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Today's Zaman, Turkey
Dec 18 2011
A (particular) day in life
YAVUZ BAYDAR
[email protected]
Good things, when they happen, tell us more than what they appear to
do. They offer symbols, unravel meanings; they may cause joy and even
sorrow but manage to fill one with hope in the end.
Saturday was such a day. Its generosity was displayed in two majestic
ceremonies, both of which have to do with Turkey's rich and dense
culture and struggle for freedom and truth, and both events have
deeply personal dimensions.
The first one was a wedding. It put `two lives into one,' as the
priest said, in a church adjacent to the Armenian Patriarchate. The
groom was Rober KoptaÅ?, a young colleague and editor at the Agos
newspaper, which was founded by slain journalist Hrant Dink. The
bride, Delal Dink, is Hrant's beloved daughter.
I had not been in that church since January 2007, when I attended the
funeral of Hrant Dink, on what was one of the darkest days of my life.
I felt very uneasy entering the place this time, cursing my fate. Yet
the memory that seemed to overwhelm the guests with grief soon left
nothing but sweet euphoria.
In a brief moment, when Delal and Rober embraced and kissed each
other, it only told us that life simply went on. A new family was
born, and the struggle for truth, through the very existence of Agos,
simply continued. The rest was the celebration of life, as it is, with
all its ups and downs -- by food, music and dancing till the early
hours of next morning.
Meanwhile, somewhere else in the old Pera district of Ä°stanbul, a
ceremony was held to celebrate the lifetime achievement of a great
author of Turkey, YaÅ?ar Kemal. At the elegant Palais de France, a
19th-century building that once served as an embassy and is today the
French Consulate General in Ä°stanbul, a crowd of intellectuals and
friends gathered to witness the 88-year-old literary giant receiving
the `Grand Officier dans l'Ordre National de la Legion d'Honneur'
(Grand Officer of the National Order of the Legion of Honor) -- the
second highest decoration of France.
It was, certainly, to mark a life spent in dignity, devoted to writing
and in the defense of human rights. In his speech the grand
chancellor, General Jean-Louis Georgelin, underlined this point more
than once.
We, who knew this man, still in great humor and sharpness of mind
despite his age, have grown with novels such as `Memed My Hawk,' `The
Wind From the Plain,' `The Undying Grass' and many others. He never
fell short of being outspoken with regard to his Kurdish identity,
highlighting the vast diversity of cultures in Anatolia and fighting
oppression. His voice has been, as it were, the voice of the lands he
has known, the memories he inherited, the people he met and never
forgot, not a single one.
Never short of words, Kemal again took his time to express his thanks,
telling anecdotes, jokes. And he always returned to literature, to
remind us of his ceaseless calling. The one that made the late
François Mitterand one of his most devoted readers. In general, he is
loved and admired by the French.
`Stendhal,' he said, `was my master. The French novel of the 19th
century has been the fundament of every novelist. France has been the
door for literature to the world.'
But, now in his later years, he does not conceal his pessimism. `All
around me I see hell. Bloodbaths take place in many countries. Wars,
the greatest of shames of humankind, continue. So does another shame,
hunger; so does humiliation and exploitation. The art is simply
rebellion against cruelty, violence, inhumanity. I have always tried
to sing the song of hope.'
Many people in the audience argued when the speeches were done that he
truly deserved the Nobel Prize. The fact of the matter was that he was
really close in the late '70s. But, certainly, greatness in literature
cannot only be judged by prizes; time defines it. Kemal has already
won the challenge of time. He was certainly among the very few who
defined Turkish literature in the 20th century and echoed strongly in
the world.
The decoration was timely. It honored not only an artist who lives for
letters, but also a man with a hugely generous heart, a fantastic
singer of songs, a mesmerizing storyteller, a folklorist with a huge
memory and a bold mind that made many of us aware of a long-denied
identity: the Kurds. For this he had to pay his dues by serving
sentences in prison.
Dink and Kemal. Two men, two lives, the priceless value of fighting
for ideas. The plight for freedom of expression has always been a
daredevil act in Turkey. But, as the taboos melt now, its driving
force is also much more visible. The only paradox I felt, at the end
of Saturday, was the inexplicable attempt in Paris to criminalize the
denial of the tragedy of the Ottoman Armenians in 1915 as genocide --
not because it will damage academic freedom, but because it is
individuals like these two men who change history, and not the
politicians.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Dec 18 2011
A (particular) day in life
YAVUZ BAYDAR
[email protected]
Good things, when they happen, tell us more than what they appear to
do. They offer symbols, unravel meanings; they may cause joy and even
sorrow but manage to fill one with hope in the end.
