An interview with Turgay Suat Tarcan who is one of the biggest Michael Jackson Fans in the world
A student called Cennet Yıldız made an interview from internet with me for her English homework in 23.12.2011 Friday. In March 2015, when I was searching for another thing, I found my interview’s Microsoft Word document file. After 4 years since this interview, I’ve decided to put this study in my web site, because this interview is a proof about how big MJ Fan I am.
CENNET YILDIZ: How and when did you become a MJ Fan?
TURGAY SUAT TARCAN: When I was 6 years old in 1987, I saw a poster of Bad album cover. Güneş Newspaper gave it, I think. I asked to my father: “Who is this interesting man?”… He answered me: “He is Michael Jackson. When you were a baby, you used to cry when you see his Thriller video”… Of course, I couldn’t remember this memory. Then I saw his new video called “Bad” in TRT. I hadn’t seen a singer like him. He was both dancing and singing. His music video was perfect. This was the first time that he affected me. One year later, in 1988, “Moonwalker” movie came. I was 7 years old. My cousins were Michael Jackson fans. They had “Off The Wall”, “Thriller” and “Bad” albums. We used to listen to him in their room, we also watch Moonwalker’s betamax cassette! This movie excited me very much. I was a fan of Samantha Fox and Madonna. I thought a man could only be a fan of female stars but Michael Jackson became my idol. However, the first Michael Jackson album which I bought was “Dangerous” in 1991. Inter Star TV (Magic Box TV) televised “Black Or White” for the first time. I said to my family “I am a Michael Jackson Fan now” and bought Dangerous when it was first published. When I visited my MJ Fan cousins, I realized that they gave up listening to pop music. They started to listen just rock and metal, but they also bought “Dangerous”. Anyway, I said to them that I became a Michael Jackson fan but when I remember those days, I can say to you that I am a Michael Jackson fan since 1987. The proof is the postcard which I bought in 1988. It was about Michael Jackson’s bad tour and I still keep it. Sezen Cumhur Önal’s programme called “Music Fan” (Müzik Yelpazesi) played a big role about being a Michael Jackson Fan… He used to say “Now I present you the singer with chocolate colour and velvet voice”.
CY: Where is Michael Jackson in your life? Can you describe him as a father or a friend? Or do you see him just a singer and dancer?
TST: I don’t call him a father, because my father is very jealous about this situation. 😀 I can’t change my father’s role, of course. I already have a father. However, I don’t have a brother. I just have a sister. Michael Jackson is 1 year younger than my mother, but I always saw him as an elder brother, because he looked younger than a parent. However, he was more than a broher, an idol, a dancer and a singer to me. He was also a teacher to me. I learned English with his songs. His lyrics played a big role when I was studying English lessons for the first time. I was one of the best students in English lesson. I still use English in my jobs. He also played a big role on my visual. I am a humanist, I see all the races equal to each other. I love animals and people. I didn’t kill the child inside me, because Michael was a pattern with his life and philosophy.
CY: They call you as “The biggest MJ Fan in Turkey”… How do you feel about this situation?
TST: Yes, many people call me with this adjective. I don’t force them to call me like this. However, many people think that I am the biggest fan in Turkey. Also, many people think that I am the biggest Michael Jackson fan in the world. Some of them are foreign fans. For example, in a MJ Fan club which was recognized by Michael Jackson’s official web site MJJ Source, international fans chose me as the MJ Fan in the world in December 2006. I think I am well known in the other countries more than Turkey, because in a poll in a Turkish Michael Jackson Fan Club, they chose me the third MJ Fan in Turkey. However, I was chosen the first MJ Fan in the world. It makes me very happy and honored. People always remind people my international degree. My aim wasn’t this title, I do the things I do for the King Of Pop! Maybe that’s why I seem sincere to the other fans. Unfortunately many affectation fans became jealous about me and gossip about me. However, I don’t care, because real MJ Fans know that I am genuine…
CY: They describe Michael as “The King Of Music”… Is it true for you? Or is there more special and beautiful adjective to call him?
TST: I think he is not just King Of Pop. Elizabeth Taylor said that he was the King Of Pop, Rock, and soul. But what about Disco and R&B? VH1 chose “Blame it on the boogie” as the biggest disco hit of all time. Michael Jackson’s rivals were strong such as ABBA, Kool & The Gang, Boney M, Bee Gees, etc. However, his song was the biggest disco hit and he was living those days. So we can say that he was also the king of disco. Look at R&B male stars such as Justin Timberlake, Chris Brown, Usher, Sisqo, Bruno Mars, Neyo, etc. They all imitate Michael Jackson’s singing style and dance moves. That’s a proof that he was also the King Of R&B. I can call him “The King Of Music” comfortably. Beyond this, I always call him the modern Mozart. He was also a big composer. Listen to his song “Little Susie” or “Will You Be There”… I think they are not smaller than Mozart’s songs. His sister Janet Jackson said that he has secret classical compositions which are equal to Mozart and Beethoven’s songs. I hope we will be able to listen to these songs, one day. In the far future, he will be remembered like Mozart. However, they will forget other singers of our present. Michael Jackson was bigger that Elvis Presley, I think. By the way, I want to add that the King Of Turkish Music is Barış Manço. Barış Manço was the King Of Turkish Pop and Rock.
