Sultan Kosen holds the Guinness World Record for tallest living male at 251 cm (8 ft 2.82 hight in inches). It was an honor to meet with him in his home village in Eastern Turkey, where his wife greeted us with delicious tea. We had a chance to talk about life, compare hands and take photos. But let me start from the beginning.
I arrived to Sanliurfa, a very conservative and very religious historical town in eastern Turkey, feeling like a female version of Marco Polo navigating uncharted territory. I remember feeling a bit cautious but yet excited to experience traditional culture not heavily influenced by tourism.
But upon arrival at the only hostel in town (Aslan Guesthouse) I encountered a lively group of tourists chatting in a grape vine covered courtyard over beers. Feeling a sense of deep disappointment with a hint of relief from realizing I ain’t no Marco Polo, I joined them. There was a South African family, a French couple, two Japanese girls who spoke fluent Turkish, a German girl, and one Doctor Without Borders of Indian descent, who spent the last two years working with Syrian refugees in Turkey. After a brief chat and the standard “where are you from” travelers conversation over Efes beers, I disappeared into my dorm planning to spend the next day exploring every inch of this beautiful and very historical city.
Little did I know that my plans for that day would be instantly forgotten and instead I would travel to a far away village close to the Syrian border to meet Sultan Kösen, the tallest man alive.
I was having my second cup of Turkish coffee when Doctor Without Borders, Ahmed, sat in front of me, greeted me with a hurried "Good Morning" and asked if I would like to come with him and meet the tallest man alive. After a brief hesitation (after all, I was there to explore Sanliurfa and its culture), I finally came up with a suspicious “yes” and so it was settled. Two Japanese girls (a sushi chef and a ceramic pottery student) overhead our conversation and asked if they could come along. And so four of us, plus a driver, embarked on a two-hour drive east through the arid Mesopotamian landscape towards Mardin to meet Sultan Kosen in his home village.
It is important to note, that Ahmed spent two years trying to organize this meeting by involving many important people but it always fell through for one reason or another (mainly because Sultan travels more than most travel bloggers out there). And so finally his dream was coming true and I was lucky to be invited to come along. ‘The right place at the right time’ sort of thing, which happens a lot when you travel, especially if you let go of meticulous planning in favor of serendipitous moments like this one.
I saw Sultan Kösen a couple of months prior in a documentary and I remember wondering why he preferred to live in a small village even though he could live anywhere else he desired and a very sad thought went through my head that I would never visit Mesopotamia, which was a dream of mine since freshman year of college (my Art History professor made it seem like the most interesting place on earth). And I found myself right in the middle of it, without even realizing that it was indeed Mesopotamia, until Ahmed pointed it out in one of our random conversations on the way to see Kosen. Thanks Universe!
We couldn’t find The village at first, even locals who knew the area well were not exactly sure it exists and if they knew about it, they didn’t necessarily know how to get there or didn’t want to tell us.
But after about 30 minutes of going in circles, we were finally set on the right path and managed to find Sultan’s house. I frankly can not say why I was actually there... Was it basic curiosity, was it an attempt to find out answers to some of my own questions or was I there for a sense of adventure, I could not say. I did not have the desire to see the tallest man as an attraction but maybe I was curious about his personality and how it feels to be him. I really don’t know what motivated me to join the trip. I also do not know why Ahmed was so set on meeting him. And so, we were greeted by Sultan’s wife who was busy juicing pomegranates in the front yard when we arrived. We were instantly offered tea and took a seat on the carpeted floor in a large room waiting for Sultan to show up.
Sultan is very tall: 2.51 m (8 ft 2.82 in) according to official Guinness World Records measured in 2011.
What fascinated all of us is the juxtaposition between ourselves and Sultan Kosen in terms of scale. So we did eventually take palm to palm pictures: he also holds the current Guinness record for the largest hands and the second largest feet.
What struck me about Sultan was how calm and friendly he was. He poured us some more tea which was brought in by his lovely wife Merve Dibo and had a little chat with us while we all sat cross-legged in a small circle. I remember we had a bunch of questions which we wanted to ask and so we began hesitantly but soon got a lot more comfortable with each other over the span of the conversation and I remember laughing a lot! Sultan is a farmer and seeing him in his village made me understand why he wanted to live there even though he could probably pick any other place on earth to be his permanent residence. But that was home, that was a place where people knew Sultan since he was a little boy.
I am so glad I got to meet him in this setting, sharing this experience with only a small group of very nice, thoughtful people. We left with a sense of deep respect for Sultan. His life is not all roses but his inner strength and mental resilience is something to be admired and inspired by. I wrote this blog post partially for you but mostly for myself, to remind me of the feeling that we all had when we left that small village. Sultan Kösen left quite an impression on us and not just because of his height or the size of his hands but because of what a graceful human he is. Very grateful to him for having us over for tea and to Ahmed who chose to share this experience and invited me to come along.
