For our very first Fethiye Face, Fethiye Times caught up with Haci (Hagi), the indomitable shoe shine boy..

A familiar sight to locals and tourists alike, Hagi is easy to spot pounding the streets of Fethiye in his distinctive football shirt and cheeky cries of ‘shoe shine?’

The best thing about this job is all the people I get to meet! Originally from the village of Kagizman, near Kars in the far north east of Turkey (practically on the Armenian border), Hagi began his working life early on, after just five years of schooling.

He first came to Fethiye in 1986, to help his brother with work he was doing on his house.  When this was finished, he got a job, stayed on and has been a regular summer fixture ever since.

During the season, Hagi pretty much spends every waking hour working, starting around 10 am in the morning and can often still be found out and about at 1 in the morning, seeking out shoes that need to be polished or repaired.

“On a good day, I’ll do maybe 20-25 pairs of shoes” he said, “It’s a long day, but I enjoy getting around and meeting new people as well as people I already know, that’s the best bit – the people, Turks, tourists I like them all.  I probably cover around 30 km a day!”

Unsurprisingly, Hagi’s favourite football team is Galatasaray, and when he’s not working he likes fixing things around his home.  He gives a great bit of colour to the town and was proud to tell us that he provides his shoe cleaning service for free to students.

Although once married, Hagi is now single and at the end of the season, he takes a well earned break for the winter, and heads back east to hang out with his friends and siblings back in Kagizman.