A small Turkish town is taking the phrase “love thy neighbor” to the next level. In Karakocan the restaurants have a long-standing tradition of serving free meals to the less fortunate. Not only do they serve the less fortunate, but they also call them their most valued customers. In a world where making a profit takes priority, this sentiment is quite unique. While the restaurants here have been doing this for decades, news has been traveling to other areas of Turkey and has garnered a lot of attention because of the out of the ordinary tradition. To the locals, it is just a way of fulfilling a responsibility to serve all of the people in their community, regardless of how much they have.
Merkez is one of Karakocan’s busiest restaurants. It has been owned by Mehmet Ozturk for almost 35 years, and he says that he always tries to keep three tables open for the less fortunate. Based on what residents say, about 100 people eat for free each day across all of the restaurants in the town which is around 28,000 people. Ozturk said he gets about 15 people in each day who are in need of a free meal. While it may seem backward to serve a free meal, it’s something that the restaurateurs learned from their families, and they keep passing down the tradition.
This act of kindness began in the 1940s at the Merkez and spread to other restaurants. The original owner Haci Huseyin specifically sought out needy people and brought them into the restaurant to serve them. It’s almost as if his intention of starting a restaurant was not to make money but to serve other people. In 1982 the Ozturk family purchased the restaurant from Huseyin, and now Mehmet is the sole owner. They have continued the tradition of serving the needy.
The Merkez was the first restaurant in the town, but now there are 5 in the small but bustling city center. Each one of those restaurants followed in the Merkez’s footsteps and served food to the needy. Many of the people that receive the meals are regulars who come twice a day and experience some sort of disability like a mental illness. They don’t turn away new people though. Often visitors come from other towns and are served just the same as the regulars. To avoid the negative connotation of the word “poor”, the regulars who come to the restaurant have been given a name called “alti boluk” which refers to the Kapikulu Suvarileri who, in the past, were the Sultan’s household cavalry and were banned from having families or any other sort of life outside of serving the sultan.
As mentioned above, making a profit generally takes priority for many people, but another restaurateur opened up about his thoughts on this. Hasan Gulbasan has worked in several restaurants in Karakocan and now owns Saray Lokantasi. He says that contrary to what many people think, the people who come for free meals don’t take away from his profit, he believes they bring ‘barakah,’ or blessings. Karakocan is a town full of affluent and successful people that feel it is their responsibility to give back to the community which is a refreshing change from what we often see.
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Source: Middle East Eye
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