CY: There are gossips that Michael tried to change his skin colour. What do you say about these stories?
TST: There is a beautiful Turkish proverb about this subject: “People love to satirize the tree which gives fruits”… I hope you can translate this sentence to Turkish. 🙂 His aim wasn’t to turn into a white man. He loved his race. He didn’t deny that. If he denied it, he would change the skin colour of this childhood photos with photoshop. He had a skin illness called vitiligo. People are ignorant about this illness. How can they deny it? I usually see people who suffer from vitiligo in the streets, bus, etc. I work in the airport and I see white and black people who suffer from this illness. This illness make people’s colour into white. If the person is white, it is not a big problem but if the person is African, this is a big problem, because some parts are black and some of them are white. It looks horrible. If you are a singer and have to be in stage in front of audience, it is more difficult. They say that “Michael was a man. Why did he do make-up?”… The answer is again vitiligo… Michael used to do make-up to hide his illness’ blemishes. One of the biggest mistake of him was conceal his illness until his speech to Oprah Winfrey in 1993. However, there are lots of photos of his arms, legs, trunk and neck which are a proof of his illness. Unfortunately, the media claimed that it was the result of plastical surgery when he was living. The media explained about his illness after he died. He couldn’t see their confession. It hurts me very much.
CY: What do you think about slanders about him?
TST: I always knew that they were all lies. They were rubbish. He didn’t sleep in oxygen chamber. The biggest proof was the photos of his bed where he died. He said “I didn’t want to buy Elephant Man’s bones. If I wanted to buy them, can you tell me where can I put them in my house? If the media says that I am an alien, people will believe it. However if I tell them I am an alien, people will think I am going crazy” about this situation. I have an archive of the news about him since 90’s. If I show them to you, you will laugh very much, because some of them are really funny. The biggest lie about him was child molestation. I always thought that the reasons were about jealousy, making money from him and racism. After the trials, he prooved that he is innocent, but after that the media claimed that he gave money to the jury. It is a big lie. I watched some theory videos in YouTube. Now I understood that it is beyond than the reasons I counted to you. Now I believe the illumanati sect wrote these imitation stories. They lied about him, because he was the most successful singer in the world but Michael was against illumanati, because their idol is the Evil. Michael was humanist and wrote songs about peace, love, anti-racism. Illumanati was disturbed about him. They say that the music and movie industry belong to illumanati sect. The proofs are in the music videos and cinema movies. Many of them contain Satan objects and symbols. Michael Jackson was a big threat for them. He believed in God. Some of his brothers and bodyguards were Muslim. Islam Unity supported Michael Jackson in the child molestation trials. Maybe he was a Muslim. I am not sure that he was Muslim or Christian but I am sure that he was against Illumanati.
He had some messages in his songs and music videos about this situation. He affected millions of people in the world. Illumanati administers the media, too. They wanted to finish his career with these lies. He loved children but with innocent feelings. The children were around him all the time. That’s why the world believed these lies. The media brainwashed the world. However, his real fans didn’t leave him alone. We supported him. For example, in 2005 I sent a Turkish MJ Fan poster in front of his house Neverland by the help of my internet friend Maggie DeFaria. Anyway, he was still the biggest selling artist of all time. They wanted to create the new King Of Pops, but the crown was still belogned to Michael Jackson even Sony Music stopped the promotion of his last studio album Invincible. In 2009, he was coming back with his “This Is It” concert tour. This annoyed illumanati. They sent Doctor Conrad Murray who also killed James Brown. After the Pepsi commercial accident, Michael started to use painkiller drugs. The doctor gave him overdose cocktail. They thought people wouldn’t have a suspicion but even the children understood that he was murdered. This year, they sent the doctor to the jail but 4 years later, he will be free. It is not fair. Look at the celebrities who died younger; Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Lady Diana, Amy Winehouse, Kurt Cobain, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon, Janis Joplin, etc. I think they all are murdered by illumanati but people think that some of the reasons are drugs, car accident, committing suicide, etc.
CY: He has his own speacial style. It makes him real king. Do you agree with me?
TST: I want to answer with classical sentences. Noone moves like Michael Jackson. We all try todance like him. For example, I make dance videos since 1996 and people watch them in the internet since 2004. However, I know that I can’t dance perfect like him. There are better dancers than me, such as our friend Serkut Kılınç. He looks like Michael Jackson and he dances very well. However, famous or unfamous, the biggest dancer singer is stil Michael Jackson. He composes his own songs and I told you before that he was modern Mozart. I looked at a scientific research about decibels of famous singers. Number one was Christina Aguilera. Number two was Mariah Carey. And guess what? Number three was Michael Jackson! He was before many female divas such as Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin. That means also the highest decibel of male singers belong to Michael in this research. This means his voice was better than the other male singers. He didn’t repeat himself or anyone. He made standards of pop music. Many singers wanted to imitate his style, but they couldn’t even be near him. He was hard-working. For example, he cancelled his Thriller album. He recorded again this album. That’s why it became the biggest selling album of all time. He made the first music video with scenario and visual effects. Thriller is still the best music video of all time.
