On Monday, the Justice Organization (American-Syrian) awarded an honorary "Nizar Qabbani Medal" to a Turkish author for the first time.

The organization considered that the Turkish writer Bern Bercigli Mutt deservedly deserved the award for her contribution to the promotion of Syrian culture and literature, and her just view of the cause of the Syrian people.

The founder of the organization, Haitham Al-Bazm, explained - in his speech during the award ceremony held at the Cultural Center of Taksim Mosque in Istanbul - that humanitarian aid is everyone's responsibility and duty.

He added that the organization is honoring Bersigli Mutt today with the "Nizar Qabbani Medal" for its project in transferring Syrian creative and intellectual production into Turkish and other languages.

He pointed out that the award is not only in the name of Ms. Mott, but is also for Turkey, pointing out that the award is of great importance to the organization;

It is a symbol of support and care for the Syrian people.

In turn, Maysa Qabbani, deputy head of the organization, said that the Assad regime distorted the civilized and cultural history of Syria for many years, and tried to sow hatred among the Syrian people.

She indicated that they decided to award the award in the cultural center of Taksim Mosque, because mosques in Syrian culture are not places of violence and hatred, but rather places where people gather to promote the spirit of love and brotherhood.

Qabbani appreciated Turkey's role in hosting the Syrians, thanking its people for their support in every sense of the word for their Syrian brothers.

For her part, the Turkish writer - who gave the award to the children of Syria - explained that she met the poems of the poet Nizar Qabbani during her secondary school years, noting that she did not like him only for his poetry, but also for his honorable stances against injustice and oppression.

She added that she learned about the suffering of the Syrian people through Qabbani's poems, and that this is what suits a poet to be a voice for his people.

She stated that her goal was to help the Turkish people get to know the honorable people like Nizar Qabbani, whose only weapon was the pen.

Awards Ceremony held at the Cultural Center of Taksim Mosque in Istanbul (Anatolia)

Literature and translation

Speaking to Al Jazeera Net, Bersigli Mutt said that the Turkish and Arab literatures are related to an ancient and intertwined relationship, and the interaction began to flourish through religion with the conversion of the Turks to Islam, and the topic of "the love of the Prophet" represented a common theme between Arab and Turkish literary poems.

She added, "Ottoman poets were writing Arabic poetry, such as Sheikh al-Islam Abu al-Saud Effendi (died 982 AH / 1574 AD) who wrote Arabic poetry."

And she continued, "It is difficult to separate Arabic and Turkish literature from each other, and also from Arab poets, such as Jamil Sidqi al-Zahawi (1863-1936) and Maarif al-Rusafi (1875-1945), who mention the Turks in their poems... We, the Turks and the Arabs, have always been together in love. Talk about each other."

When asked about the translation movement between the two literatures, she said, "There are important activities in the field of translation currently, but of course it is not enough. I personally think that sometimes very wrong choices are made. Sometimes wrong choices are chosen deliberately, that is, for ideological reasons, and sometimes unfortunately. due to ignorance and lack of knowledge.

"Translations from Turkish literature into Arabic literature revolve around only a few names. However, we have much better writers and poets who need to translate into Arabic. Together we need a lot to know each other's true authors. Likewise, there are poor choices in translated works of literature." Arabic into Turkish..Unfortunately, some Arab authors write literature of low quality, whose works have been translated into our language..while important Arabic literary works have been left without translation.

Syrian literature in Turkish

About her interest in modern Syrian literature, Bersaigli-Mutt said, "Frankly, I didn't have much knowledge of it in the past. My field of work was Palestinian literature. In 2016, we produced a 5-part documentary film on Palestinian literature, and then I continued to work. I wrote two books on Palestinian literature. Palestinian literature, under the title: The Palestinians from the Great Revolution that preceded the Nakba 1936-1939 and the post-Nakba period. I edited the books of some of the great Palestinian authors such as Ghassan Kanafani and Fadwa Toukan.

And she continued, "During these studies, my way was always to Syria. As you know, there are many important Syrian writers and intellectuals who played a big role in the Palestinian resistance. After 2011, there was something that caught my attention and disturbed me a lot. We can talk comfortably about Palestinian literature." Unfortunately, when it comes to Syria, we have faced great hypocrisy."

