A Poet with the Medal of Independence Necmeddin Sahir Sılan’s Poems Reflection of the Balkan Wars

Abstract

Balkan Wars 1912-1913 expelled Balkan Turks from their homeland of approximately five centuries, left deep wounds, sorrows behind. Great struggle undertaken for these sacred lands, noble purposes ended in a colossal disaster. In this sense Balkan Wars possess the nature of a war that is characterized by pain, bloodshed, the death of thousands of civilian people covering Balkan lands with sorrow. During the years of Balkan Wars from 1912 to 1913 thousands of soldiers and civilians lost their lives due to conflicts and epidemic diseases. The people endured misery and Balkan Turks who had maintained their existence for five centuries through primitive means were forcibly expelled from their lands. This bloody war and the atrocities committed against Balkan Turks inevitably found their reflection in literature. In this regard it is possible to observe the place occupied by Balkan Wars in Turkish press during the years 1912-1913. Many poets including Ziya Gökalp, Aka Gündüz, Halid Fahri, Mehmet Âkif, Abdülhak Hamid and Celal Sahir addressed the Balkan Wars in their poems. One of poets who depicted the atrocities in Balkans in his poems is Necmeddin Sahir. Sılan began his literary career during Second Constitutional Period by writing poems. Witnessing both the final years of the Ottoman Empire and the establishment Republic of Turkey, he expressed the accumulated experiences of this period in his poetry and prose. Between 1912 and 1922, Sılan wrote poems published in prominent literary magazines and newspapers of the time, such as Rübâb, Donanma, Türk Duygusu, Büyük Duygu, Servet-i Fünûn, İnci/Yeni İnci, Tasvir-i Efkâr, Tercüman-ı Hakikat, Anadolu’da Yenigün and İleri. Sılan having closely witnessed the memories of the era, reflected the wars, occupations and deeply affecting societal events in his poems. In this context, he addressed significant wars in Turkish history such as Turco-Italian War, Balkan Wars, Battle of Gallipoli, and War of Independence in his poetry. Starting his writing career in 1912, Sılan who engaged in journalism activities in Istanbul from 1912 to 1913, dedicated a significant part of his poems to Balkan Wars during these tumultuous years. Necmeddin Sahir immortalized the cities devastated during Balkan Wars and the cruelties experienced by people with his poems. This study will provide information about the life and literary career of Sılan and will examine the reflection of Balkan Wars in his poems published in Tasvir-i Efkâr newspaper, as well as in the magazines Donanma, Türk Duygusu, Büyük Duygu, and Tan.

*** This study was produced by making use of the master’s thesis titled “Research on Necmeddin Sahir Sılan’s Lifetime and Works” at Balıkesir University, Institute of Social Sciences, Department of Turkish Language and Literature.