ( as pdf )