Hekimoğlu Türküsü

I like this one very much, too, gokuyum. And I always learn something from your posts. 

Baş edemedim: I couldn´t handle. Baş edememek: Not to be able to cope.

In reading a little about Hekimoğlu, I am struck at how much he sounds like Memed in "İnce Memed." Hekimoğlu was on the Black Sea, yes? And Memed´s story takes place in Çukurova. But the story sounds very similar. Do you think Yaşar Kemal was thinking of Hekimoğlu when he created Memed? Or maybe there were many such brigands who fought for the people and not just themselves. ... As Kemal says: Turkey´s brigands and bards -- a ripe combination for storytelling!

Yine şarkılar için teşekkürler!

It seems you know the story of Hekimoğlu. How did you learn it? There are many similarities between the stories of Hekimoğlu and İnce Memed. It is possible that Hekimoğlu´s story influenced Yaşar Kemal. You know Yaşar Kemal was really interested in folklore. And he has even a book where he collected some folk tales that he listened from villagers of his homeland. 

I am sort of ashamed to say I learned about Hekimoğlu from Wikipedia. Your translation of the lyrics made me curious, so I went searching.

I have read "İnce Memed" and liked it very much. In English criticisms, Memed is compared to Robin Hood. So, I was interested to find a real person, Hekimoğlu, who sounded like he could be a model for Memed.

Is the story of Hekimoğlu an isolated one? Or were there other brigands like him in real life? Is he considered a Turkish hero? I saw a mention of the Laz people. And he was fighting Georgian lords, yes? This history is all new to me.

The photo below is on the Wikipedia page for the Laz people. These men certainly look like they could be fighting alongside İnce Memed!

There are many laz people live in Black Sea region of Turkey. They speak Turkish. They are considered Turkish. There are also Georgions in the region. So Hekimoğlu is also a Turkish hero.

Sarıkamış Türküsü (Özhan Eren)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WOBR_o1jCs

Sarıkamış üstünde kar 
Kar altında Mehmedim yatar 
Gülüm donmuş kara dönmüş 
Gören sanmış yarini sarar 

There is snow on Sarıkamış

My Mehmed lies under snow.

My rose has frozen, turned into snow

Like he has hugged his beloved

Oy gülüm yar vay canım yar 
Kar altında Mehmedim yatar 

O my rose, o my soul

Under snow my Mehmed lies

Kimi Yemen kimi Harput 
Üzerinde ince bir çaput 
Avut yiğit gönlünü avut 
Yar sarmazsa Mevla´m sarar 

Some from Harput, some from Yemen

Only thin rags on them 

Console your brave heart, console

If beloved cant hug you, God will.

Oy gülüm yar vay canım yar 
Kar altında Mehmedim yatar 

O my rose, o my soul

Under snow my Mehmed lies

Note: Sarıkamış disaster is one of the biggest disasters in the Turkish history.

Another very sad song, gokuyum. You have sent me to Wikipedia again, this time to learn about Sarıkamış. This is the battle in 1914-15 between the Ottomans and the Russians, yes? I see Turkish losses of 60,000 to 80,000 men out of a force of 90,000. These numbers are unbelievable but I´m afraid very real. And many of these deaths are thought to have been caused by the freezing conditions, yes? Thus, this song. ... Thank you for another lesson in Turkish music and Turkish history. ... Teşekkür ederim.

P.S. -- Please explain "yar." What does it mean here? I see it means "precipice" or "cliff," but I have a feeling it also means "love" (this feeling comes from the translation of a Barış Manço song, I think). 

yar = beloved

While spellings of Yar= cliff and Yar= beloved are same in today´s Turkish..."a" in "beloved" is pronounced longer than in "cliff".

Most of them froze to death even without shooting a single bullet. Enver Pasha´s wrong war strategy caused this.

Another interesting thing about this song: Harput is today´s Elazığ, if I am understanding what I read on the Internet. So, some men came from relatively nearby. And then there is Yemen, meaning others came from across the empire to fight. It is a reminder of just how far the Ottoman Empire stretched, even in its final days. Amazing.

I dont really know if anyone came from Yemen. But you know when a Muslim country fights against an enemy from another religion, it is a jihad. And always some muslims from other countries  wants to join that war. They think it is a sacred war. You know many muslim people from other countries fought against Serbia with Bosnia because of that. So it is possible maybe some volunteers came from Yemen.

Yes, I am aware of that aspect of the war in the Balkans. And it goes on in other parts of the world today, yes? ... But I wonder if the Ottomans would have conscripted people from all over the empire. Perhaps some men from far away had to come join this fight? If you are losing so many men in single battles, you might have to draw on very distant resources. This was not long before Çanakkale, correct? I don´t know the sequence of events really, but the Turks must have known they were in a huge struggle even before these two huge losses of men.