Hasanlar Tobacco Festival *
We learned that the "Tobacco Festival" was held on 29 September in Hasanlar, which is the most popular town of Emet purchasing point in Balıkesir in terms of tobacco production and purchase, and that we were invited to the nearest Sındırgı to go to this purchasing point with our invited colleagues on a Sunday. we met.
Approximately 125 km from Sındırgı. I think the distance and the region is known by our Chief Experts, but our journey started towards the festival in this town, which is a closed box by other friends of the Tobacco Experts Association. Serde was an expert and had not met for a long time. For this reason, it was not clear how the journey on the tiring and winding road passed. Lots of tobacco and the situation of our profession were discussed. Our stopping on the road and having fun at Gölcük promenade gave us a rest with plenty of oxygen. Approximately 1450 m above sea level. We took action for the second stage of our journey to Hasanlar, where we will arrive after taking a rest around this lake at an altitude and taking souvenir photos in this beautiful and vibrant landscape. Throughout my professional life, I felt that my friends would witness this indescribable and sincere love of tobacco, which I witnessed many times in this tobacco town, where I saw the most pure and friendly attitudes away from hypocrisy, and I was happy for them.
This was a town that became a part of tobacco, where "intense humanity", which we see more and more in the interior of Anatolia, was felt together with an intense sincerity. According to what we are told, the inn established by a nomad named Hasan settled between Hisarcık and Emet, gained movement over time and became a village. The village, whose population grew over time, became a town in 1999. The arrival of tobacco in the town coincided with the year 1923, when the school was opened for the first time. In short, this time period has reached eighty years. Still the biggest livelihood is tobacco. It is in this town at the junction of the Mediterranean climate and the continental climate. This is followed by livestock and a small amount of forest products. But tobacco production is literally "father's profession". It was quick to me that my friends witnessed many things that I had taken for granted due to my previous duties here, and the admiration they felt when they saw the warm sincerity shown in welcoming us.
We went to the dinner given in honor of the festival together with the tobacco and expert love that surrounded us. Of course, the food and style of this place were special. Boilers were boiled and given to the public.
After the speeches of the mayor and the guests about tobacco, the tobaccos that entered the competition were exhibited. There was a competition part of the festival symbolically and of course an expert could make the "decision on the best tobacco". We examined the tobacco that we took into our hands as if we had a beauty that we longed for for a long time, as if we had only five per cent. As if not everyone wanted the expertise of their tobacco line to end. The interest and relevance that we used to see in the villages that had been dealing with tobacco business for a long time, was still experiencing the old warmth and sincerity and a devotion to a completely different tobacco was perceived.
Within this framework of love and respect, we also felt uneasiness. The answer we got when we asked made us think deeply. The reason for the weight of the young population in this town, which has a very young population according to the environment, was that tobacco connected the young people to the village. They justifiably made them think that the decrease in production that might occur in line with the latest developments in tobacco agriculture would cause them to lose their children through internal migration and they were upset. This place was like an oasis in the desert in terms of tobacco. Because other than Sındırgı, which is 125 km away, it is not possible to see a tobacco town or village in the vicinity. It is possible to express the sufficiency of tobacco in terms of quality in addition to its good workmanship, without exaggeration, you can see the unfilled tobacco equivalents here.