Man quits academic career, settles in mountain village

MERSİN

With a notion on his mind “all one need is a piece of land and 1,000 liras,” Hayrettin Çağrı Ezerer decided to leave the city life and his doctoral academic career behind to settle in his hometown in the southern province of Mersin.

Ezerer, 35-year-old, returned to his hometown six years ago, built a farm and continued his life at the summit of the Taurus Mountains.

“I was going to harvest the walnuts I bought with the last money in my pocket and move to the other part of Ecuador and continue my life there, but things turned out differently than I expected,” said Ezerer, who is now a certified organic farmer under his own brand.

“I decided to build the house myself by collecting the equipment needed for construction, after the high prices of the construction companies from which I requested quote for the house,” said Ezerer, adding that the prices of the materials and equipment he bought were one-tenth of the company’s quote.

Ezerer said that he was stuck on the mountain for 16 days after he moved to the village and came face to face with death.

“In a similar storm, I felt that my body could no longer stand it and I passed out from hypothermia,” he added.

What is meant by luxury matters, according to Ezerer.

“At the top of the mountain, our biggest luxury is the sky, riding a horse, removing a thorn from a chicken’s foot. You don’t live to work there,” he said.

“The loss of my father, my brother and my mother, one after another, embodied the distinction between matter and meaning,” said Ezerer, noting that it made him question the things he couldn’t do.