Nazım Hikmet: still a traitor
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Ocak 08, 2009 00:00
For our story yesterday on the decision to restore the citizenship of poet Nazım Hikmet, we reached Refik Erduran, who smuggled Hikmet to Romania in 1951.
Erduran praised the government’s decision to posthumously restore the poet’s honor. But, he lamented, "at the same time, it makes one think why he was expatriated and why this has been corrected so late." We share Erduran’s salute. Hikmet’s crime, of course, was his attempt to freely express his views. Sadly, the reasoning and the accusations against Hikmet throughout his trials all resonate into our day. Freedom of expression has yet to reach full flower in Turkey. And so, we also share Erduran’s lament.
In Hikmet’s memory, we sought among his work to find a poem that might also resonate in our day. The language of "Traitor" may have grown a bit archaic, but the pain and anger of this poem evoke much that is contemporary in today’s discourse. Our tribute to Hikmet is below:
- Traitor -
"Nazım Hikmet is still continuing to be a traitor,
We are a half-colony of American imperialism," said Hikmet.
"Nazım Hikmet is still continuing to be a traitor."
This came out in one of the Ankara newspapers,
Over three columns, in a pitch-black screaming streamer.
In an Ankara newspaper, beside a photograph of Admiral Williamson, smiling in 66 square centimeters, his mouth in his ears, the American admiral.
America gave 120 million lira to our budget, 120 million lira.
"We are a half-colony of American imperialism, said Hikmet.
Nazım Hikmet is still continuing to be a traitor."
Yes, I am a traitor, if you are a patriot, if you are a defender of our homeland,
I am a traitor to my homeland, I am a traitor to my country.
If patriotism is your farms,
if patriotism is the valuables in your safes and your bank accounts,
if patriotism is dying from hunger by the side of the road,
if patriotism is trembling in the cold like a cur and shivering from malaria in the summer,
if sucking our scarlet blood in your factories is patriotism,
if patriotism is the claws of your village lords,
if patriotism is the catechism, if homeland is the police baton,
if your allocations and your salaries are patriotism,
if patriotism is American bases, American bombs, and American missiles,
patriotism is not escaping from our stinking black-minded ignorance,
then I am a traitor.
Write it over three columns, in a pitch-black screaming streamer,
Nazım Hikmet is continuing to be a traitor, STILL!
Nazım Hikmet (July 28, 1962)
In Hikmet’s memory, we sought among his work to find a poem that might also resonate in our day. The language of "Traitor" may have grown a bit archaic, but the pain and anger of this poem evoke much that is contemporary in today’s discourse. Our tribute to Hikmet is below:
- Traitor -
"Nazım Hikmet is still continuing to be a traitor,
We are a half-colony of American imperialism," said Hikmet.
"Nazım Hikmet is still continuing to be a traitor."
This came out in one of the Ankara newspapers,
Over three columns, in a pitch-black screaming streamer.
In an Ankara newspaper, beside a photograph of Admiral Williamson, smiling in 66 square centimeters, his mouth in his ears, the American admiral.
America gave 120 million lira to our budget, 120 million lira.
"We are a half-colony of American imperialism, said Hikmet.
Nazım Hikmet is still continuing to be a traitor."
Yes, I am a traitor, if you are a patriot, if you are a defender of our homeland,
I am a traitor to my homeland, I am a traitor to my country.
If patriotism is your farms,
if patriotism is the valuables in your safes and your bank accounts,
if patriotism is dying from hunger by the side of the road,
if patriotism is trembling in the cold like a cur and shivering from malaria in the summer,
if sucking our scarlet blood in your factories is patriotism,
if patriotism is the claws of your village lords,
if patriotism is the catechism, if homeland is the police baton,
if your allocations and your salaries are patriotism,
if patriotism is American bases, American bombs, and American missiles,
patriotism is not escaping from our stinking black-minded ignorance,
then I am a traitor.
Write it over three columns, in a pitch-black screaming streamer,
Nazım Hikmet is continuing to be a traitor, STILL!
Nazım Hikmet (July 28, 1962)