Günhan UYGUR TAC'84                 

Dear TAC,

When I came to this school, I had two connections: my brother TACIHAN UYGUR'80 and AYDIN TEKAY'78. Aydın Abi has left, I couldn't even realize what happened. However, we were together with my brother. Of course, having your older brother at the school does not mean any protection or favors for you, although it was nice to be referred to as "Tacihan's brother". 

It was a very special thing for me to be able to go to my brother when I ran out of money. Then we all became one; we had good days and bad, we were proud in games, matches which broke windows, adolescence, fights, sparks of first love, 7 big years... 15% of 50 years. I think it is the most important 7 years in one's life. 

It's fortunate that my father sent us to TAC.... Thank you father, whom I miss every day. Today is 4th of March, as I am writing this piece, it is my father's birthday, which I have been celebrating without my father for 25 years. 

Hey, you out there at TAC, my younger brothers, sisters,

Recognize the value of those walls, smells, voices... Those walls have the sounds, smell, color, paint, sadness, laughter from 127 years ago.

Inside the garden walls there is birth, there is death. Inside those walls there was success, and there was failure. But don't forget, there is always someone outside to give you a supporting hug. In the smell and sound of these walls.

When you leave for the real world, the nature outside of these walls, you will find the weight, of not 24 hours of a butterfly, but of 127 years of a wise man.

Ender AYDIN TAC ‘73

I was born in 1953 in a Tarsus village. My father was an elementary school teacher and my mother was a housewife. We lived in that village as three siblings until 1963. I got into TAC in 1965. Now, I would like to ask for your consideration of my entrance into TAC in the light of being born and having studied first three years of elementary in a village, and its last two years in the city. I would like to emphasize here not a personal biography, but a family story. After moving to Tarsus and my entrance into TAC, we had another sibling. 

This is the story of a TAC-marked life of the only child of a family of four who attended private school. 

Being able to enter and study at a school like TAC at the time was clearly something which made me and my family stand out. 

In the following years, whatever happened was able to happen because of TAC. Business life. The educational advanture of my only child. The different decisions we have made for that. I think that all of these were affected by my experience at TAC. 

I preserved my traditions, while sometimes incorporating critical perspectives into it. I stayed open to changes, and some differences.

Maybe I also forced the people around me -outside of my family- to be different. I also tried to be self-sufficient in my own capacity, not expecting everything from the government. I forced people around me to do this as well. I have always loved, respected and was respected back by my younger and older brothers, sisters from TAC.

I also dedicated time to thinking about the country, which was something readily provided by TAC. I respected and appreciated the intellectual climate of TAC.

I also commend the social activities of current TAC students and the school administration. I, myself, am coming from the very same tradition. TAC is an important educational and social opportunity for our country.   

I wish success to all current and future students of TAC. 

Tamer BÜYÜKYILMAZ TAC ‘82

Being a TAC graduate is the ability to embrace universal values while looking from Çukurova. It is the ability to make one's own decisions, and learn to take the responsibility for their consequences. It is also the ability to first be an individual and still work as a team. And finally, it is being part of a huge family, independent of all social identities.