If Turan Leaves…

Təranə Sabirqızı, Translator

I have always put the names of agencies, institutions, and enterprises in quotation marks, but I never did so for Turan. Whenever I saw Turan in quotation marks in texts, I removed them. When inflecting the word Turan, I deliberately broke grammatical rules, writing suffixes with a hyphen instead of attaching them directly—just to set Turan apart. Because Turan was never just another name in quotation marks. The Turan News Agency became a space that united honest, dignified, principled, and professional people.

Sometimes I asked myself: Did the country’s best people gather at Turan, or were they forced to become the best because they worked there?

Turan became a family. Everyone saw each other as family, loved one another as family members, supported each other, and shared their sorrows and joys. The backstabbing, gossiping, flattery, and servility that dominate many institutions were absent at Turan. That’s because Mehman built the system this way. We did not love Mehman simply because he was the director—we loved him for his character, his bravery, his unwavering stance, and his embodiment of dignity.

Turan was not just a news agency. It became a place of hope for the oppressed, the helpless, and those who suffered injustice. Those who had lost faith in the fairness of courts and the just behavior of officials turned to Turan. Turan listened to them, raised their voices as high as possible, and sought solutions to their problems.

During times when injustice ran rampant, when innocent people—regardless of whether they were ordinary citizens, journalists, believers, or officials—were falsely accused and imprisoned, Turan fearlessly stood by them. It covered court proceedings, supported their families, and confronted government representatives.

Turan’s doors were always open to those who knocked in hope.

If Turan leaves, these people will lose hope—the door they relied on will close.
If Turan leaves, journalism will be thrown into disarray.
If Turan leaves, aspiring journalists will have no school of journalism to look up to.
If Turan leaves, citizens will remain unaware of what is truly happening in the country.
If Turan leaves, there will be no independent voice, no one left to speak out.

I love a quote from Che Guevara, one that I live by and that brings me peace:
"Always stand for the truth in life. Even if no one acknowledges it, you will be free from having to justify yourself to your conscience."

Today, Turan has no accounts to settle with anyone—because its conscience is clean and at peace.