If a single definition is to be given to him, the “heart of the sea” will come to life in him. My grandfather is Mehmet ÖKSÜZ. He is known as “Termeli Ahmet”. I am the grandson of “Termeli Ahmet” whose daughter is Suzan (my mother). My infancy, childhood and youth were all spent under the wing of my grandfather. From the 5.5-meter boat “Ümit-1” on the coast of Samsun Belediye Evleri, to Samsun Port; from the Fish Market to the Samsun Boat Field, from the Terme Lakes to the Bafra Lakes, I was always at my grandfather’s knees.
Mehmet ÖKSÜZ was born in the Arsin district of Trabzon in 1932 and immigrated to Samsun in 1940 with his family on a sailing boat. In his own words, “My father was a worker in Trabzon Port. We were six siblings and we were barely able to feed ourselves. Those who lived in the Eastern Black Sea Region at that time, had to migrate to Samsun centre, Çarşamba, Bafra and Adapazarı in order to find a job. We were caught in this popularity and migrated to Samsun. Terme, Çarşamba and Bafra lands of Samsun were very fertile lands. Those who migrated to these places worked in the fields as sharecroppers. Those who traveled on the sailboats, who had money, settled in Sakarya, and those who were poor, settled on the Terme coast. Our first stop in Terme was now the Yalı District, formerly known as Güdürüp”.
“Termeli Ahmet” could not cope with his passion for fishing from an early age, and while his family was working in the fields, he began to fish secretly in water channels and on the beach. At the age of fourteen or fifteen, he caught more fish than the house needed, and took the surplus fish to the town to sell. He describes the first money he earned from fishing as follows. “I am fourteen, fifteen years old, or I am not. I’m going to the field with my brother Huseyin. I made a gasnak (pinter) from the dogwood tree at the junction of the sea and the canal and put it in the water. I check the gasnak daily. It happened one day, and in the morning, I saw a carp bigger than my size. I jumped into the water immediately and tied the rope from the fins of the fish and took the fish ashore with my brother. This fish was so big that we decided not to waste the fish and took it to the fish merchants in Samsun Saathane Square. They gave us a very good amount of money from fish. With this money, my brother and I bought rubber boots from Saathane Square and went home. Until then, my brother Hüseyin, who had forced me to become a farmer, gave me the license for this job by saying, “Big boy, you can fish now, there is no one more skilled than you at this job”. After that, “Termeli Ahmet”, who was a manyatçı on the shores of Terme, became a fish seller in the markets on weekdays.
After military service, it is time for “Termeli Ahmet” to get married. He married Sürüye, daughter of Kel Yusuf from the same region, and six children were born from this marriage. Being a family increased his responsibilities and he had to take a short break from his day and night working life on fishing boats. In these years when he was settled in the center of Terme; although he ran a tea shop, worked as a draper, and a shoe seller, his heart was always in water, fish, and the sea.
“Termeli Ahmet”’s organizational skills, influence on people, communication skills are very strong and he is a respected tradesman around him. The 1970s were the years when the country was in search in terms of economics and the idea of cooperatives prevails in many fields. “Termeli Ahmet” examines the studies on cooperatives and obtains resources related to this field. At this point, cooperatives are inevitable. Finally, Terme Fish and Sales Production Cooperative was established in 1968. In the same year, the 18.5-meter fishing boat named “Kısmetler” was brought to Terme thanks to the cooperative.
Terme was not enough for “Termeli Ahmet” and in 1972 he immigrated to Samsun central Belediye Evleri Neighborhood from Terme. The reason why Belediye Evleri Neighborhood is preferred; in addition to being on the seaside, many families who migrated from the Eastern Black Sea Region have settled here.
Mehmet ÖKSÜZ; He was the captain of the fishing boat (Carp-1, Carp-2) of DEMAS, which was the biggest fishing organization of the time, in Samsun Port, and for a short period of time, he successfully captained the boats of the great trawlers of the time (in Hasan PAŞAOĞLU’s trawler, Cemil KAPTAN-1, Şenağam trawler) managed to make a name for himself.
The cooperative is now the area of expertise of “Termeli Ahmet”. Now is the time to play big and in 1977, he established Samsun Merkez Fish and Sales Cooperative with a very good organization. This cooperative made Samsun Fish Market the number one in the region until the 1990s. Many innovations related to fishing spread to the Black Sea Region from here.
In the 1980s, a name that would be the successor of “Termeli Ahmet” slowly began to appear in the family. With his human relations, sympathetic attitudes and charisma, the person who will become a popular name in the fishing community at Samsun Fish Market is his son, Celal, number two.
With the beginning of the 1980s, “Termeli Ahmet” became a bureaucrat fisherman. He is a name that attends ministerial meetings on behalf of the cooperative and goes abroad for fishing activities and promotion by the state. His son Celal took over the business in the fishery, and father and son bought an office and a trawler in Samsun Fish Market in a short time, and quickly started aquaculture and fishery products brokerage. Celal also made his brothers, Mehmet and Kenan partners in the company and the company was established under the name of “Karadeniz Tarım ve Su Ürünleri Tic. A.Ş”. Cemil ÖKSÜZ (The eldest child), who later became a construction engineer) and Hamit GENÇ (the elder groom) are also included in this structure.
Fishing activities for “Termeli Ahmet” are not limited to known species. Species that were unknown to fishermen in Samsun Fish Market and around Samsun until then were discovered as a result of the R&D activities of “Termeli Ahmet” and his son Celal. These species are crayfish (Astacus leptodactylus) and sea snail (Rapana Venosa Valenciennes). “Termeli Ahmet” and his son Celal make incredible incomes from sea snail (Rapana Venosa Valenciennes) and crayfish (Astacus leptodactylus) and this profit suddenly moves them to number one in the aquaculture trade in the region. In this way, they have a wide customer network in the country and abroad.
In September 1986, as a result of an ominous accident in Samsun Dereköy locality, the apple of the family’s eye, the curly Celal of the fish house, was seriously injured. Celal dies 16 days after the accident. His family, friends and the fishing world are in shock. Noboby can believe the news of his death. The head of the family, “Termeli Ahmet”, will have a hard time in this process. Life goes on and the established order must be maintained together with the remaining children and employees.
Since 1986, the Black Sea has become offended. Fishermen who are engaged in production-hunting based on nature have fallen into a difficult situation. It’s getting worse every year. “Termeli Ahmet” will also be adversely affected by this bad course. The diseases that hit the crayfish lakes in Terme, the bad anchovy season for several years in a row, trawling in other waters and the economic depressions that worsen with each passing year will not be enough to heal the wounds.
“Termeli Ahmet” takes a decision with his sons in 1992-1993 and decides to end his office in Samsun Fish Market, a trawler, Terme lakes and pools, fish shop and all activities related to fishing. “Heart of the Sea”, the century-old plane tree still weaves fishing nets at home these days when he is approaching ninety and in every conversation he talks about fishing boats, the sea, the fish and his fishing memories. Once or twice a year, he completes his association with the sea with his fishing rod, which he slowly drops from the rocks to the sea, like a ceremony. When his grandson Güven came to him; He says, “Come on, grandson, let’s go to the port” and watches the “Black Sea” for a long time with tired eyes…