She added, "People were strangely more suspicious of Syrian writers. But there is no difference between Palestine and Syria. I cannot think of greater hypocrisy than supporting the Palestinian resistance and its writers and ignoring the Syrian resistance."

She emphasized that Arabic literature has an incredibly rich and deeply rooted tradition, "and Syrian literature has always been one of the most important sources that nourish Arabic literature. So why are there those who exclude them because they have now raised their voices against injustice? We know the reasons, but they are still really unreasonable."

She continued, "For many reasons like these, I became interested in Syrian literature. First, I started writing articles on Syrian literature for some literary magazines and newspapers in Turkey. One of the first articles I wrote was about the great poet Nuri al-Jarrah from Damascus, because his poems had a profound influence on me. Later, we started translating and publishing the works of some important Syrian poets and writers in magazines.”

In the meantime, I was interviewing Syrian writers, we started with small things but our dreams were big. We were so excited, as if we were digging the earth with our hands and finding a new gem as we were digging. In the meantime, I had many friends of magazine editors who They gave me support. Seeing the interest in Syrian literature in Turkey gave us endless happiness."

"Therefore, we decided to go ahead with our work a bit and set up a publishing house (Farabi-Kitab). We already have experience in publishing, and we had a good team. That's why.. we only live once, so why stop doing anything? I think we should To fight to the end for our ideals."

Translating Arabic literature into Turkish

“We set important criteria for the publishing house. We were adamant that we first provide the most prominent examples in Syrian and Arabic literature. Because presenting bad literature is a great injustice to good writers. For this reason, we have a selection committee made up of our distinguished fellow writers in the Arab world on this subject,” Bersigli Mutt said. We are trying to show a high level of interest in the authors that we will introduce to the Turkish people.”

The second criterion - according to the writer - is that literature should not be nourished by evil but by good, and not by cruelty but by justice. In the Arab world or anywhere else.

It is not possible to include works by such writers in our publications.

"In my opinion, a publishing house should not only look for good texts, but also good writers. I would say that, because the letter I wrote to the poet Adonis recently was exposed to many questions, such as can he touch our hearts?" Today, Adonis wrote the most beautiful poem in the world.

And she continued, "Let me give you a counter example, I am still under the influence of the very sad news we received a few hours ago. Unfortunately, the great Damascene writer, my teacher Khayri Al-Dhahabi has passed away. The translation of two of his books was in the process of working in our publishing house."

I am in indescribable grief, because my golden khairi meant dignity to me. He was the right person for me. He was not only a novelist, but represented so much more in my eyes. He was a man who stood up to tyrants, and did not compromise his dignity. Even though he paid a lot of price in his life."

Syrian writer, novelist and historian Khairy Al-Dhahabi was born in 1946 in Damascus and died a few days ago in Paris (Al-Jazeera)

"Most of all, it saddens me that he passed away before we could publish his work, even though the Turkish translation of his book was to be finished very soon. I am very sad that not only did we lose a tremendous talent, but we also lost a shining heart and an honorable attitude," she continues. My wishes from God are to be able to translate all his books into Turkish and engrave the name of this honorable man in the minds of the Turkish people.. I want our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren to know that a wonderful writer and person named Khairy Al-Dhahabi has passed through this world.

Nizar Qabbani

Asked about her influence on the late Syrian poet Nizar Qabbani, the Turkish writer said that he was the first Syrian poet she knew, "I remember writing Nizar Qabbani's verses on the margins of my notebooks when I was still in high school. Life and people, I loved Nizar Qabbani more. We all know how great a poet he is."

She added, "He was proficient in Arabic language and words. But his ingenuity is not limited to that only. Nizar Qabbani was a man who did not lose his childhood innocence, no matter his age. This is clearly visible even in his pictures or facial expressions when he speaks."

She concluded, "What is childish innocence? In my opinion, childish innocence means raising your voice against injustice and oppression without accountability. Nizar Qabbani was such a man. Throughout his life, he did not compromise his dignity, and he was not afraid to raise his voice if there was injustice somewhere." He was generally known for his beloved poems, but Nizar Qabbani was a great resistance poet. I needed to love him."

"We need to find poets and writers like Nizar Qabbani to love ourselves. Let's love them so we don't lose hope in life. Let's say, there are great poets and writers in this world who suffer for us, think of us. They are our heroes," she said.