High-Tension Their Specialty

hightension links to original article

(Hurriyet Newspaper, 4 November 2013)

Acrophobiacs need not apply.

For 63 years 2,000 people from Golkoy district of Ordu province
have been erecting high-tension stanchions and pulling cables
to illuminate Turkey. The late Izzet Yigit set out from Golkoy's
Aydogan village - population 2,467 - in 1950 and went to Italy to
learn this skill. When he returned he passed on his knowledge to
to youth of the village.

The fellows from Aydogan village began to work in the business
of running high-tension lines around Turkey and soon became the
experts. The profession that began in Aydogan spread to others
throughout the district and now these workers can be found on jobs
abroad, as well. Aydogan Mayor Fikri Uludag confirmed that many
Golkoy residents work on high-tension tower projects and base
station constructions around Turkey and in many foreign countries.

Mayor Uludag noted that the late Izzet Yigit taught the skill to the
town's youth and initiated the movement of these young people to
high-tension projects throughout Turkey. The Mayor added that
"thanks to Izzet Yigit, for over 60 years people in our town have
been able to earn a living from this electricity profession they have
learned. Ninety percent of our people - about 2,000 people in Golkoy -
earn their living from what they learned from Izzet Yigit. Our experts
went on to teach this profession to fellows in Trabzon, Mersin,
Kahramanmaras and Tokat."

Golkoy district is in southern Ordu.