Radikal Newspaper
One of the joys of visiting Turkey is reading the colorful daily newspapers, which must number well over 40 nationaly. Then there are also many local newspapers and several weeklies around the country, including ‘’Ogun’’ that started publication on Jan 1, 2007.

CNN Turk’s announcement yesterday that Orhan Pamuk would be the editor of the Sunday edition, I included Radikal among half a dozen newspapers that I picked up at the local news stand today. There was also a surprise; Radikal was giving away free books (to celebrate its 10th anniversary and I suppose to justify its high price of 50 TYL) and Elif Safak’s ‘’Med Cezir Yazilari’’ was inside the newspaper that I picked (1).

The front page of Radikal had the following headlines in large letters and an article on Nazim Hikmet wih his photograph next to the headlines with a note stating: ‘’The great poet who was longing for his country also received his share of profanity and insult.’’

This is what was written about Nazim Hikmet in 1951. ‘’Let them spit on his face as much as they want.’’

Then the story with a replica of Cumhuriyet newspaper where the above statement appeared back in 1951, and a two page article on pages 24 and 25 with additional photographs.

One wonders why a newspaper would allow bringing to the public’s attention an incident that took place 56 years ago and for what purpose? For many, Nazim Hikmet is the greatest Turkish poet who has ever lived, and to some he was a traitor. His books are in every bookstore and documentaries are shown about his life on many TV channels. How will this story help the Turkish people to ‘’like Orhan Pamuk’’, who chose to create hatred in his very first editorial assignment just like he did with his comments on the Armenian issue. In the insert with his photograph, Orhan Pamuk states that he worked as a newspaper editor at Radikal yesterday and wanted to roar like a lion. How pitiful. He made a fool of himself.

As to the free book of Elif Safak, it is a re-print of 58 articles from her original book ‘’Med-Cezir Yazilari’’ which had 68 writings (100,000 copies have been printed in Feb 2006.). The articles cover a variety of subjects, from Istanbul to ‘’Fat is Beautiful’’, written in different places, from Istanbul to Boston to New York. There is an article called ‘’To be a Turk’’ which is only 2 and a half pages long and makes reference to a statement made by a Palestanian on the rule of the Ottoman Empire ; ‘’The Middle East has not been able to clean the wreckage left by the Ottomans. There were the British before the Israelites. Before them the Turks‘’. How can anyone write about being a Turk in a 2 and a half page article?

Radikal, which publishes excellent articles by eminent columnist and translation of commentaries from foreign newspapers has not served its readers well with today’s edition.

Yuksel Oktay
- 7 January 2007
http://www.turkla.com/yazar.php?mid=965&yid=39

Look at this democracy defender!!!