My friends often ask me if I belong to the Koç family. 'Of course,' I say, even though I know that they want to know if I am related to the Koç family, one of the wealthiest families in Turkey. If they insist, tongue in cheek, I say, 'of course, we are from the same family going back to Prophet Adam.'
Other than that, we do not have a closer connection with the wealthy, though. There was another Mustafa Koç from the wealthy Koç family, a few years of my junior. We both loved food, we loved İzmir girls (both of our wives were from Alsancak), and we both lost lacked hair. He had lots of money. I had lots more education, 27 years from primary school to the end of my PhD. We never met. We attended the 3rd İzmir Economic Congress in June 1992. That was the closest we were to each other. And that event is somehow related to the title of this blog and the page.
My brother-in-law was working with Tütünbank at that time and got me an invitation to this event, hoping that this would be a good opportunity for me to learn the realities of the Turkish economy. This was not the best time for a conference, but I was very excited to hear most of the people I was highly critical of as a know-it-all recent PhD in sociology. I went to the location to get my ID badge at the City Centre, with my wife and our three month old baby. Dressed casually, I certainly did not fit well to the scene.
When I asked for my registration package, the lady at the desk asked for my name and last name. When I gave her my name. She looked at me witha disbelief. She said, 'Mustafa Koç' registered already'. Another women, who overheard our exchange, came to my rescue. 'This is the other Mustafa Koç', she said.
My wealthy namesake passed away in 2016. His untimely death has shaken some of my FaceBook FaceBook friends who apparently knew the wealthy Mustafa Koç. I posted a recording of Villa Lobos - Bachiana nº 5 by Amel Brahim Djelloul for 'the adaş', I never met. The memory of being 'the other Mustafa Koç' stayed with me, though.
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