In the cool and shady old town of Paspatur in Fethiye, with its Turkish bazaar feel of yester year, we caught up with the owner of Anatolian & Nomadic, which sell antique and modern carpets and kilims, as well as unique kilim handbags, shawls and cushion covers.

Hailing originally from Kayseri in Capadoccia, a city renowned in Turkey for its carpet experts, Mustafa Haskaraman came to Fethiye in 1986.

As a young man, Mustafa learned the trade from his father and worked in the wholesale carpet industry before striding out and setting up his own business when he was 18.

The shop, on the corner in the centre of Paspatur, has a cool feeling of tranquillity when you enter, as the stacks of carpets and kilims soak up all the outside sounds.   During the season, between April and October, Mustafa works long days, often from 9am to midnight, but is able to balance this out in the winter by opening just in the day, between 10am and 4pm."It’s satisfying that many customers come back again and again and are more like friends"

“This shop is one of the longest running in Paspatur” Mustafa tells us with pride, “I love meeting people and I see all kinds of interesting people from all over the world.  It’s satisfying that many customers come back again and again and are more like friends”

To relax, Mustafa enjoys watching football, supporting Galatasaray, and playing backgammon or okay.  He’s always happy to try out a new opponent and is a formidable backgammon player, competing in the local ‘Altin Zar’ (Golden Dice) championships each year.

“I’m interested in heritage, which is why I have many antique carpets here, so I think it’s a shame there aren’t more stone and wooden buildings in Fethiye, I’m not keen on all these concrete blocks” he says when asked what, if anything, he thinks would improve Fethiye.

Mustafa is a kind and gentle man, and if you pop in to browse his shop, or fancy your chances at backgammon, you may find his face familiar – he once appeared on an in-flight promotion film for Thomas Cook, resplendent in traditional dress!

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