Polemics Debate of Old-New Kemal Ahmet's Case Against the Accusation That He Had Turned Bourgeois Against Leftist Pretenders Against the Accusation that He was a Nationalist While these developments were taking place and university students were thus manipulated, no one could bear a poet who sided with the Republicans in Spain, who condemned Italian fascists' invasion of Ethiopia, and who maligned Namık Kemal. The attacks would not cease. The year 1936 began in the same atmosphere. Nâzım Hikmet was coming under heavy attack both in the loaded words of a number of young people who would eventually become prominent in different areas, such as Namık Gedik and Zahir Güvemli, and in verse compositions that followed the style he had himself developed. Someone who claimed to be a big landowner in a village, published a treatise of 32 pages, mesuring of 12x16 cm. This booklet that contained offhanded and tactless words of the same kind was presented as a gift to Namık Kemal's son, Ali Ekrem Bolayır. Ahmed Cevad, who was a friend of Nâzım Hikmet, compiled the writings of Orhan Selim into a 48-page booklet under the title of İt Ürür Kervan Yürür, and referred to these attacks in his explanatory writings that were located both in the beginning and at the end of the publication. He concluded his writing in the beginning of the booklet as follows: "I have selected a number of Nâzım's works, I publish these and assert that these people are slandering Nâzım." Nâzım Hikmet left the "Tan" periodical toward the end of October 1935 as Zekeriya Sertel impeded the publication of a number of his articles. From then, he was only writing for "Akşam." His poetry was published in "Yedigün," "Aydabir," and "Resimli Herşey." He gave segment of "Taranta Babu'ya Mektuplar" to these literary periodicals. Toward the end of the year, the Yeni Kitapçı Publishing House published "Portreler." This was followed by the publishing, by an unnamed house, of "Taranta Babu'ya Mektuplar." The book was probably published by Yusuf Kenan who was Sabiha Sertel's brother and the owner of the Yeni Kitapçı Publishing House. But in a period when publishing anti-fascist material might cause frowns, Nâzım Hikmet had probably deemed fit to be the only name responsible for the book. Indeed, Turkey was now a member of the Union of Nations. Atatürk was anxious about developments in the world, he was telling those around him that, "These men [Hitler and Mussolini] are going to get humanity into deepest trouble, because they do not know what war is!" The burden of responsibilities Nâzım Hikmet shouldered had increased as 1935 ended and 1936 began. One the one hand, he was trying to sustain his family by working days at the Ipek Film Studio, on the other, he was trying to give his readers accurate information on world affairs in what he could squeeze into the essays written in beautiful Turkish as Orhan Selim. Even in the serial novels he had been writing for newspapers in order to earn more money, his effort was to draw readers to more rational thought. But noteworthiest in terms of literary history was that he was working on the "Simavne Kadısı Oğlu Şeyh Bedreddin Destanı," which would constitute the climax of his works, summing up all his experience up to the time. He was worried for his inability to dedicate more time to this work, and suffered the pressure of his life's circumstances. He was thinking about Italy, Spain, and Germany. An example is Orhan Selim's article in "Akşam" on 26 July 1936. He tried to describe here the underpinnings of what was going on in Spain and what it all meant for the world. He did this discussing an article by Sadri Ertem about the hidden side of the events in Spain: "While reactionism is holding in oppression the labouring Spanish people, including children, men and women, in cities and villages, by blood and fire, one further point ought to be mentioned. "If the rabble that makes up the reactionary element in Spain would succeed, world peace, and 'democracy', its sole founding stone, will receive a most heavy wound. Spain will be occasion for war rather than peace. This is another reason why all nations with an interest in world peace are keenly following the events in Spain." Orhan Selim found most of those who aggravated him too ridiculous to bother about. But on the daily matters, such as student passes or the Administration of Waterworks he for example included an essay called "Mystic" into his writing and did not refrain from articulating the following words: "This gentleman is a MYSTIC! "This gentleman is a mystic but he pays his compliments not to dish upon dish of mysticism but to dishes of sea bass of the most excellent kind, to the kebab of the more delicate kind and to rice richly prepared. "This gentleman is a MYSTIC! "This gentleman is a mystic but even as he wishes to intoxicate his soul with mysticism, he calls upon his stomach for aid. He applies to vodka that is strong, to the raki of Altınbaş make, to beer with the richest foam, and if he has the habit, to cocaine of the purest kind. [...] "This gentleman is a MYSTIC! "This gentleman is a mystic but he wears neither the habit on his back nor holds the rough walking stick in his hand. His clothes are in fashion and his shoes are of pure patent leather. [...] "He makes passes at women in the street and pinches dancers at bars and while doing all these he cannot recall a single mystic couplet... "This gentleman is a MYSTIC! "He was tutored by the famous monarchist French scribbler proposed that Leon Blum be shredded. [...] "And he fears lest French periodicals such as 'Candide', 'Grenguvar' and the 'Nouvelle Literaire' be suppressed, and fears he regards the victory of the 'Public Front' as a disaster for the humanity since then he would not be able to make Yunus Emre wear the priest's garment made in Parisian fashion. "This gentleman is a MYSTIC! "The mysticism of this gentleman is measured, moderate, derives from interest, is pragmatic. But if you ask him, mysticism transcends all of these; it is a state of soul that cannot be