Turkish writer and human rights activist (1923–2015)
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Yaşar Kemal (Turkish pronunciation:[ˈjaʃaɾceˈmal]; bornKemal Sadık Gökçeli;[1] 6 October 1923 – 28 February 2015) was a leading Turkish writer of Kurdish descent, who wrote in Turkish[2][3] and a human rights activist.[4][5] He received 38 awards during his lifetime and had been a candidate for theNobel Prize in Literature on the strength of his 1955 novelMemed, My Hawk.[6][7][1]
An outspoken intellectual, he often did not hesitate to speak about sensitive issues, especially those concerning the oppression of the Kurdish people.[8] He was tried in 1995 under anti-terror laws for an article he wrote forDer Spiegel highlighting theTurkish Army's destruction of Kurdish villages during theTurkish–Kurdish conflict. He was released but later received a suspended 20-month jail sentence for another article he wrote criticisingracism in Turkey, especially against the Kurds.[9][10][11][12][13]
Yaşar Kemal was born Kemal Sadık Gökçeli to Sadık and Nigâr on 6 October 1923 in Hemite (nowGökçedam),[14][15][16] a Turkmen[17]hamlet in theprovince ofOsmaniye in southern Turkey.[14] He was born into the onlyKurdish family in the village[18][19][20][14] but didn't face discrimination despite his ethnic difference.[17] Kemal had a difficult childhood, and his family had to flee fromVan province toDiyarbakır province. From there, they were deported toAdana province.[21] He lost his right eye in a knife accident while his father was slaughtering a sheep forEid al-Adha. When he was five years old he witnessed his father being stabbed to death by his adoptive son Yusuf while praying in amosque.[1] These traumatic experiences left Kemal with aspeech impediment, which lasted until he was twelve years old. At nine, Kemal began school in a neighbouring village; he continued his formal education inKadirli inOsmaniye province.[1]
Kemal was a locally noted bard even before he began school but was unappreciated by his widowed mother until he composed an elegy on the death of one of her eight brothers, all of whom were bandits.[22] He became interested in writing as a means to record his work after talking to an itinerant peddler, who was doing his accounts. His village paid his way to university inIstanbul.[22]
He worked for a while for rich farmers as a labourer in theÇukurova cotton fields, ostensibly guarding river water against poor farmers' unauthorised use for irrigation. However, he actually taught the poor farmers how to steal the water undetected, by taking it at night.[22] Later he worked as a letter-writer, then as a journalist, and finally as a novelist. The Turkish police confiscated his first two novels.[22] In 1950, Kemal was imprisoned for allegedcommunist activities.[23] He visitedAkdamar Island in 1951, where he saw the beginning of the planned demolition of the island'sHoly Cross Church. Using his contacts, he helped stop the demolition (the church was restored by the Turkish government in 2005).[24]
He then moved to Istanbul to work for theCumhuriyet newspaper, where he adopted hispen name.
In 1962, Kemal joined theWorkers Party of Turkey (TİP) and "served as one of its leaders until quitting after the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968".[25] In 1967, Kemal established the Marxist magazineAnt together withDogan Özgüden andFethi Naci.[26] The magazine published articles aboutEngels,Marx,Ho Chi Minh andChe Guevara.[27] In the aftermath of themilitary coup in 1971, the magazine was closed during the crackdown on left-wing politicians.[26] Because of the spate of political assassinations during the1976–1980 political violence in Turkey, Kemal moved to Sweden for a time. He was often arrested for his political activities.[16] In 1995, he was prosecuted for making separatist propaganda after writing an article forIndex on Censorship, because of his support forKurdish dissidents. He was sentenced to 20 months and received a suspended sentence in March 1996.[28][29] In December 2000, he was involved in negotiations over thehunger strikes against theF-Type prisons.[30]
