Tbilisi Yunus Emre Institute has organized an online event for the Anthology of Turkish Poetry book, published in Georgian and Turkish. The Republic of Turkey’s Ambassador to Tbilisi Fatma Ceren Yazgan, Assistant to the Georgian Honorary Consul in Izmir Makvala Kharebava, Turkish poets, Georgian translators and Georgian Turkologists participated in the event that was held on December 22nd.

Yunus Emre Institute created an opportunity for the purposes of introducing to Georgian readers the Turkish poems, which were translated into Georgian in 1940s and published in Georgian newspapers and magazines in 1950s and 60s. The "Anthology of Turkish Poetry" book, published in both Georgian and Turkish with the support of Yunus Emre Institute, was introduced in the online event organized by the Institute on December 22, 2020.

The event was organized online with the participation of the Republic of Turkey’s Ambassador to Tbilisi Fatma Ceren Yazgan, Assistant to the Georgian Honorary Consul in Izmir Makvala Kharebava, Turkish poets including Ataol Behramoğlu and Tuğrul Keskin, Georgian translators and Georgian Turkologists.

The Anthology of Turkish Poetry also includes the poems previously translated from Turkish to Georgian as well as the poems translated during the preparation stage of this work.

"AN EXCITING PROJECT"
 

The Republic of Turkey’s Ambassador to Tbilisi Fatma Ceren Yazgan thanked Yunus Emre Institute in her speech and said, "We reunite the Turkish poetry and the Georgian readers for the first time after a long while. This is a very exciting project.". 
Yazgan said that an event including the students, lecturers, teachers and literature lovers in Georgia who were interested in the Turkish language and literature could have been organized for the book launch if it were not for the pandemic and continued to say:
"We can organize this ceremony at the best location of Tbilisi after the COVID-19 pandemic comes to an end. Your project made a great contribution to my life. I realized that I was not reading poetry for a while. It seemed that I forgot to read poetry within the ups and downs of life. Reading poetry is an activity beyond reading reference books and even novels. It is an activity that touches upon your feelings, on your nerve ends, that makes you think and feel deep about life beyond those 240 characters of Twitter. I started reading poetry thanks to you. It was like discovering the Turkish poetry. I hope that this continues."

Yazgan mentioned that there was affinity between the Turkish and Georgian poetry and said, "I started reading Georgian poetry thanks to you. Previously, I had to read Georgian poetry through their English translations or Google Translate. However, there are emotional bridges, an affinity between the Georgian poetry and the Turkish poetry. We can all find our love for our motherland, our nation, our ancestors, our home and even for the nature of streets in our poems. These are all shortcuts for us to understand our poetry. We have a collective emotional intelligence. This is a great way to experience such intelligence. Therefore, I would like to thank all of you with these words and emotions. I would also like to thank Yunus Emre Institute because we think about performing arts or courses and small workshops when talking about cultural activities. This is one of a kind activity in our cultural relationship with Georgia. I think that Yunus Emre Institute did a great job. Thus, I hereby congratulate them."

“KÜLTÜR DERİN BİR GÜÇTÜR”

Bu projenin tabi sadece yayınla kalmayacağını dile getiren Yazgan, “Bunu nasıl yaygınlaştırırız, biraz daha popüler kültürün içine nasıl sokarız diye düşüncelerim var. Yumuşak güç diyorlar ama ben yumuşak güç olduğunu düşünmüyorum kültürün. Kültür çok derin bir güç ve çok kalıcı bir güç. Çok teşekkür ediyorum tekrar emekleriniz için ve bu akşam da bir araya gelip bunu konuştuğumuz için.” dedi.

İzmir Fahri Konsolos Muavini Makvala Kharebava yaptığı konuşmada Yunus Emre’nin şiirlerini Gürcüceden çevirmeye başladıklarını kaydetti. Kharebava, Türk Şiiri Antolojisi çalışmasının ardından kadın şairlerin şiirlerinin yer aldığı bir antoloji yapmak istediklerini ifade etti. Kharebava, bunun için “Divan'dan Günümüze Türk Kadın Şairler Antolojisi” ve “Osmanlı Kadın Şairleri” kitabını incelediklerini ve bu kitapları Gürcüce yayımlamak istediklerini söyledi. Türk Şiiri Antolojisi kitabının sevgiyle ortaya çıktığını belirten Kharebava, Türkiye’yi çok sevdiklerini kaydetti.

ATAOL BEHRAMOĞLU: THE EFFORTS MADE FOR THE PROMOTION OF POETRY ARE NEVER IN VAIN

Ataol Behramoğlu, the famous Turkish poet whose 50 poems in his book 'Behramoğlu: Selected Poems' translated into Georgian, thanked and praised Fatma Ceren Yazgan for her efforts in promoting the Turkish poetry. Behramoğlu congratulated Makvala Kharebava, Georgian translators and Turkologists and Yunus Emre Institute for their contributions to this work. Behramoğlu stated that he cared very much about the poetry's currency and said:

"Poetry is now out of our lives because the lives we lead are no longer connected to poetry. Because the humankind broke off from the nature as well as human relationships. Of course, those who are like this in essence become disconnected from poetry. The efforts made for the promotion of poetry are never in vain. Although the poetry today seems to be not inside the daily life, humans still feel that need deep inside. The humankind needs this because the words of wisdom are best said through poetry. This is not our discovery. Poetry has existed since the beginning of human history."

"TURKISH POETRY IS ONE OF THE TREASURES OF POETRY"

Behramoğlu stated that the Turkish poetry had a very important place in the world literature and went on to say:
"The most valuable thing in the history and current times of Turkey is poetry. I have no doubt that the 20th century Turkish poetry is one of the treasures that is at the foremost of the world poetry. However, there are prejudices against poetry in Turkey due to various reasons. There is ignorance especially about Turkey, and of course, Turkish poetry is also handed its share from this ignorance. Therefore, I hereby thank you very much for your efforts. We will try to be worthy of them. This means that we can further deepen the fellowship between Georgia and us. I think that we should also make an effort to promote the Georgian poetry in Turkey."

TUĞRUL KESKIN: YUNUS EMRE INSTITUTE CARRIES OUT MANY IMPORTANT ACTIVITIES IN THE CAUCASUS

Poet Tuğrul Keskin mentioned that Yunus Emre Institute was carrying out many important activities in the Caucasus and thanked everyone who contributed to this work of literature bringing together the Turkish and Georgian languages. 
The video messages of Dato Kenchiashvili and Nurguzel Kestane called Jeirani were also streamed during the event. 
The extraordinary book launch prepared by Georgian translators, poets and Turkologists came to an end with the poems read by Turkish and Georgian poets, translators and Turkologists.