explained; mysticism is present and ready everywhere; to lose it means to become brutish... "This gentleman is a MYSTIC! "And all this gentleman's talent and craft originate in this mysticism. Were he one day to show his face from under this veil, you would either see an easy hunter for fame or an adventurer..." (Akşam, 2 June 1936) This kind of an article was enough to stir up trouble. Three days later: "There they go jiving: " - He was alluding to me. But he is afraid of me so that he did not openly mention my name. " - No, not to you, he was writing about me. He is afraid of not you but me. " - No, no, none of you two! It was me. Clearly, if it had been either of you, he would not have referred to 'cocaine' or the 'trickster', but only said 'mystic'. Furthermore, he is afraid of me more than either of you. He cannot even mention my name! "You see clearly that you hit the target! [...] Your aim is not to 'satirise' one person but to gather and display the whole flock within one character. [...] "Know that for now, none of you one by one exists for me by name, character or title. There is only one 'Mr. MYSTIC' who gathers you all. I dare you, Mr. Mystic, come on!.." (Akşam, 5 June 1936) Let us read some excerpts from the article published in "Akşam" on 7 June 1936, entitled "Mr. Mystic's Cunning or 'Tactic' ": "Someone among them talked in behalf of all. My word is to Mr. Mystic who the trademark of them all. "Mr. Mystic is cunning. "He possesses tactics. "He swears. He says 'You are swearing!' He is a slanderer. He says he has been slandered. "Mr. Mystic is so cunning that when one accuses him of this craft to his face, he boasts and says, 'Prove it!' "Because Mr. Mystic is aware that in order to prove that he is a foulmouthed slanderer and a spy, one need to publish all his polemics up to now once again. [...] "But, this is not worthy of doing. It takes long, occupies much space and furthermore, it will be comical as it will be publishing what is already known. [...] "As I have mentioned, Mr. Mystic is cunning. "He possesses tactics. "Here, I, once again 'slander' this cunning Mr. Mystic. I say that: "His cunningness is as the cunningness of a trickster. "At times, he is the supporter of boundless abstract 'freedom'. Then, he is converted, he sides with 'disciplined' freedom. [...] "At times, he is the enemy of any kind of conception that ends with 'ism'. Then, he is converted, he is committed to a number of 'ism's. "He strolls down the Babıâli Avenue as if he is Count de Laroc, and he shouts, as a requirement of the tactics: " - Who dares challenge me? A mere 'Boo!' will send him scramming. No one can hold up against me. [...] We know all, no one else knows anything. [...] You want sociology? Come!.. Philosophy? The best is with us!.. Literature? Come, let us teach you!.. Medicine, engineering, of that we have!.. [...] "Let him show himself again, regardless of whether under his previous name or under a new name. We would do our best and continue to examine Mr. Mystic's cunningness and tactics..." Two days later, on 9 June 1936, an article entitled "The Balance" was published in "Akşam." The author was tolerant toward Mr. Mystic's occasional scream for help by a, "It would be better if the police department intervened." After he summarised what had been mutually said thus far, the author finalised the debate in the following terms: "If Mr. Mystic were to return to the arena whence - to use an expression dear to him - he had 'hit the road', and were to insist on swearing and making all sorts of excuses for not understanding things that do not accord with his plans, and if he were to set up a howl by claiming that 'I did not say that but this; I want you prove this not that', what would be left for us to do is, 'To get a seat in the upper balcony and watch the skills that the professor displays'." Orhan Selim wrote in "Akşam" on condition that he not intervene in politics. They had told him this clearly at the very beginning. He described his writings as exercises in the Turkish language concerned with phenomena of everyday life. But whenever he had the opportunity, he included such indirect allusions. In this respect, his writings were closely scrutinised both at the newspaper and outside. The owner of the newspaper, Necmettin Sadak, who was in Ankara as a member of the Grand National Assembly, received occasional phone calls of denunciation. But he was a distinguished journalist and a mature politician who was indifferent to such. Besides, he saw socialism as an inevitable part of reality. But as the atmosphere thickened and the phone calls increased in frequency, in one of his visits to Istanbul, he first talked to a number of people on his staff whom he trusted such as Vâlâ Nuraddin Vâ-Nû and Cemal Nadir Güler. Then, when one day Nâzım Hikmet had come to the newspaper to turn his article, Necmettin Sadak summoned the editor, Enis Tahsin Til and Nâzım Hikmet and told them about the phone calls. They examined together Orhan Selim's accused writings. There was nothing in them. In this discussion, Nâzım Hikmet also realised that Enis Tahsin Til recalled his articles better than he did himself and that he had read them with great attention and furthermore with admiration. This meant that he had also been controlled from the inside, but with affection. The problem was not Orhan Selim's writings but the fact that Nâzım Hikmet behind them. It was known that the head of the state, Atatürk, was opposed to fascism and Nazism. But those who were unable to argue against the head of the state could not stand the leftists' critique of Mussolini, Hitler and Franco. There was no room in Babıâli for not only those like Nâzım Hikmet who declared openly that they were communists, but also for those who came of humble social origins and reflected in their writings the sufferings of those origins. Kemal Ahmet's case set an example for how Babıâli left them unemployed and drove them to starvation. They wanted Orhan Selim to be rejected everywhere and to become unemployed. ^ Top | < Back