Saturday was such a day. Its generosity was displayed in two majestic
ceremonies, both of which have to do with Turkey's rich and dense
culture and struggle for freedom and truth, and both events have
deeply personal dimensions.
The first one was a wedding. It put `two lives into one,' as the
priest said, in a church adjacent to the Armenian Patriarchate. The
groom was Rober KoptaÅ?, a young colleague and editor at the Agos
newspaper, which was founded by slain journalist Hrant Dink. The
bride, Delal Dink, is Hrant's beloved daughter.
I had not been in that church since January 2007, when I attended the
funeral of Hrant Dink, on what was one of the darkest days of my life.
I felt very uneasy entering the place this time, cursing my fate. Yet
the memory that seemed to overwhelm the guests with grief soon left
nothing but sweet euphoria.
In a brief moment, when Delal and Rober embraced and kissed each
other, it only told us that life simply went on. A new family was
born, and the struggle for truth, through the very existence of Agos,
simply continued. The rest was the celebration of life, as it is, with
all its ups and downs -- by food, music and dancing till the early
hours of next morning.
Meanwhile, somewhere else in the old Pera district of Ä°stanbul, a
ceremony was held to celebrate the lifetime achievement of a great
author of Turkey, YaÅ?ar Kemal. At the elegant Palais de France, a
19th-century building that once served as an embassy and is today the
French Consulate General in Ä°stanbul, a crowd of intellectuals and
friends gathered to witness the 88-year-old literary giant receiving
the `Grand Officier dans l'Ordre National de la Legion d'Honneur'
(Grand Officer of the National Order of the Legion of Honor) -- the
second highest decoration of France.
It was, certainly, to mark a life spent in dignity, devoted to writing
and in the defense of human rights. In his speech the grand
chancellor, General Jean-Louis Georgelin, underlined this point more
than once.
We, who knew this man, still in great humor and sharpness of mind
despite his age, have grown with novels such as `Memed My Hawk,' `The
Wind From the Plain,' `The Undying Grass' and many others. He never
fell short of being outspoken with regard to his Kurdish identity,
highlighting the vast diversity of cultures in Anatolia and fighting
oppression. His voice has been, as it were, the voice of the lands he
has known, the memories he inherited, the people he met and never
forgot, not a single one.
Never short of words, Kemal again took his time to express his thanks,
telling anecdotes, jokes. And he always returned to literature, to
remind us of his ceaseless calling. The one that made the late
François Mitterand one of his most devoted readers. In general, he is
loved and admired by the French.
`Stendhal,' he said, `was my master. The French novel of the 19th
century has been the fundament of every novelist. France has been the
door for literature to the world.'
But, now in his later years, he does not conceal his pessimism. `All
around me I see hell. Bloodbaths take place in many countries. Wars,
the greatest of shames of humankind, continue. So does another shame,
hunger; so does humiliation and exploitation. The art is simply
rebellion against cruelty, violence, inhumanity. I have always tried
to sing the song of hope.'
Many people in the audience argued when the speeches were done that he
truly deserved the Nobel Prize. The fact of the matter was that he was
really close in the late '70s. But, certainly, greatness in literature
cannot only be judged by prizes; time defines it. Kemal has already
won the challenge of time. He was certainly among the very few who
defined Turkish literature in the 20th century and echoed strongly in
the world.
The decoration was timely. It honored not only an artist who lives for
letters, but also a man with a hugely generous heart, a fantastic
singer of songs, a mesmerizing storyteller, a folklorist with a huge
memory and a bold mind that made many of us aware of a long-denied
identity: the Kurds. For this he had to pay his dues by serving
sentences in prison.
Dink and Kemal. Two men, two lives, the priceless value of fighting
for ideas. The plight for freedom of expression has always been a
daredevil act in Turkey. But, as the taboos melt now, its driving
force is also much more visible. The only paradox I felt, at the end
of Saturday, was the inexplicable attempt in Paris to criminalize the
denial of the tragedy of the Ottoman Armenians in 1915 as genocide --
not because it will damage academic freedom, but because it is
individuals like these two men who change history, and not the
politicians.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress