The Shoemaker of Statesmen and Stars: Nurettin Cebeci's 60 years of cobbling in the capital
Nurettin Cebeci has made high-quality leather shoes for politicians and entertainers in Ankara for more than half a century, and he's not slowing down anytime soon.
Nestled in the heart of Ankara’s bustling Cebeci district is a tiny shoe store called Bale Kundura, where 85-year-old Nurettin Cebeci (no relation to the neighborhood) has sold quality handmade leather shoes for sixty years. His customers are among the most important figures in the political sphere and the entertainment world.
When I step into the shop, Cebeci is in work clothes and busy taking measurements for a custom pair. He tells me to come back in two hours, and when I return I find him chatting outside with his neighbors, dapper as can be in a checkered grey blazer, pressed white shirt and tie.
Born in the eastern province of Artvin, after Cebeci finished his military service he apprenticed at the Tanca shoe store in Istanbul’s Beyoğlu district. The Tanca brand is now a large chain with dozens of locations throughout Turkey, but Cebeci chose to stay small-scale and high quality when he moved to Ankara to open up the shop that he runs to this day.
The shoemaker is warm and welcoming yet outspoken and prickly at the same time. On the window of his shop is a sign that reads “What is the difference between an animal and a person that dirties the ground by littering and spitting? The culture of cleanliness is a sign of civilization and of one’s human character.”
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Cebeci is well-known among Turkey’s high society, and over the years has made footwear for cabinet ministers, judges, prosecutors, military top brass, and entertainers. The most famous of his customers are former Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit and Zeki Müren, perhaps the most iconic, beloved and influential singer in Turkish history.
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The name of Cebeci’s shop is not without meaning. “I [initially] named my shop Cebeci. That’s my last name and also the name of the neighborhood, but it didn’t work in my favor. At that point someone from the state theatre department came and asked “Can ballet shoes be made in Turkey?” Cebeci ultimately decided that he wasn’t going to make footwear for ballerinas, but he was influenced by the question, and decided to name his store Bale Kundura (Ballet Shoes).
“In my hands I have lots of shoes that I’ve produced. I don’t need to work all the time. It’s not every day [that someone buys a pair] but once or twice a week,” Cebeci says. He’s been collecting his retirement pension for years and is financially secure. Nevertheless, Cebeci comes to Bale Kundura seven days of the week, where he has been visited by many members of the local press. He reads his newspaper daily and has finished more than 300 books while at the shop.
Nurettin Cebeci is among the last representatives of traditional craftsmanship in Turkey. Though the shoemaker no longer works around the clock, he can be found at any time during the week in his iconic shop in the neighborhood with which he shares a last name. Cebeci has not retired, and won’t as long as he’s alive.
“I can’t give it up. When I give it up, I’ll die,” he says of the shop and his work.