türkçe links to original Turkish article
(Hürriyet Newspaper, 9 April 2022)
"Wherefore art thou Jane??!!"
"Manisa Tarzan", as Ahmet Bedevi was known all over Turkey, can be
considered the country's first environmentalist. But not from afar, up
close and personal. He was born near Baghdad in 1899 but sought
refuge in Gaziantep during the Turkish War of Independence because
of a blood feud in Iraq.
Bedevi fought in that war around Gaziantep and on the western front
near the Aegean Sea, winning an Independence Medal for his heroics.
After the war, he settled near Manisa and took on the job of restoring
the forests that had been burned and devastated during the fighting.
That's when he assumed the lifestyle that earned him the nickname
"Tarzan".
Bedevi built himself a shelter on the steep rocks of Spil Mountain
and lived there wearing just shorts for 40 years. When he would
come down from the mountain and walk the streets of Manisa the
populace would refer to him as "Manisa Tarzan".
The Manisa municipality gave him a job as a "gardening assistant"
at a salary of 150 liras per month and he planted trees along city
streets. Bedevi also climbed many other high mountains in
Anatolia and planted the Turkish flag at the top. He only ever
wore shorts, be in winter or summer, and never got sick. But a
heart problem did him in in 1964.
A film was made of Bedevi exploits in 1994 entitled "Manisa Tarzan"
and starring Talat Bulut. Unlike Bedevi, Bulut got sick frequently
during the filming because of his scant attire but always returned to
the set, completing the film.
Spil Dağı (Spil Mountain) near Manisa.
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