This morning Dr. Kemal Silay gave a fascinating lecture on Turkey's political situation and on the change in its poetry over the past several years. The overall gist was that Islamists today say they are getting back to the good old Islam, and cite tradition when they crack down on women and on gays. Dr. Silay used analysis of the kind of poetry written during the middle ages and under the Ottoman empire to point out that society in those days was far, far more lenient, diverse and welcoming than what the Islamists are pushing for now.
People in power the world over seem to be in the business of denying their countries' pasts. The leaders of Turkey, including Erdogan, whom Dr. Silay classed as a dictator, deny that Islam has ever been inclusive or diverse. The poets tell a different story.
Mihri Hatun, (1461-1506) wrote about the real beauty that women possess, not the beauty that the male poets of her time exalted.
The poet Nabi (1641-1712) calls for poetry that is not empty, but says something substantive. "Don't draw up your nets empty from the sea" he enjoined his peers.
Poetry during the Ottoman period even speaks about women with blue eyes, because the Ottoman leaders often married Russian women.
Current Islamists look back at this tradition and "have a fit" says Dr. Silay. They deny the life and zest of early Turkish poetry.
Here is a ghazal by a contemporary Turkish poet, Ataol BEHRAMOĞLU
GAZEL TO A NEW LOVE
I come to you crossing abysses
Crazy, flying I come to you
Forgetting what so often ended in grief
Oh so avidly I come to you
Full to overflowing with songs
Tongue-tied I come to you
My mind more jumbled than the bazaar
My heart all topsy-turvy I come to you
To learn everything all over again
To forget what I know, I come to you
Just like one newly come into the world
Stark naked and wailing I come to you
Saying, pluck me up again by the roots
So you’d set me flying, oh love, I come to you
People in power the world over seem to be in the business of denying their countries' pasts. The leaders of Turkey, including Erdogan, whom Dr. Silay classed as a dictator, deny that Islam has ever been inclusive or diverse. The poets tell a different story.
Mihri Hatun, (1461-1506) wrote about the real beauty that women possess, not the beauty that the male poets of her time exalted.
The poet Nabi (1641-1712) calls for poetry that is not empty, but says something substantive. "Don't draw up your nets empty from the sea" he enjoined his peers.Poetry during the Ottoman period even speaks about women with blue eyes, because the Ottoman leaders often married Russian women.
Current Islamists look back at this tradition and "have a fit" says Dr. Silay. They deny the life and zest of early Turkish poetry.
Here is a ghazal by a contemporary Turkish poet, Ataol BEHRAMOĞLU
GAZEL TO A NEW LOVE
I come to you crossing abysses
Crazy, flying I come to you
Forgetting what so often ended in grief
Oh so avidly I come to you
Full to overflowing with songs
Tongue-tied I come to you
My mind more jumbled than the bazaar
My heart all topsy-turvy I come to you
To learn everything all over again
To forget what I know, I come to you
Just like one newly come into the world
Stark naked and wailing I come to you
Saying, pluck me up again by the roots
So you’d set me flying, oh love, I come to you
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