The Sheikh of Love Melayê Cizîrî Symposium in Cizre and Barzani's participation

Compared to Mela, the lordship of a principality and of a sultanate is worth less than a feather

I would not trade the realm of the world, if a single grain of favor comes from the beloved

These words are the couplet by Mela printed on the promotional poster of the International Melayê Cizîrî Symposium organized by Şırnak University in Cizre last weekend. The symposium, with the theme "Melayê Cizîrî's Understanding of Ethics," took place as the fourth of the symposia previously organized three times for Melayê Cizîrî. In Cizîrî's verses the station of "Mela" (scholar, gnostic, bearer of knowledge of the truth) is, of course, above worldly authority. This is the best expression of a balance that has traditionally prevailed between ethics and politics in Kurdish-Islamic societies. The spiritual authority of the scholars is always above the political power of the beys/sultans. In these days, on a ground where politics is being sought to be purified of ethics and ethics of politics, where, perhaps in the phrasing of Vahdettin İnce, one of today's Kurdish sages, the sila-i rahim (the tie of kinship) between two important actions and values has been severed, can the call of another Kurdish sage, Melayê Cizîrî, re-establish that tie?

Some people regard those who have entered daily politics as having "gone astray," yet when they are in need, they do not refrain from seeking help from politicians. This is undoubtedly a very narrow conception of politics. Politics is undoubtedly a level of human existence far beyond this, a will directed at the cultivation of the earth, and it does not exclude efforts at putting the world's dislodged nail back in its place and reforming the earth. Far from excluding them, you can do all of this only through politics, and on this ground politics and ethics cannot be separated from one another.

Still, the offices that politics provides can weigh very heavily on their bearers. The power that one feels can very easily lead a person into heedlessness and error. For that reason, the struggle against the self (nafs) in politics, as a jihad, must not be separated from the struggle for the cultivation and reform of the world. Melayê Cizîrî's words, which evoke an attitude that is somewhat cynical, should perhaps be read not as anti-politics but as a discipline of politics.

At this year's Melayê Cizîrî Symposium the theme of "ethics" was brought to the fore, but the previous three symposia had been held, in order, with the themes of Love, the Science of Being (ontology) and the Science of Knowledge (epistemology). The first Symposium's having Love as its theme was owing to the powerful literature of love in Melayê Cizîrî's famous divan and to its having inspired, for centuries among the Kurds, many love stories and the literature and music of the dengbêjs. The existence of Melayê Cizîrî alone is, perhaps together with Ahmedi Xani, among the strongest proofs of Kurdish cultural identity and existence. He is a madrasa teacher and an important symbolic name in whom we can trace the roots of Islamic learning and culture among the Kurds. I would like to draw attention to the very great share of the university in this name's having been the subject of a symposium for 4 consecutive years by a university, and of the work of many valuable academics, writers and researchers from Turkey and many countries of the world: the universities opened in every province in Turkey after 2007 have such a function. A function like discovering and revealing every province's hidden values and histories with the meticulousness of an archaeologist of thought and culture. That this has an enriching role for the country's symbolic, folkloric and cultural capital is so clear even from this example. Together with the earlier symposia, hundreds of researchers have so far taken an interest in Melayê Cizîrî and, inspired by his love and his literature of love, produced many beautiful works.

At the Book Fair that the District Governorate in Cizre organized for the first time this year, timed to coincide with the symposium, there is, for example, a three-volume Melayê Cizîrî novel by Ömer Hattapoğlu (about 1400 pages in total). The title of the first volume, in which he presents Mela as "Şeyhu'l Aşk" (Sheikh of Love), is Leyla Me, the second is "Yakup ve Dilan Aşk Destanı" (The Love Epic of Yakup and Dilan), and the third is titled "Saf Aşk Benim" (I Am Pure Love). It is wonderful literature that has emerged with the inspiration of Melayê Cizîrî.

Cizre District Governor Ahmet Vezir Baycar hosts the symposium, but he especially attaches great importance to the book fair organized for the first time this year. He personally looks after the guests and makes great efforts for the activity to go productively. That the fair could be held for the first time in Cizre, with its population approaching 200 thousand, is of course thought-provoking, but this fair, which is possible now within the climate of a "Terror-Free Türkiye," is considered a step that will nourish this climate much better. We saw for ourselves the intense interest of the public and students in the fair; we met with Cizre authors (Ömer Hattapoğlu, Muaz Varol, Ramazan Temelkuran, Maral Xazal and many authors whose names I cannot list here), bought their books, chatted, and had a good conversation with readers.

What brought this year's Melayê Cizîrî Symposium more intensely onto the country's agenda is that Mesut Barzani was also invited to the symposium and accepted this invitation together with a large delegation, including ministers. I must say I had difficulty understanding the reflections of his visit in the media. Vahdettin İnce explained the meaning of this visit very well in his column. Whatever anyone says, Barzani is very much loved in the region. I saw and observed this love, this interest, in person during the symposium. The perhaps excessive security measures were aimed at preventing the interest directed at him from turning into an excessive crush. This excessive interest was indeed there and could have created serious gaps in terms of security. So there I could criticize those security measures not as excessive but only as insufficiently organized. Moreover, there was no prior call or preparation for this from him or from any organization. It was as natural an interest as could be. Indeed, you can immediately tell that he does not have the temperament to respond to this interest like a politician, put on a show, or enter into stirring interaction with crowds. Everything developed as improvised as possible.

That although he lives in a country bordering Cizre he had never been able to visit Cizre until his present age, and was able to visit for the first time the tomb of Melayê Cizîrî, whom he loves so much and describes as his "polar star," whose fault shall we count it? Should we see the divisiveness of the borders placed between us by Syces Picot and carry a longing and an ideal that we have a unity beyond these borders? Or shall we multiply these borders still further and live constantly with fears of divisiveness? The feeling Barzani represents today is one that sees Türkiye as closer to itself and is much more inclined to unite and integrate with us than to separate what we have.

At the opening panel of the symposium, the words of our valued sage historian from Siirt, Prof. Dr. İhsan Süreyya Sırma, addressed to Barzani expressed very well that this inclination is not one-sided and its real depth: "I say to myself, 'today is your festival, may it be blessed.' I saw this festival in my dream! May everyone's festival be blessed! Whether we are Turks, Kurds, or even Iranians, whatever we are, we are brothers! God has so commanded! I am so happy! May God be pleased with those who made this day possible. May God be pleased with those in Ankara and those in Barzan! When I was a child I never thought I would see such beautiful days. But God is capable of all things."