Courtesy of Ingrid Lavandier and Aida Vasquez, administrators of the "Engin Akyürek Dominican Republic" Facebook page
The first time I heard the name Engin Akyürek was from my sister Aida Vasquez who lives in New York; I live in the Dominican Republic. She told me, with great enthusiasm, that she had found on TV a Turkish series called "Fatmagül" and that she liked it so much that she decided to look for it on YouTube because she couldn’t stop watching and didn’t want to wait for the next day to watch another episode. After speaking wonders about the series, the actors and actresses, the settings, the music; she suggested that I should watch it and sent me the link.
It’s been about 20 years since the last time I watched a ‘soap opera’ and the truth is that I didn’t feel like opening the link. After that, each time we spoke over the phone, she would ask me if I was watching the series, each time I would say that I haven’t; but she kept insisting, telling me that it was different to all the other series we watched before. Four (4) months had passed and my sister, who kept watching Fatmagül over and over and talking about "Kerim", was already watching another series with the actor "Engin Akyürek'' because she couldn't stop watching his work. I thought she was having an emotional crisis and was looking for an escape, because she hasn’t seen soap operas in a long time.
One day, just to please her, I decided to watch five (5) episodes of Fatmagül and tell her that I didn’t like it. I started watching a Saturday afternoon, around 5 p.m. and didn’t stop until two (2) in the morning, although I had all the desire to continue. From there, it was Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc., until I finished it. I immediately started watching it again because I felt that I had seen it too quickly. I requested two days annual leave from work (to do some personal errands) because I couldn't stop watching. After that, the phone calls with my sister multiplied, we just couldn’t stop talking about Engin.
After What is Fatmagul’s Fault? (Fatmagul'ün Suçu Ne?) we watched If I were a Cloud (Bir Bulut Olsam), then Black, Money, Love (Kara Para Aşk), A Small September Affair (Bi Küçük Eylül Meselesi), Destiny (Kader), Foreign Boyfriend (Yabanci Damat), and Black Snake (Karayilan), all repeated multiple times. During all of this we started searching for information about Engin. The more we knew about him, the more we fell in love with the actor, writer, the gentleman, and above all with the human being. So discreet, educated, intelligent, simple, true to his values.
We became members of the ‘Engin Akyürek community’, started following pages and groups dedicated to him, including the group “Haydi Gel... Sen de BizeKatil”, that every year, to celebrate Engin’s birthday, collects donations to benefit charities in Turkey. Some friends, also Engin followers, encouraged us to create the group and the page "Engin Akyürek-Dominican Republic, and as they say, the rest is history. We are active on all social media platforms and keep the Facebook page and the group updated with the latest information about Engin and his work.
Like most of his fans, we dreamt about meeting Engin. The opportunity arose when he visited Latin America. As soon as we learned that Engin was coming to ‘our side of the world’, I decided to travel to Peru to welcome him and be present the first time he set foot on Latin American soil. I saw him at the airport when he arrived, also I had the opportunity to meet him at the premiere of his movie "Children are Entrusted to You" (Çocuklar Sana Emanet). The next day, I was lucky enough to meet him again and say hello, when he visited Huaca Pucllana, a historical place in Lima. Unfortunately, Aida was unable to go.
Our dream of meeting Engin together came in 2018. Engin had just published his first book and we wanted to support him, so we went to Turkey and attended the International Istanbul Book Fair where he was going to be signing his book Sessizlik (Silence) and we were able to meet him. Don’t ask about that day because it was surreal. We were very lucky because, during our stay in Turkey, Engin participated in a conference / discussion about his book and we were also able to attend it and see him again a second time.
Our admiration for Engin Akyürek opened our minds to other interests such as learning about Turkey's culture, its people, traditions, and curiosity for understanding the language. On our Facebook page and group, we publish information about the important trajectory of his professional career, cultural notes about the intangible cultural heritage to humanity that is Turkey, and other interesting topics that bring us closer to that beautiful country and its people. After we started the Facebook page, Engin has worked in projects such us Until Death (Ölene Kadar), Children are Entrusted to You (Çocuklar Sana Emanet), One Love Two Lives (Bir Aşkİki Hayat) and his latest series, The Ambassador’s Daughter (Sefirin Kizi), that we follow in Turkish, on Mondays.
Moral of the story: Because of Engin, we now have friends from all over the world, that aren’t only virtual friends, thankfully we had the opportunity to meet some of them in person. Above all, we believe that Engin is an exceptional human being and a great cultural ambassador for his country. In our eyes, "Engin Akyürek" projects good moral values, seems to be authentic, humble, smart, a good friend to his friends and somebody that knows what is best for him in life. We are very proud of him, his work and wish him the best.
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