With a successful career, can you leave everything behind and start from scratch? For many of us, this is a big risk.. While we have a habitual order, we want to continue on our way without breaking anything.. Gökhan Kutluer is one of the names that achieved this. While he was the editor of a famous magazine in Turkey, he left his life here and took a brand new journey.. Because there was a very different world in his dreams. Bergamo, where she can take the wind behind her and ride her bike to the fullest, is her first stop on the way to her dreams.. Gökhan, who always works on the spread of cycling culture and giving the necessary importance to cycling, is now happy to turn his passion into a book.. We talked about the story of settling in Italy and his passion for cycling with Gökhan Kutluer, who aims to buy a racing bike for a young person who wants to continue his career in cycling with the income of his first story book, Cloud Factory.. In the meantime, he takes beautiful photos. You can also follow the Instagram account @gokhankutluer.
You live in Italy, a country that many people dream of.. How did you decide to move?
You know those people who are always on their minds to go… They don’t think about rooting and they don’t plan for the long-term future.. They adopt the principle of leaving, not arriving, and live their lives accordingly.. In fact, they always move somewhere… Here I am one of them.. Even now, I am writing these sentences on the 19:55 train from Milan to Florence.
Leaving Turkey has been on my mind since my university years and actually I did not have such a clear decision-making process.. I didn’t want to put up with it any longer, as it became more and more difficult to live in a society whose culture, traditions and customs I didn’t feel like living in.. Moreover, I had to finish my first book Cloud Factory and I needed some time alone.. That’s why I chose Italy that inspired me the most among the countries I visited.
People who settle in Italy mostly prefer Rome or Milan, the idea of Bergamo How did it come about?
I felt that what I could do in the bicycle industry in Turkey was coming to an end.. There was nothing I could do for the bicycle, neither in the media nor in the sector.. More precisely, there were things I could do but no people with whom I could do them.. Italy, one of the countries where road cycling is most popular, seemed quite suitable for me in this sense.. I took Google Maps and marked the addresses of all famous Italian brands one by one.. Then I took a print out of that map.. Large bicycle companies were generally located in the north of Italy.. De Rosa, Colnago, Bianchi, FSA, KASK, Santini, 3T and many more brands that I can’t count in and around Bergamo meant potential job opportunities for me. I wanted to rest for a while in a small city instead of choosing a city.. Its nature, small population, abundance of cyclists and many other reasons drove me to Bergamo.. Here, 10-15 minutes after leaving the house, I find myself climbing one of the mountains known as the Pre-Alps, and this is an excellent opportunity for road bike enthusiasts like me.
How did you get your residence permit in Italy? How did the process work?
I came here on a tourist visa. I didn’t have much time as a tourist visa can stay for a maximum of 90 days.. I looked for a job almost every day.. Sending a CV, trying to find acquaintances, going in person… I tried it all.. At the end of 80 days, I made many connections and made many job interviews and moved from Italy to Montenegro.. I left 10 days early because I had enough days in my pocket to do the paperwork in case of a possible positive response.
Why Montenegro?
I swore not to return to Turkey. I would consider myself a failure if I returned.. I wanted to resist, fight some more. Before I went to Montenegro, I emailed a lot of hotels.. I said, “These are my talents, give me room and board and I’ll work for you.”. I made a choice among those who returned and I will steal two T-shirts and shorts in Montenegro for two months of that summer and then in Bergamo; I spent countless moments with my bike, which I have accumulated. Upon the positive news from Italy, I gave my father a power of attorney from the consulate in Montenegro.. So he took care of my paperwork at the Italian consulate in Istanbul.. I just have to get to work. Work permit issued in two weeks. It didn’t take long for the residence permit I applied for with him, either.
Did you have any trouble finding a job in Italy?
Italy’ Unemployment rate is slightly high. I can’t say that he had a very bright youth.. I am currently working at my third job.. It’s easy for me to find a job because my field is somewhat niche.. Since the money earned in the bicycle industry is not that big, it is not an area where young people lean too much.. When we say family education, school education, the unwritten rules of society, we lose our original colors like a photograph passing through many filters.. We forget who we are, what we can do, our childhood dreams and the motivation to chase those dreams. To get away from it all, when I was the editor of a magazine in Turkey, a few months later when I had to design a website with bare feet in a hotel, tidy up other people’s beds when I had to, sell the water for five when the money ran out, sell the water for five, and many other things, oddly enough, I was very happy.
