Richard McKane

IN SUPPORT OF FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

I come to this Conference as a poet and long-time translator of Russian and Turkish poetry and as a human rights interpreter from both of these languages. I am an activist in English PEN writers in Prison Committee, rather than knowledgeable in politics or journalism.

It is with all these hats on that I have the honour to address this conference. Fundamental to freedom of expression is freedom to think. Oktay Rifat, the fine Turkish poet, in his 1960s poem Freedom Has Hands says, and I quote fulsomely:

It was forbidden to kiss, did you know,
forbidden to think,
forbidden to defend the work force.

They’ve picked the fruit from the tree
and they sell it in the market
for as much as they can get,
labour’s broken branches on the ground.

And in another passage he highlights the terrorism/freedom-fighting and anti-terrorism issues that are so relevant today to freedom of expression:

Light is blinding, they say,
and freedom is explosive.
Arsonists smash our lamps
and with oily rags set fire to freedom.

As soon as we reach out, they want an explosion,
and they want us to catch fire when we light the flame.
There are mine-fields,
bread and water wait in the darkness.

Imprisonment and the threat of imprisonment have been factors in Turkey for many decades. One of the greatest issues of freedom of expression, or muzzling of it, was Nazim Hikmet who was imprisoned in his homeland as a Communist and whose works were mostly banned in Turkey up until his death in exile in the Soviet Union in 1963. Here is one of his poems on the meaning of prison, again in my translation:

26th September 1945

They captured us and threw us into jail:
me inside the walls,
you outside.
Ours is small business;
but the worst thing is,
consciously or unconsciously
to carry prison inside one.
Most people are in this situation,
honourable, hard-working people,
worthy of being loved as I love you…

If I were to quote another poem you might begin to wonder whether I am leading you up a literary garden path, so I’ll leave it till later, but most of you will bear with me for you know that the Turkish people and indeed Kurdish people have an intense love for – I dare not say literature because much of it is in the oral and spoken tradition – but will say then freedom of expression, whether it is the saz poets, the Ashiks of especially Eastern Turkey, or that modern philosopher Nasrettin Hoja, or the piquant satire of Aziz Nesin, the struggle poetry of Ahmed Arif, the intensely lyrical poetry of Oktay Rifat, who absorbed much of French poetry, the barbed poetry of Can Yucel, the novels of Yashar Kemal, or the contemporary novelist, Orhan Pamuk. I note that all these authors, except the evergreen Nasrettin Hoja, and Oktay Rifat most of his life, had troubles with the authorities. The list could go on. The power of humour, caricature and erotica has also not been ignored by the State.

Torture is probably the most powerful violation of freedom of thought and hence freedom of expression. It goes on for a lifetime so it is ‘still going on’ in so many countries of the world. It is something that I have spent half a lifetime fighting with words, both interpreted and in poetry. As the poet Ariel Dorfman, an anti-torture hero of mine, has expressed frequently, torture does not result in reliable information and intelligence. Forced confessions often result in false convictions. Turkey has a terrific battle on her hands to eradicate torture, so that reforms filter down to the most far-flung police station. The cessation of torture in Turkey is implicitly entwined with a solution to the Kurdish question. The Kurdish writer Mehmed Uzun who spoke today before me once said to me something like: ‘Violent States hate to have their violence portrayed.’ His fine allegorical novel ‘Light like Love, Darkness like Death’ was temporarily banned for this reason. I would say that to rule out torture worldwide a whole new mentality has to develop and not only in military conflicts. Here is what the poet Can Yucel had to contribute in his inimitable way to this vexed question.

ARITHMETIC

One Turk is worth the whole world, is a saying of Ataturk.
Leaving aside the distant and recent past,
but considering the events lately
in Shebinkarahisar and Gaziantep:
that is, if what the papers say is true –
some Turks have been tortured,
for whatever reason,
they were hanged from the ceiling by their feet,
were subjected to electric shocks here and there, etc.
So I repeat, that is, if the news is true,
and if as a nation we take to heart this statement
that one Turk is worth the whole world:
we – I mean some of us –
by torturing some of us
have committed a crime against humanity, against many worlds –
nobody knows how many –
and against so many worlds beyond this life.

The PEN Writers in Prison Committees and the International Publishers Association monitors the situation of writers and journalists worldwide. We applaud the reform of certain articles of the Turkish Penal Code but are concerned about their implementation. As Eugene Schoulgin Chair of International PEN said on a trip to Turkey last March, on freedom of expression there is a long way to go.
Two current cases in Turkey are uppermost on our minds, those of Ragip Zarakolu and Orhan Pamuk. The situation of the outstanding essayist Fikret Bashkaya and Omer Asan the author of books on the Pontus Greeks are also under close observation.

My friend Ragip Zarakolu, with his publishing house Belge, (firebombed in the 90s) has set out to tackle and publish books on the taboo subjects: the Kurds and Kurdish issues, including the razing of villages in Turkey by the State forces; the Armenians – including the massacres early in the 20th century and memoirs of Armenians some of which are books in translation. At the time of writing he is due on 21st September 2005 to be tried for Insult and Contempt against Turkishness and the State Military Forces, for having had translated and published ‘Garaet Hacheryan’s Izmir Journal: An Armenian Doctor’s Experiences’. His acquittal and the dropping of further charges against him is to be hoped and struggled for.

Also, a court case may be brought against the outstanding novelist Orhan Pamuk for stating in an interview with the Swiss newspaper Tages Anzeiger that ‘30,000 Kurds and one million Armenians were killed in these lands and nobody but me dares talk about it’. Though figures may vary, Ohan Pamuk is reflecting a historical fact. Facts are facts but it is how one interprets and or accepts them that is paramount. I feel, despite the enormous pressures (including recent death threats) Orhan Pamuk is under, he should know that he has a huge amount of support. A mounting movement among intellectuals and public in Turkey and abroad to accept their distant past history and recent history could only be welcomed. Easy to say, but I say this from the heart, though coming from a country which may be seen to adopt the moral high ground, when we have our own troubles, including of freedom of expression, for consumerism can blanket out many things. For a most balanced assessment of the Orhan Pamuk affair, see the Independent article (Aug 31, 2005) by his translator, the novelist, Maureen Freely. A vigorous campaign of support for Orhan Pamuk is being mounted by PEN and internationally. Orhan Pamuk is the best known Turkish author ever. If the court case goes ahead (if found guilty he could face up to three years imprisonment) it would be most damaging to freedom of expression in Turkey and its perception abroad.

Those of us inside and outside Turkey who are proud of its peoples, of its potential, should ensure as best we can that new reforms should be pushed through and thoroughly implemented and be not window dressing. If Turkey joins the EU, monitoring of freedom of expression and human rights will be much easier. As it stands geopolitical and economic factors should not override human rights and freedom of expression demands, including the rights of Kurds to speak and learn their mother tongue.

The great Turkish poet Nazim Hikmet had this longing in his anthem poem, taken up by left and right:
Yashamak bir agac gibi tek ve hur,
ve bir orman gibi kardescesine,
bu hasret bizim.

To live like a tree alone and free
and like a forest in brotherliness and sisterliness:
this longing is ours.

In closing I add to Nazim Hikmet:

The axe must no longer fell at random,
the trees must be conserved,
new trees must be planted.

Richard McKane
September 2005