A debt of loyalty to Mehmet Akif?

Mehmet Akif Ersoy's poem "Bülbül" (The Nightingale) was written under the emotional weight created by a false news report delivered to Ankara stating that Bursa had fallen under Greek occupation. You know the poem; it is a true masterpiece in our literature. If a false news report prompted such extraordinary literature, goodness forbid what the poet would have made us hear if the news were true!

Bursa, the city that prompted Akif to recite "Bülbül," organized an evening to pay its debt of loyalty to Mehmet Akif Ersoy two days ago through the initiative of Yıldırım Municipality. We attended the panel moderated by the valuable poet and writer, the "Asian Bard" Metin Önal Mengüşoğlu, together with D. Mehmet Doğan, the author of The Poet in the Mosque and long-time president of the Writers Union. At the end of the evening, Mayor Özgen Keskin presented a copy of Safahat to all attendees of the panel.

Naturally, as a debt of gratitude, many references were made to "Bülbül." Although the reason for the poem's genesis was this false news, the subsequent context of reading and understanding "Bülbül" became quite different. "Bülbül" was later read as a deep lament against the conditions that emerged subsequently and led Akif to remain silent—and not enough, led him to live far from his homeland. Indeed, the line in this poem, "Today I am a homeless wanderer in my own land," would later be re-expressed in various ways by subsequent poets. After 1925, Akif remained silent or spoke very rarely. Perhaps he spoke through his silence. Or perhaps the weight of what he had said before made itself felt more with each passing day. Saying something new in the face of unfolding events would be superfluous. Like every excess, it could disrupt the integrity of his word and diminish its weight. Akif's fate was perhaps showing that he had completed his poetry and life for the generation of that day. Akif surrendered to a fate that sealed his life as a message to be conveyed to future generations, and he fell silent.

Who says a text that emerged in a certain period of history will not be meaningful enough for people of later times? Akif's message, interwoven with a vibrant life, pierces hearts like an arrow every time it is read, finding its addressee among today's people. The word makes its full weight and depth felt with every repetition. In Akif's poetry, the moment of realization corresponding to reality makes itself felt in all its grandeur. The word becomes reality. No, actually something beyond that: reality itself becomes the word.

Who needs to commemorate Akif? Can commemorating Akif be viewed as paying a debt of loyalty? Akif does not have the disposition to claim such a receivable. There is nothing to be given to Akif from now on by commemorating Akif. Of course, there is much that people gain by commemorating Akif. Commemorating Akif, trying to understand him, reflecting on him, and listening to him revives human beings and acquaints them with themselves—that is, it brings great benefit to humans themselves. This is very clear.

The commemoration meetings for Akif, which have intensified and spread recently, undertake very important tasks. They lead us to deep thoughts about Turkey, about our neighbors next to us, about the course of the world, about ourselves, our identity, our personality, and our fate. These thoughts never produce megalomaniacal, fascistic, or stingy emotions; on the contrary, they open doors to being more altruistic with other people, especially the oppressed and the marginalized. Akif is a mercy of God upon this nation.

As you will remember, there were those in our recent history who attempted to target this mercy. Driven by a misleadingly strong sense of power they acquired during a certain period, there were those who tried to portray Akif as someone alien to this nation and proposed replacing the National Anthem with another. At the end of his speech, Mehmet Doğan shared an anecdote where, despite much effort in a meeting attended by ten people, nobody could remember the name of the person who made that proposal.

The philosophy of living together and forming a nation together that respects the dignity of each of the different social segments living in Turkey finds its expression in the best way in Akif's discourses. One of the most suitable foundations to be taken as a basis for Turkey to rediscover whatever it has lost over the last century is Akif's thoughts. With his modest, honest, and self-sacrificing life, and his immensely compassionate and altruistic personality, Akif is not a name that anyone would feel uncomfortable with. Akif's legacy or representation is an entity that provides consolation for whatever we might regret losing as a nation.