From Istanbul To Boston : A Real Miracle

Jan. 28, 2011 - PRLog -- Year 1968. I was marketing assistant to a Turkish chemist / inventor Hilmi Gumushan in
Istanbul, who held eight international patents on a unique invention of his : Nicotinefree cigarettes. These cigarettes were made of lettuce (lactuca sativa) and treated with various
aroma to give the taste of well-established cigarette brands. Mr Gumushan was a graduate of the old university in Weimar in Germany. He had many other patents on a diversity of industrial products.
I was his marketing assistant. My job was to write to cigarette  manufacturers  and other
capital holders in many countries and send them the sample cigarettes Mr. Gumushan produced and try to find an interested party to manufacture these cigarettes.
I had secured purchase orders for the nicotinefree tobacco made of lettuce, from Japan, Africa, Finland, Netherlands and Germany.
One week-end, I decided to travel to the border city of Edirne, in Turkey, both to see it and
to cross over to Bulgaria for a few hours, to shop tax free whisky and cigarettes. I used to do this trip every three months to keep my resident status outside Turkey.
That week-end,  the driver of the truck in which I hitchhiked from Edirne to Bulgaria, suggested that he drops me off in Haskovo, a village where residents were mostly of Turkish origin, just a few km. away from the Turkish-Bulgarian border, as there was a festivity there. I accepted. I got off the truck in Haskovo, thanked the driver for his help.
I checked into the only hotel of the village which cost US $ 1 incl. breakfast and headed
for the village festivity. The bus transport to it was free of charge and so were the food and drinks in the festivity : dark bread, white cheese, yoghurt, beer. An accordeonist played lively
folk music to which fat villagers danced.  I stayed for an hour  in that folk-festivity and returned to my hotel.
In the dinner, at the hotel, there was only me and some thirty empty tables. A five piece orchestra played fine dinner music. I ordered a wiener schnitzel. The service was great and so was the food.
Suddenly a tall American appeared in front of my table and asked me if he can sit at my table. He seemed very friendly. He ordered some food and we started to chat:
"Where are you from ?" I asked. He described himself as a Harvard graduate, teaching history  at Northeastern University. And I described myself as marketing assistant to a Turkish inventor / chemist who held patents on nicotinefree cigarettes.
He seemed interested. I had in my pocket a few sample nicotinefree cigarettes which I gave to him.
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Next morning, we were on the way to Istanbul, in his newly purchased VW stationwagon,
to sign contract with the inventor of the nicotinefree cigarettes. He said he had some capital
and would bring us to Cambridge, MA , a suburb of Boston, where he lived.
After a few months, Mr. Gumushan and  I, we were in Boston. At Logan airport, the customs officer and his dog examined our nicotinefree cigarettes carefully and  let us in.
We were in Cambridge to start a new industry : Nicotinefree Cigarettes !
We established a  company : CTRC (Cambridge Tobacco Research Co),  prepared a prospectus for the project, with the help of my partner's business friends, mostly Harvard men, and started to look for $1.7 million capital to start our industry.
I suggested we start small, in a garage and produce a few cartons of cigarettes first, but my partner insisted that we start big, float the shares and make a big killing immediately.
We established a small lab in a South Boston apartment, where the inventor Mr. Gumushan and myself also lived. Soon, the news spread and our neighbors showed interest in our venture and we met many nice people living in the same building.
In my free time, I used to walk to Harvard Square, passing through the Harvard University,
then to a nice, cozy pub, the "Idler". There I met many nice people, students and profs from Harvard and other universities, au-pair girls from Scandinavia, secretaries, teachers, tourists etc.
How did the project end?
Well, in a meeting at a New York Bank, we were offered this capital to start our industry with 12.5% of the shares which the inventor Mr. Gumushan, myself, and our partner should share. We found this sum too little. We had expected more for our party. The business fell through. I passed to Canada as an immigrant, inventor Mr. Gumushan returned to Turkey.
The whole story , I have related in my book "SMALL MIRACLES" - ISBN 1598001000
(Outskirts Press)  among thirty true stories of miracles I have experienced in my life in different countries which contains several other miraculous incidents also,  from my life in Boston and Cambridge, MA.
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http://www.outskirtspress.com/smallmiracles

Askin Ozcan, is an author of six books in different genres, published in the U.S.A.

http://www.prlog.org/10753559.html

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All the books of Askin Ozcan, are available under his name, at 200 internet bookshops incl. www.amazon.com and on all amazons, www.bn.com , www,fishpond.com.au, www.infibeam.com , www.flipkart.com , www.adlibris.com, www.capris.no, www.libreriauniversitaria.it, www.alibris.com , www.loot.co.za
and through 25.000 bookstores by giving their ISBN.

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Askin Ozcan also contributes regularly to www.thesop.org, www.newsblaze.com , www.theseoultimes.com