Regular attendees included the famous actor Vasfi Rıza Zobu, Bal Mahmut (Mahmut Baler) known for his humorous stories, Abdi İpekçi, his wife Sibel, Münir Özkul, and myself. I could say I learned how to tell jokes from Mahmut Amca... One day, İpekçi said to me: "Why don't you write for us?" We invented a genre called sports humor, and my articles started getting appreciated. "Let's also start a humor section," Abdi İpekçi suggested.

Savaş Dinçe) drew cartoons, and I wrote humorous articles. Namık Ağabey managed the sports page. I traveled for Fenerbahçe’s overseas matches and interviewed their coach, Didi. I was on the payroll, going to the bank at the beginning of each month to take my salary. During this time, I met many journalists. Although I didn't want to categorize them, I did. I divided my acquaintances into three categories:

1. Those with high egos.
2. Those with normal egos.
3. Those with low egos.

"Are there none without egos?" they asked me... I couldn't find any. Since I wasn't a journalist myself, categorizing myself wasn’t possible. However, a poem I wrote managed to describe me a little. It was my poem titled "Nothing." I didn’t care much for my teacher Muhsin Ertuğrul's words: "Don’t be humble, people will believe it." I preferred to be humble rather than arrogant. I’ve made mistakes, but let’s just call them "youthful errors." I'll write more about this next week.

Ego likes to complain about situations and harbor resentment against them. From Tolle.

TRAVELING ON THE RACK

Have you ever traveled for two days and two nights on the rack of a train car? I did. Fifty-six long years have passed, but I can’t forget it. I was doing my military service in İzmit Gölcük in 1964. The draw assigned me to the infamous İskenderun Training Center. We packed our wooden suitcases and went. There, I became an experienced soldier. Every four months, training for new recruits would end, and they’d be dispatched to their respective units. This distribution was done by steam train. From İskenderun, we’d take the train to İzmit Derince, where the distribution began. Due to the crowd of soldiers, "Navy Police," experienced soldiers from headquarters, were assigned. Every four months, I would lead the group to Istanbul. These trips were made on the train’s rack section, where we could sleep. Later, we were promoted to the compartments with officers and non-commissioned officers, but that took some time. Traveling on the train’s racks was tough. To avoid falling, we’d sometimes tie ourselves with belts. Still, those were good times because we were young. Oh, where are you, youth?

CEM YILMAZ

I really like Cem Yılmaz. To succeed in acting, you need three elements: talent, education, and hard work. Cem has all three. He’s very talented. Moreover, he’s educated, having graduated from Boğaziçi University, which is a significant achievement in itself. Though his education wasn’t in acting, he’s a humorist. He started with cartoons and then brought humor to the stage. I think he does it very well. People may not say the same about his films, but I loved him in roles like the ferryman in "Karakomik Films" and in "Hokkabaz." Only he could play them so well. People eventually develop attitudes towards talents like his and start to belittle them with remarks like "He’s over, he’s just repeating himself." Such things don’t affect artists of Cem Yılmaz’s caliber. Imagine yourself in his place for a moment. You draw cartoons, and then friends in a small venue say, "Cem, why don’t you perform these jokes for the public?" He takes the stage, and two days later, you can’t find a seat in the hall. The kid has a God-given talent. I currently watch his short TV commercials. They last five or ten seconds. He makes a tiny gesture and makes you laugh. Watch closely. Cem Yılmaz is a very talented young man. Such talents are rare, and trying to quickly dismiss them is pointless. The guy is talented, no further comment needed.

A man once praised me. He said, "Mr. Müjdat, I love your jokes. Forgive me, do you make these up out of your ass?" He said it exactly like that. Knowing he meant well, I replied, "Yes, sir..." People use various methods to praise others. My way of praising Cem Yılmaz is through writing, while my admirer used words. But you can be sure both were done with good intentions. Many other similar incidents happened to me, but I can’t write them all here. Never mind. As Sait Faik said, "Let a voice come, from wherever it may, if no voice comes, that’s bad."

LETTER FROM CELAL ÜLGEN

The 154-person list provided by the MHP in the Sinan Ateş case has taken center stage. The MHP did not expect this petition to be rejected. My name was also on this list. Since December 23, 2023, I had been hospitalized due to a stroke. After a partial recovery, I was contacted by the 25th Hour program for a get-well message and to discuss recent events.

I criticized the MHP’s position. It made no sense. I always do this. Being on that list didn’t bother me; I never hesitate to speak the truth. I’ve fought for years in the Ergenekon, Balyoz, Admirals’ Assassination, and all the conspiracy trials. The only thing that upsets me is being associated with the Gulenist members I opposed for years.

Atatürk says: "For a nation, a country to achieve salvation, safety, and success, it should never seek it from just one person."