Student action and, of course, intelligence again

To one degree or another, mass or individual protests in democratic environments inevitably take the concepts of "intelligentsia" and "intelligence" with them and bring them to the center of the agenda, and attention is pulled towards intellectuals. For 232 years after the French Revolution 1789, which ended the monarchy in Europe and paved the way for democracy, the continent owed its not only intellectual but also legal development to the intelligentsia.

Jean-Paul Sartre, who most deservedly met the requirements of the concept of "intellectual" in the world, sharply criticized the writers who were indifferent to socio-political events "for not fulfilling their responsibilities to history" in his article "Presentation" published in 1945: “Since the author does not have the opportunity to escape from his time, we want him to cling to time rather than to escape. Because his time is his opportunity, the two were created for each other...

I hold Flaubert and the Goncourts responsible for the wave of bloody punishments that followed the Commune. Because they did not write a single line to prevent it. They will say, “It was not their business.”

Was “the Calas affair” Voltaire's business? Was “the Dreyfus affair” Zola's business?”

In the Republic of Turkey, which is approaching its 100^th anniversary, it is possible to say that this demand has been met in one way or another. The 147-letter letter of support from the intelligentsia to the teacher-student protest is important in two respects, as the peaceful protest by teachers and students against the appointment of the rector to Boğaziçi University opens new fault lines in the depths of the already divided society; 1) to prevent the unjust punishment of students, who are the future of Turkey, like any other country, at a young age with "terrorist, anarchist, separatist" labels; 2) to fulfill the conditions of the "intellectual" mission imposed by history, to be held accountable. From Ataol Behramoğlu, of whom I am proud of our close friendship, to Orhan Pamuk, from Zülfü Livaneli to Elif Şafak, from Oya Baydar to Haydar Ergülen, the only phenomenon that the writers who signed this letter see as "wealth" on earth is their readers.

He is not my favorite author but the first circulation of all the books of detective novelist Ahmet Ümit is 300,000, the fee is paid by the publishing house, and the customers of the publishing house are readers.

147 writers and poets support the peaceful action of the teaching staff of Boğaziçi University "because they lay the way open for the future of the country." That is, we are talking about a new decisive stage in the history of the country, a sense of responsibility demonstrated at a new "breaking point", as we said in our previous article. And the most important aspect of the work is that the writers and poets once again took on this responsibility and signed a statement in honor of their pens and the pens of those who are coming after them. Because they know very well that the suppression of a peaceful action today will lead to the narrowing of the field of idea and thought of those writers and poets the next day. The damage will be felt first by 100,000 readers, and then by millions of citizens. That is, we are talking about a chain reaction.

The support of the teachers and students for the peaceful action by the most widely read and world-renowned writers and poets of modern Turkish literature is not a surprise for Turkey, nor is it surprising for me personally.

This is the main factor that makes Turkey strong - the right attitude of the writer, artist, painter, sculptor to society. It is this infrastructure that "pumps" a sense of freedom into society. Don't get me wrong, I don't take the high circulation of any writer’s/poet’s books as an indication that he/she is a good writer/poet, it's about free thought and the creative human support given to that thought. For example, the first circulation of Iskender Pala's books is not less than 300 thousand but everyone knows that in terms of his worldview and influence on social processes, Pala's role is not even minimal on the right-wing conservative class to which he belongs.

A few years ago, when drugs were thrown in a 19-year-old man’s pocket and he was sentenced to 9 years in prison for something very insignificant in our country, I witnessed four people protesting: Chingiz Huseynov, Rustam Ibrahimbeyov, Mammad Ismayil, Kamil Veli. All of them live abroad.

So happy shaving to you – Mr. People's Writers, Mr. People's Poets...

Mayis Alizade