Founding family · Karabağlar oymak
Muhtar and football family
The Gönen family includes Hilmi Gönen (muhtar 1954-1961, 7 years) and Mehmet Gönen (1969-1971), and contributed midfielder Necdet Gönen and defender Nazım Gönen to the Mesudiyespor 1980s team.
The Gönen family is one of the rare families to have made a balanced contribution to both the administrative and the sporting history of Mesudiye village. Producing two different muhtars (village heads) and two different Mesudiyespor players, the family maintained its presence in different dimensions of village life at the same time. Hilmi Gönen's 7 years as muhtar is one of the second-longest terms of office in the village's history.
Hilmi Gönen, who carried out the duty of muhtar without interruption for 7 years between 1954 and 1961, holds the village's second-longest continuous term — level with Mustafa Bayraktar's 7 years (1977–1984) and behind only Cengiz Özşahines's 20. By total time in office, second place goes to Kazım Say, with 10 years across three separate terms.
His term of office coincides with the years in which Turkey was going through the transition to multi-party democracy and the Demokrat Parti government was in power.
Mehmet Gönen, who carried out the duty of muhtar between 1969 and 1971, is the family's second muhtar. The election of a second muhtar from the same family after Hilmi Gönen shows the continuity of the trust the villagers felt towards the Gönen family.
Playing in midfield in the Mesudiyespor football team of the 1980s, Necdet Gönen is one of the players of village football's golden period.
In the same period as Necdet Gönen, Nazım Gönen played in the Mesudiyespor defence alongside Ali Evgin and Tevfik Şen.
Two players from the same family in the same squad, one in midfield and one in defence, gave the team a unique family solidarity. This pair, together with goalkeeper Nazif Say and captain Zeki Erdoğdu, formed the core squad of the period in which Mesudiyespor beat Karamanspor and Başakspor.
With two muhtars and two footballers, the Gönen family is one of the rare families in Mesudiye to have contributed in equal measure to both the official and the unofficial spheres of village life. This symmetry shows that the family was attached to village society not only at an administrative level but at a social and cultural level as well.
This line reaching from the office of muhtar to the football pitch reveals that the Gönen family contributed to Mesudiye's social fabric in a different way in every generation.
1954–1961: Hilmi Gönen — 7 years as muhtar (second-longest unbroken term)
1969–1971: Mehmet Gönen — the family's second muhtar
1980s: Necdet (midfield) and Nazım Gönen (defence) — the Mesudiyespor squad
As one of Mesudiye's 54 surnames, the Gönen family is one of the rare families to have been present in the fields of governance and sport at the same time. Two muhtars and two Mesudiyespor players reveal that the family took part in both the official and the unofficial dimensions of village life. Hilmi Gönen's 7 years as muhtar, together with Mustafa Bayraktar's 7 years, is the second-longest term of office after Cengiz Özşahines's 20 years.