I don’t think the human race was designed to sit at a desk. While everything we have is getting smarter, we are getting stupider at an amazing rate, losing a lot of the agility of our intelligence.. That’s why it’s getting harder and harder to leave our comfort zone every day because we’re afraid of the outside world.
Did you have any trouble getting used to Bergamo after Istanbul? Did you know Italian before?
I came to Siena in 2008 thanks to Erasmus and stayed for about seven months.. I went to Italian courses first in Istanbul and then in Siena.. So I had enough Italian to live my life without any problems.. Bergamo is quite small. I falter, but whenever I travel to big cities, I run back to Bergamo.. I think I have a little more time in this city… I don’t know where I’ll go next, but for now I know that I need to stay away from the big city fanfare.
How is your life in Bergamo? What are you doing?
I changed my contract and reduced my working hours from eight to six. I earn less, but I don’t mind because I can spend more time with myself, my writing, my friends and my cat.. I go to work by bike in the morning.. My way takes about ten minutes. On the way back, I sometimes sit alone somewhere and doodle, and then I go home.. I like cooking. Its basis is to put something from scratch; I like it because it produces. In the future, maybe I can go to courses and improve myself a little more.
What I do changes on weekends.. Sometimes I’m on the bike hill all day, sometimes I just go out to take pictures, sometimes I focus entirely on writing and sometimes I travel.. My Italian course starts at the end of this month. I signed up for a new course because I wanted to improve my language professionally.
What would you recommend to those who come to Bergamo for the first time?
Depends on how they came… If they come by bike, they should write to me.. I can give a lot of route advice. The mountains and valleys around Bergamo are perfect for cycling.. If they are coming without a bicycle, there are many places to visit in and around Bergamo.. Como, Iseo, Garda lakes, Milan, Venice, Bologna They can spend their days in towns that offer natural beauties such as cities like , Trento, Bormio. If they’re coming for a short weekend getaway, Bergamo is a city where they can provide just the peace they need.. It has nice restaurants, the historical part of the city and lots of good alternatives for aperitivo. They can also contact me about this.. I recommend it with pleasure.
You are also a name that bicycle lovers know very well.. When did your passion for cycling start?
I was a child who didn’t get off the bike until I met the disease called exam.. I needed a way out when I couldn’t find what I was looking for in my business life after university.. I was so overwhelmed by the corporate spiral. I started to see different colors of life with the city bike I bought for commuting and I didn’t want to give up.. I love to create something for the bike that has been in my life since 2012.
What does the bike mean to you?
Freedom and i would say it represents a different form of rebellion. However, at this point, freedom needs to be filled.. Freedom is something that can happen when you have the courage to defy social norms… When you choose to buy something from the uncle on the corner, not from the mall, when you like to be on the road rather than to arrive when you go on a trip, when you can say that you disagree out loud, when you learn to say no, and when you go two steps by bike, not in metal boxes. possible whenever you want. In my opinion, freedom is possible through alienation from the unwritten rules of the society in which one grows up.. How did you decide to write a book?
Thank you very much. My concern is to leave something to the world.. An idea, a photograph, a book… Our souls, who will somehow dissolve into nothingness, need to meet under one roof in order to interact with other souls.. This roof can change shape, have different meanings, but I don’t think it can lose anything from its unity.. My choice was the book.. When I was in my mid-twenties, I had a simple dream.. I wanted to put the end of my first book in Florence when I turned 30.. It’s not 30, it’s 31. It wasn’t Florence, it was Bergamo.. it doesn’t matter. The important thing was the book itself.
It is possible to find something about bicycles in all the stories in the book.. What exactly is the message you want to convey with Cloud Factory?
It is possible to save a lot of memories with the bike.. I just wanted to tell you this. I aimed to remind those who have forgotten the bike, and to offer those who do not have a bicycle in their life as a clue what they can do with it from other windows.
Although the cycling culture has just started to spread in Istanbul, there are also those who think that it is not safe.. What would you like to say about this?
I don’t find it logical to cycle in Istanbul. Human life is not valued enough, neither in Turkey nor in Istanbul.. Bicycles and many other beautiful things disappear in that city…
Do you have a dream of going on a world tour by bicycle?
No, I have such a dream. never happened. If you can dine with your loved ones in the most beautiful restaurants of the city you go to, with the clothes you feel best in, and with your loved ones; Ok. Other than that, it’s not a self. At this point, it can be said that I am a bit of a hedonist, but I like short tours by bike more.. I love being a child who looks at the world with a curious eye with a bag on his back.. Even if I don’t have a bike with me…