On 14 January 2015, Kemal was hospitalised atIstanbul University's Çapa Medical Faculty, due torespiratory insufficiency. During the afternoon of 28 February 2015, he died in the intensive care unit, where he had been admitted formultiple organ dysfunction syndrome,[31] Following a religious funeral service held atTeşvikiye Mosque, attended by former Turkish presidentAbdullah Gül, political party leaders, high-ranking officials and an enormous assembly of mourners, he was buried on 2 March 2015 beside his first wife Thilda's grave inZincirlikuyu Cemetery.[15][32][33] Kemal was survived by his wife Ayşe Semiha Baban and his adoptive son, visual artistAhmet Güneştekin.[34]
In 1943 Kemal published his first bookAğıtlar ("Ballads"), a compilation of folkloric themes. This book brought to light many long-forgotten rhymes and ballads, which he had begun to collect at the age of sixteen.[1] He penned his first talePis Hikaye ("The Dirty Story") in 1944 while serving in the military inKayseri. His storiesBebek ("The Baby"),Dükkancı ("The Shopkeeper") andMemet ile Memet ("Memet and Memet") were published in 1950. Then he published a book of short storiesSarı Sıcak ("Yellow Heat") in 1952. His books initially focused on the lives, sufferings and toil of the people of theÇukurova plain. Kemal used the legends and stories ofAnatolia extensively as the basis for his works.[1]
In 1955 he received international acclaim with the publication ofMemed, My Hawk (Turkish:İnce Memed). In this book, Kemal criticised the fabric of society via a protagonist who flees to the mountains as a result of the oppression of theağas. Kemal won nineteen literary prizes over his lifetime, and was nominated for theNobel Prize in Literature in 1973 byDag Strömbäck andPer Wästberg.[36] The novel was adapted into a 1984film of the same name, starringPeter Ustinov.
His 1955 novelTeneke was adapted into a theatrical play, which ran for almost a year inGothenburg, in Sweden, the country in which he lived for about two years in the late 1970s.[37] Italian composerFabio Vacchi adapted the same novel with its original title into a three-actopera, which premiered at theTeatro alla Scala inMilan, Italy, in 2007.
In 1952, Yaşar Kemal married Thilda Serrero,[38] a member of a prominentSephardiJewish family in Istanbul. Her grandfather, Jak Mandil Pasha, was the chief physician of the Ottoman SultanAbdul Hamid II.[39] She translated seventeen of her husband's works into English.[40] In 2001 Thilda predeceased Yaşar, dying, aged 78, frompulmonary complications in an Istanbul hospital. She was buried inZincirlikuyu Cemetery.[40] Thilda was also survived by her son Raşit Göğçel and a grandchild.[40][31]
"Seven Days in the World's Largest Farm" reportage series, Journalist's Association Prize, 1955[49]
Varlik Prize forInce Memed ("Memed, My Hawk"), 1956[49]
Ilhan Iskender Award for the play adapted from his book of the same name,Teneke ("The Drumming-Out"), 1966[49]
The International Nancy Theatre Festival – First Prize forUzun Dere ("Long Brook"), 1966 -Theater adaptation from roman Iron Earth, Copper Sky.[50]
Madarli Novel Award forDemirciler Çarşısı ("Murder in the Ironsmith's Market"), 1974[49]
Choix du Syndicat des Critiques Littéraires pour le meilleur roman etranger (Eté/Automne 1977) pourTerre de Fer, Ciel de Cuivre ("Yer Demir, Gök Bakır")[42]
^abcdef"Yaşar Kemal biography". Archived from the original on 28 December 2017. Retrieved13 June 2007.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^Norman, Roger (5 June 1997)."Yasar Kemal and the last of the nomads".Turkish Daily News. Hürriyet. Archived fromthe original on 18 April 2013. Retrieved15 December 2008....for Yasar Kemal has become perhaps the best known champion of human rights in Turkey, the godfather of freedom of conscience. He is no stranger to prison and currently has a suspended prison sentence hanging over him.
^Taylor & Francis Group (2004)."KEMAL, Yashar". In Elizabeth Sleeman (ed.).International Who's Who of Authors and Writers. Routledge. p. 290.ISBN1-85743-179-0.
^Çiftlikçi, Ramazan (1997).Yaşar Kemal: yazar, eser, üslup, Turkish Historical Society,p. 415: "KANIN SESİ: Dizinin son cildi KS, İM III ve IV'ün araya girmesi üzerine 1989'da tamamlanmış, aynı yıl Güneş gazetesinde tefrika edildikten sonra 1991 de kitap biçiminde yayımlanmıştır."