CY: What did you feel when you saw yourself in his music video?
TST: I can easily say that my biggest childhood dream came true. Of course, I was always an active fan Since 2000, they always put my messages to international fan books. Some of them were given to Michael Jackson himself, some of them were given to his family after his death. And one of them was published worldwide last year and fans all around the world can still buy the book called “Dear Michael, With Love”… Even I was one ofe the writers of a Michael Jackson book which was given with Blue Jean magazine. Billboard Magazine and NTV channel made an interview with me about Michael Jackson. Billboard Magazine also chose one of my videos as one of the best YouTube videos. I never saw Michael Jackson in my life but I met his brother Jermaine Jackson, I have 2 photos with Jermaine. I am an administrator of Turkish Michael Jackson Fan Club MjTurkLover. After his death, by the help of his fan Maggie DeFaria from United States, I represented MjTurkLover and Turkish MJ Fans with the posters which were put in his two houses Neverland and Los Angeles and his grave Forest Lawn. People all around the world were watching my personal dance videos in video share web sites such as YouTube, DailyMotion, Facebook. However, it wasn’t enough for me. When I was 15 years old, I promised to myself: “One day I will be in a real Michael Jackson video”… It seemed impossible but my mission was impossible. 😀 Even in the 80s, I was dreaming about being in a MJ video. My childhood dream became true in 2011. When I learned fans from all around the world can enter his new video “Behind The Mask”, I sent some of my videos to the director of the music video from Michael Jackson’s official web site. They made a trailer and they used my screen with Turkish flag and album cover’s poster. I couldn’t believe it. I was sure that they chose me! When the real video was shown in all the television channels worldwide, my Facebook account’s wall was working all the time, because people saw me 4 times in this video. Even they were excited, because they saw their friend; me. 😀 I represented Turkey with Turkish flag in this video and I am really honored. People still congratulate me. Two of my screens were recorded in 2011 just for this video. One of them was the Turkish flag screen, you know and they showed Turkish flag bigger than the other countries’. One of them was a play-back screen with my Smooth Criminal costume. Two of my screens were recorded in 2010 and 1996. It is really important for me, because the oldest screen of this video belongs to me and I want to remind you my promise to myself was made in 1996. And also there is a screen of my lovebird called Fıstık in “Behind The Mask” video. It was recorded in 2005. My bird lived between 1995 and 2010 with me. Fıstık died 7 months after Michael Jackson’s death. Now, they are immortal in this video. I became immortal, too. I want to live longer but when I die, this video will still be shown in music channels and maybe a DVD that contains “Behind The Mask” will be published. It is a big honour to me…
CY: You have lots of friends and I know that most of them are MJ Fans. Are they a real family with you?
TST: Yes, I have lots of Michael Jackson fan friends. Even before internet, I was sending letters to the other Michael Jackson fans and they used to reply me since 1994 and 1995. I talk about 90’s. When I bought internet in 1999 for the first time, the first web site which I visited was Michael Jackson’s official web site. I opened my personal web site TST Interactive ( www.tst.gen.tr ) in 1999 and I started to chat with Michael Jackson fans worldwide. I was thinking that the only Turkish Michael Jackson fan in 2000s was myself. In 2001, I realized that I was wrong. Owner of MjTurkFan Mirhan, called me to his Yahoo group. I saw more Turkish MJ Fans in this social group. Firstly, I was afraid, because I never met people from internet. In the newspapers, there were stories like “X person met Y person from internet but one of them murdered the other one”… However, I realized one of them was an old friend of my university classmate. He was Utku. The first MJ Fan who I met was him. After that, I trusted other MJ fans and I met hundreds of Michael Jackson fans all over Turkey. They were from İstanbul, Ankara, Muş, İzmir, Antalya, İzmit, etc. I am very busy but I used to go out with them nearly every weekend, but I still go to parties and concerts with some of them. Unfortunately some of them became jealous about my popularity. A few of them gossip about me, but I know nobody believes them. I am very comfortable with our new fan club MjTurkLover which was founded in 2009. As you mentioned, they are like a family to me. Now most of my generation aren’t very active. New generation takes part of us, but I love them. They are my brothers and sisters. They see me as an elder brother. We don’t care about the gossips about me. In concerts and parties, when MJ Fans see me for the first time, they say “Are you TST? I know you from internet. How are you? I am a Michael Jackson fan, too” to me and being known by the other fans make me happy. When I was walking in İzmir, a fan who was living in this city, saw me and asked me “Where do I know you? Are you Turgay Suat Tarcan?”… I was very surprised. I felt like a famous person. Many MJ Fans admire me and this makes me happy. And now you make me a homework subject. Thank you for this interview.
