By Heidi Trautmann

What do we know of Hakan Çakmak, what do I know of the person who has been crossing my road so many times. Whenever I went to a cultural event, be it a concert in Bellapais or the Bedesten, or be it at an opening to an art event, he was there already with his TV camera set up. We then shortly talked, as colleagues sort of, exchanged news and went our way, knowing that we did our job to inform the people of Cyprus about art and culture on the island. He knew what I did, hasn’t he come to talk to me on the occasion of my first exhibition in 2005 in Bellapais and asked me questions about our life on board of our sailing boat, and he said he would love to do it himself. He recorded all my exhibitions and launches of my books, and he came to our house in Yeşiltepe where the Thursday Art Group met for ten years.

I last spoke to him on April 15, 2017, when he came to the opening of my last exhibition at the R.Denktaş Congress and Cultural Centre in Famagusta and there we stood, two good friends in front of and behind the camera…. And I saw the shadows under his eyes and when we said goodbye and hugged I told him that he does not look too well and he answered: I work too much, I need a rest. What did I know of his private life?

His work at BRT was all around the arts for many years and for some time now he had begun his art show on BRT I on weekends which was much visited. He was the only one who had regularly established a sort of visual archive of cultural and art events

Hakan had started to do individual TV interviews with artists and he spent a day in their studios concentrating on their work, their personal philosophy and we found him a very sensitive person interested in the various roads of art, he always listened with great interest and turned the recorded material into a beautiful film. He once told me that he loves to be where the pulse of the arts is beating, he does not want to be in any other position.

Yes, he was very much alive in what he did. With his work he not only set a monument for himself but for the arts and culture in Cyprus. Thank you, Hakan, your friendly smile will always be with us.

On August 21, 2017, the ArtRooms in Kyrenia opened an exhibition in memory of Hakan Çakmak AD PERPETUAM MEMORIAM, an exhibition that came together with works of all those artists who have been working together with Hakan and who felt that they want to pay their respect. The opening speeches by Oya Silbery, Yaşar Ersoy, Ümit Inatçı and family members were very touching and reached us and Hakan’s family with great warmth. The exhibition is open until 06 September 2017 always according to the opening hours of the restaurant above, i.e. around midday until late at night.