His first foray into the outdoors came in 1989 when he took up hunting, and he continues to hunt to this day. He then began participating in outdoor sports both as an amateur and a professional in 1991.
He began skydiving at the Turkish Aeronautical Association in 1992 and quickly earned the highest-level FAI/D license. He has participated in numerous Turkish skydiving championships and has completed a total of 800 jumps.
Parachuting has been his primary sporting activity and remains so to this day. He is also a paragliding instructor and one of the first instructors in Turkey. Between 1998 and 2001, he served as the first instructor at Istanbul University and Yıldız Technical University, training the first paragliders at these institutions.
As a military skydiver and assistant instructor in the 1st Commando Brigade (Airborne Brigade) of the Turkish Armed Forces, he successfully completed approximately 150 mission jumps of all types. He is a soldier in a special operations unit who has successfully carried out reconnaissance and surveillance missions.
For his military service, he has been awarded first place in the parachuting competition, three commendations, one certificate of outstanding service, and one plaque.
He began his sporting career in 1989 with hunting and continued with trap and skeet shooting at the Ümraniye Hunting and Shooting Sports Club, but was forced to give up these sports to focus on skydiving and mountaineering. He is a licensed mountaineer with 30 climbs to his credit.
After completing his photography training in 1993, he worked for a time as a catalog photographer and sports photographer at a printing house, but eventually left that line of work. He continues to pursue this hobby, believing that “photographs are the best and most effective references.”
In 1998, he joined “Fotografevi,” a photography training center and travel agency, where he began working as a nature hike guide and went on to offer Turkey's first survival training courses.
Meanwhile, he wrote articles on aviation, hiking, camping, and survival for numerous magazines and later for online platforms.
His first book, titled “Trekking & Hiking in Nature,” was published in 2010. This book was later used as a reference in numerous theses, regional tourism guides, and online resources. A second edition has been published. He has also written another book on survival topics titled “The Book of Survival.”
He translated and adapted renowned survival expert Dave Canterbury’s book “Bushcraft 101: Wilderness Survival” and subsequently “Bushcraft: Trapping, Gathering & Cooking in the Wild” into Turkish.
In 2001, he founded Pusula Nature and Adventure Sports, and in 2003, the Haka Survival School. He served as a club advisor for Outdoor Living and Orienteering at private schools such as Evrim, Cambridge, and Terakki. His students won trophies and medals in orienteering.
After successfully completing all his training and exams, he received the “FPC (Fitness Personal Coaching)” certification from the Riccon Institute in Bern, Switzerland, and the Medical Certification Academy, as well as certifications in ‘Supplementology’ and “Sports Exercise Nutrition” from the Australia Sports Institute.
He now also provides personal coaching services to amateur and professional outdoor athletes.
At a meeting held in 2019 as part of the “How to Survive in Nature” project—the first of its kind in our country under the Erasmus School Partnerships program for strategic school partnerships—he conducted a training session and workshop on the topics of “Basic Survival in Nature” and “How to Survive in Nature”
for 12 teachers from four countries, and received a plaque for serving as the project’s first trainer.
He has been the subject of numerous interviews and several television programs on aviation, hiking, and survival.
The “Struggle for Survival in Nature” segment on the “Wilco's Caravan” show on İz TV; numerous segments on survival and camping on Uzman TV; the “Nature Walks” segment on the “Naturally” show on TRT Çocuk; appeared as a guest and featured topic on “Those Who Challenge the Summit” on Yaban TV;
and served as an expert and host for 39 episodes of the documentary series “City Escapees” on TRT Türk. A segment about him was filmed for the “Man with the Camera” program on TRT Documentary.
He has been a guest on numerous radio programs on TRT Radio 1
He also occasionally serves as a consultant on television programs covering topics within his field of expertise.
He holds degrees in Business Administration from Anadolu University's Open Education Faculty and in Sociology from Istanbul University.
He is married and has one child.
