Nazım Hikmet is Commemorated with Poems and Songs!

Beşiktaş Municipality has held a commemoration ceremony for the 59th death anniversary of Nazım Hikmet.  

Beşiktaş Municipality has organised a commemoration ceremony in cooperation with Nazım Hikmet Culture and Art Foundation for the 59th anniversary of Nazım Hikmet's passing to eternity. The master poet is commemorated with poems and songs in front of the sculpture named “A Nazım Hikmet Bridge for Two Continents” located in Sanatçılar Park. As part of the program, Nazım Hikmet Culture and Art Foundation Executive Board Member artist Altan Gördüm has read poems by Nazım Hikmet, while Mazlum Çimen and Mehmet Yöntem has sung folk songs.

"We Will Bring Democracy, Freedom and Justice to Our Country”

Nazım Hikmet Culture and Art Foundation Executive Board Member artist Rutkay Aziz has given a speech starting with greetings to the Beşiktaş Mayor Rıza Akpolat: “We are going through days when our hope for the future is diminishing from time to time. Our world is quite vulgar and cruel. But against all negativity, there is the hope of a poet for the people who are the enemies of hope. I greet you once again with my firm belief that, as people of hope, we will bring peace and unity to the world; democracy, freedom and justice to our country. We bow down with love and respect before the memory of our poet."

"We Should Understand Nazım’s Struggle.”

The Mayor Rıza Akpolat, who stated that Nazım Hikmet is the most important poet that Turkey raised, has delivered the following speech during the ceremony: “We are here to memorialize Nazım Hikmet in his death anniversary. I would like to extend my sincere thanks to İsmail Ünal, one of the previous mayors of Beşiktaş, for building this park and introducing these artworks to the public. Nazım Hikmet once said, ‘Life is no joke, take it seriously.” I am of the opinion that a good life does not only consist of one’s own life. In order to understand his legacy, we should also remember the Nazım, who devoted his life to a struggle that lied beyond his lifetime, while commemorating him on the 59th anniversary of his death. That is to say, we should understand the Nazım that compared the years he spent in jail to the millions of years the Earth revolves around the Sun. For this very reason, this commemoration ceremony that Beşiktaş Municipality has organized in cooperation with Nazım Hikmet Culture and Art Foundation, aims to represent not only the poems written by this great poet, but also his effort to give meaning to his late life. In today’s fast paced and tumultuous times, it sometimes becomes a reflex to live life in its flow. That is to say, we may be estranged from giving meaning to anything and thinking beyond the day. Yet, Nazım’s legacy gives the secrets of a good life. For example, he tells to plant an olive tree, even when you are 70 years old. Not for children’s future. For disbelieving in death, even while you are afraid of it. In fact, the struggle of a citizen for the future of their country is also a reflection of the effort to acknowledge the importance of life. So it is for a mother’s struggle for her children’s education, and so it is when a youngster sings the songs of freedom. After all, everyone struggles to say ‘they lived,’ and I know we will say that we all lived together."

After the poem recitation and concerts, artists and visitors left gillyflowers to the sculpture of “A Nazım Hikmet Bridge for Two Continents”.