On January 15, 1902, Nazim Hikmet was born, the aristocratic son of a high official of the Sultan, who loved the poor and humble people more than anything and remained defiant until his last day. He was imprisoned, tried, tortured and taught with his blood and authentic work.
It is characteristic that Hikmet, one of the most important Turkish writers of the 20th century, regained the Turkish citizenship that had been taken away from him in 1951, almost half a century after his death. Many writers, such as the Nobel-winning author Orhan Pamuk, have argued that Hikmet's case is an example of the oppression of intellectuals in modern Turkey.
Hikmet was born in Thessaloniki and died in exile in Moscow in 1963, aged 61. He had become famous in the West and his works were translated into 50 languages. In his country, however, he was considered, even after his death, a controversial figure, due to his ties to the Communist Party and the then Soviet Union. He spent a total of 15 years in prison. During his stay in various prisons in Turkey, Hikmet turned the prison into a real school for his fellow prisoners with language, literature, French lessons.
The "blue-eyed giant", as he was called, was awarded the Peace Prize in 1955 for his overall work and international dimension.
The poet's vision for Greece and Turkey
The timelessness of Hikmet's spirit can be seen through his texts about the Greek-Turkish friendship he envisioned. At a time when Turkish nationalism and populism are taking on new, disturbing dimensions, the words of the poet should be taught in the schools of both countries.
Hikmet's message to the Greek people that was broadcast on the radio during the trial of Nikos Belogiannis:
"Friends and brothers of my soul. You who fell into the prisons and the islands of hell, who keep you chained in the concentration camps because you fight for the independence, the bread and the freedom of the Greek people, accept the love and my admiration. The peoples of Turkey and Greece have the same mortally hated enemies:Anglo-American imperialism and its local lackeys. The peoples of Turkey and Greece, kissing each other, with the help of the peaceful peoples of the whole world , they will in the end crush these enemies of theirs. This I believe. Your glorious struggle is one of the brightest proofs that the cause of peace, bread and liberty will win. I hold you all lovingly in my arms. NAZIM HIKMET 10/8/1951 Berlin".
Furthermore, the Warsaw Radio Station broadcast on 19/8/1952 an open letter of the poet to the Greek people for peace and solidarity:
"Greek Brothers,
There are two Turkeys and two Greeces. The real and the fake. The independent and the servile. One is the Greece of Belogiannis and the thousands of Greek patriots who are suffering in prisons. The homeland of the Greek people. This is the real Greece. It is Turkey with thousands of Turkish patriots, rotting in dungeons. The Turkey of the Turkish people. This is the real Turkey.
There is also the Turkey and Greece of Menderes and Plastira. They are the official ones, not the real ones. They are the ones who, with their few supporters, sold out both countries to American imperialism. Recently, under the American blessings, Menderes and Plastiras shook hands in Athens.
Their bloody hands, sending Turkish and Greek soldiers to Korea. Their bruised hands preparing a new war. We all understand this friendship. To strike together with the fighters of the Turkish and Greek people, who are fighting for independence, peace and freedom. To be ground in the same American meat grinder, children of the Greek and Turkish people. To compel the people of Turkey and Greece to bow their heads and worship their bosses and the bosses of their bosses.
But the people of Turkey and Greece give a completely different meaning to the Greek-Turkish friendship. For them, friendship means a common struggle for the liberation of their homeland. For national independence, for happiness, so that they can taste the bread and olives of their country side by side at the fraternal table of friendship.
My Greek friends. We must fight together, hand in hand for the national independence of our countries, for democracy against every manifestation of fascism, against the imperialists.
My fellow Greeks... liberate Greece from the clutches of the imperialists and fascists. To build an independent, free, happy Greece. In this way, the children of the people will have the right to laugh and be happy".
After all, Hikmet envisioned the joint struggle of Greeks and Turkish Cypriots against the British. In his article in Avgi, in April 1955, he specifically stated:
"There is no question about the Greekness of Cyprus. The majority of its inhabitants are Greek and they are justly fighting for the Union of Cyprus with Greece. Addressing in particular the Turkish minority of the island, the Turkish poet stressed that they must cooperate with the Greek Cypriots for the liberation of the island from British imperialism. Only when the island is freed from the British imperialists will its Turkish inhabitants be able to live truly free. And this can only be done with the unity of the Cypriot people, with the cooperation by Turkish and Greek Cypriots, in the fight against the foreign dynast. Those who try to turn the Turks against the Greeks, only serve the interests of the conqueror".
From a text by Th. Mikroutsikos in Rizospastis of May 16, 2015:
"His (Hikmet's) poetry is deeply popular not only because it touches on popular sources, popular artistic traditions, but because it renews the tradition by proposing new elements. It is not a copy and imitation of popular art but goes hand in hand with popular forces, which expresses them dynamically and not statically with standardized forms. And that is exactly why his Art is innovative and modern. He does not observe the people - as Ritsos mentions - in a stopped historical moment but in their constant movement. Hikmet's poetry simultaneously contains EVERYTHING and the OTHER. Deeply social, deeply human, indispensable and a lesson in the artist's responsibility before his time and before the world.
Maria Dimitriadis and I were invited to Istanbul in 1978 to an evening dedicated to Nazim Hikmet on the 15th anniversary of his death. In the "Taxim" theater 8 thousand spectators began to sing "If half my heart" in Greek. It was the most emotional moment of my life that I will never forget. And this moment, which for me has lasted 37 years, proves that it is impossible not to come one day that society in which the Poet will fish and the Fisherman will write poems. It's in our hands".
Below, we list all the tracks from the album "Political Songs" , the first full-length album by Thanos Mikroutsikos (Lyra in 1975) which features poems set to music by the Turkish left-wing poet Nazim Hikmet and the German non-conformist communist Wolf Biermann, in a historical "dialogue".
Maria Dimitriadis sings almost all the songs on the album. The translation of Briman's poems was done by Demosthenes Kurtovik, while the translation of Hikmet's poetry was done by Yiannis Ritsos and George Papaleonardo.
We remind you that the last message of Thanos Mikroutsikos to his friends ended with the phrase of his beloved Nazim Hikmet:"The issue is not being a prisoner. That is not surrendering".
Watch the NEWS 24/7 documentary about the great Thanos Mikroutsikos here.
From the poetry of Wolf Breimann:
-This is how it should be - this is how it will be
-Comandante Che Guevara
-Ballad for the insured
-The operator
's ballad-Comrade Julian Grimau
-I'm tired of them
From the poetry of Nazim Hikmet:
-Microcosm
-If half my heart
-The saga of Sheikh Bedreddin I
-The saga of Sheikh Bedreddin II
-It snows in the night
-The most beautiful sea
-That's it
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