6 key words... for Nazım Hikmet

01 August 2026 - Zeynep Oral -

1. Wholeness

For me, the oneness of his life and his art is unique. His thoughts, his beliefs, his faith, his actions, his life, his loves, his work is one.

His political ideas, his artistic and poetic creativity and his heroic and courageous life with no concessions was a whole... The poet passionate of his national identity and a patriot who loved his country and the man who devoted his life to internationalism, and who opposed historical determinism of the time, were one and all.

Nazım Hikmet was a communist. He believed in a world without oppression , without exploitation. He was longing for freedom and equality. He never lost his faith and hope for an ideal future. He was a Marxist-Leninist but, in his own words “a social human being, with flesh and blood, nerves , head and heart.”

2. Creativity

In the long tradition of Turkish poetry which he had mastered perfectly, he sought to find new ways of expressing new things. He aspired to change the content, the construction and the form of it

He introduced materialism to the Turkish poetry yet, he utilized the oral traditions which had nourished the whole Eastern poetry ... He utilized the “Divan” - the Ottoman-Turkish literature as well as the popular folk poetry , breaking down all the codes which characterized them . Using a vibrant, colorful, profound , dynamic language full of imagery and music , he created a synthesis of substance and form. His imaginative ability was in the service of truth.

The Epic of Sheik Bedrettin , one of his masterpieces, depicting the Ottoman History in a class struggle, is an example. . Here Nazım Hikmet , retells the story of a 15 th. century uprising with a dialectic perspective.

Before I go on, I must say that , he passed the most productive years of his life in Turkish prisons . 16 Years in total... Then , 12 years in exile. Neither prison, nor exile would prevent him from creating and working : He was a very hard worker. Poems, epics, novels, plays, scenarios , libretto’s, letters, articles...

I insist that the best way to know Nazım Hikmet, is through his work. He was totally transparent and clear in putting all his ideas and feelings into his work.

3. Resistance

He was resistant. He never compromised in his life or in his art. Prison, exile, or death threats could not brake his resistance. Just the opposite, it would enforce his struggle against oppression.

“Being imprisoned is not the problem

The problem is how to avoid surrender” he would say...

His resistance fired up his longing for liberty and freedom : His vision of freedom as he put it, was :

“To live free and solitary like a tree

but like a forest in brotherhood...”

And his resistance, kept alive his hopes, his vision of a better future...

4. Love

Whatever he did he did it with love. He lived and he wrote

(the 2 were 1) with love. His love for his mother tongue , his city İstanbul, his women; his love for humanity , his ideas , his struggle for the future were one and a passionate one. He was a passionate lover. . “ I’ve got to love the universe just like loving a woman.” (“Je me suis mis a aimer l’universe comme on aime une famme”. )

He could die of “love” ... yet , under every circumstance , he would advise to live as if death would never come...

All of his passions , just like his poetry , was a “ matter of life and death”

5. Courage

Nazım Hikmet was a courageous man. He never stopped from telling or writing his ideas in a country where communism was strictly forbidden....

But at the same time he never stopped from critisizing the practices of a system which he idealized. This was the case in his play “Did İvan İvanoviç Exist or Not Not”. The play after a few presentations in Moscow was banned in all over the Stalin’s Soviet Republics..

His courage was in the service of Human dignity.

6. Empathy

Nazım Hikmets’ poetry which embraces up every field and every moment of life is a momentous and complex adventure in history and geography.

From his prison cell, he reaches out to Turkey, to the whole world, to the universe. Half of his heart beats here, while the other half beats in China... his heart beats with the most distant star in the sky ...

From Great Brittain to Shankai ,to İndia, from Musé de Louvre to İtaly and to Ethiopia , uprising against imperialism, fascism, oppression and injustice , he embraces the world and his poetry forms a microcosm of the 20^th Century, the world history . La Jaconde, Taranta Babu, Benerji are my witnesses....

The poet goes between daily events and history, between individuals and society. Past and present , action and lyric formulation, mingle together to embrace his vision for the future. All the people in the “Humanscapes” are my witness.

A very private wispering to a loved one can change into a cry for humanity:

“They’ve taken us prisoner, they’ve locked us up : me inside the walls you outside.

But that’s nothing / The worst is when people –knowingly or not –carry prison inside themselves.../

Most people have been forced to do this, honest, hardworking, good people who deserve to be loved as much as I love you... “

İndeed, he himself was not only a great poet but an honest, generous, hardworking , good man, who generated love , compassion and hope.