A left look at the Black Sea with Alper
A left look at the Black Sea with Alper
Director Özcan Alper's first film, "Sonbahar" (Autumn), touched upon the 2000 death fast by political prisoners which ended up with the so called "return to life" government operation which led to the death of over 30 prisoners. In his second just released film, Alper goes into the Kurdish problem. The film is called “Future Lasts Long. The director makes no mystery of his socialist stance and hope for a socialist future in his artistic productions as well as in his life.
In an interview with ANF, Alper remarked that special powers have been implemented for years in Black Sea Region because of the Kurdish issue. Alper noted that the left in Black Sea region therefore needed to look at Black Sea from a true left perspective.
* To start with the events in Hopa both before and after the election meeting by Prime Minister Erdoðan. Hopa remained on the political agenda for a long time. However, the events in Hopa have a background. What lead to what has happened in Hopa?
- We need to go back to the 90’s to understand the situation there. The region of Hopa, Artvin and Çamlýhemþin has always had a left culture and tradition for many many years. The left survived there while it was losing ground in other parts of the country. It is a region with a multicultural structure with many people such as Laz people, Pechenegs, Greeks, Georgians. Each ethnicity knew each other and therefore their differences never became a problem. In this respect, Hopa is a place that could be a model for Turkey. However, the situation in the region changed with the 1980 military coup and the following years. We know what happened in those years. The state tried to invade all areas, while community organizations were mainly generated in Black Sea region. The subconscious of this organization was the lack of dominance of Turkish-Islamic ideology in that region. The people there suffered almost as much as Alevis. In one way, maybe through feudal relations, the people in that region managed to protect their identities. The intergenerational communication has continued for generations and this left culture has been passed to the other generations.
* Could this environment be preserved in the period after the 1980 coup?
- Yes, it could. Despite the high rate of migration from the region, this environment revived especially in the summers when university students came here to spend summer and thus leaded the creation of a lively environment and continuity of intergenerational communication. This period coincides with the years when Kurds begun their struggle. In the 90’s, during the years of intense conflict with Kurds, the government sent soldiers to the East and most of those soldiers were from the Black Sea region. When this was the case, the highest rate of soldier deaths in that period was in this region where the government implemented an anti-Kurdishness policy to undermine the multicultural reality of the region. This policy was especially put into practice in Trabzon. Nationalist movements intensely grew up in the region as the families of martyr soldiers severely began to turn towards the nationalist community. In fact, the people of the Black Sea region are those who speak their mother languages and therefore can understand Kurds better in cultural terms.
To get back to the matter of Hopa, when the Kurdish struggle started to break the centenarian republican ideology in the early 90’s, the fear of losing street credit was of great importance for the state. In the midst of all this, nonsense unsubstantiated rumors were spread about a Pontus Greek to be established in the province of Trabzon. The hostility towards Greeks and Armenians reached a very scary level at that point. As a result of this, many different people stopped talking about their problems. Most of them became extremely pro-Turkishness to hide their identity, while the rest was affected by what was happening; they looked back and realized that ‘their language and identity’ were going to be lost’. In this respect, musician Kazým Koyuncu played a crucial role model in the region of Eastern Black Sea. It was a significant development in that period that Koyuncu and some other musicians made music in Laz language, published magazines of Laz culture and sang songs in Georgian, Armenian and Hemþin language. The resisting left in this region didn’t go beyond displaying a weak reaction.
In the summer of 1991 for example, when the bodies of dead soldiers were brought to the region, people could write simple but essential slogans on street walls such as “Don’t join the war and shed your brother’s blood’. The album of Yaþar Kurt and the works performed by Kardeþ Türküler with people from that region had a great impact. However, the state made a very strong intervention in the region and remanded many people in custody to break this going. The issue of nature and environment thereafter started to play a key role in the region. The ten-year-old monist and dominant policies of the AKP government in Black Sea region have created a perception which views everything as money. However, the conscious stance and continuous resistance staged in the region of Çamlýhemþin and Hopa started to create a remarkable impression while the whole region was being submerged by dams and hydroelectric power plants. Especially the significant reaction of the people in Hopa forced the relevant company to desist from constructing the dam there. The state openly saw that the struggle against HPPs was closely linked with other social struggles. The AKP therewith launched a new attack on Hopa when it was laid bare that who protects his nature, culture and language would protect everything. The government therefore thought that this resistance could spread and set an example in the entire region. The government feared this because it has always used the Black Sea region as a backyard.
* In your writing on Birikim magazine, you talk about the centralist structure of left. What kind of results has this configuration produced in Black Sea region from past to present in terms of unionist movements and large and small leftist movements?
- When we look at the movements before and after the Soviets, we see the common problem of the left movement as failure in spreading out in the base and taking yet a bureaucratic turn after some time is the common problem of the leftist movement. Istanbul has always been the center to determine policies for the left but Zonguldak could have been a very important center for left and a place dominated by a socialist party. The failure of left in addressing the locality issue well is related with the ideological configuration of the left movement in Turkey. Although the left side considers itself as independent, the left movement is in one way infected with the Kemalist thought which we take as unwholesome.
I know that many left and socialist circles stayed out of the struggle that Kurds gave in the 90’s to ‘protect their language’ which these circles considered as an ethnical nationalism. The ideological centralization was shaped in Istanbul from where policies were sent to other regions.
The matter of autonomy, which has been brought to the agenda in connection with the Kurdish issue, should be discussed by the entire left movement. This is because it is a significant problem to ignore the discussion of inexactness of national policies and their conformity in local areas. For instance, I would refuse the right of a Kayseri deputy to have a say in a road project in Black Sea region.
* Does the left’s deficiency in discussing autonomy or presenting an agenda in the face of many problems and solution offers root in the influence of Kemalist ideology on the left?
- Yes, to a great extent. The national pact is still effective for example. Kurds in Syria, Iran and Iraq or the extinction of Hemþin language don’t mean anything to the left. However, I feel this pain and attach importance to these points. When you explain the situation, people start to talk about the matter of hunger which is of first priority for them. In fact, freedom is as important as bread and these two things can’t exist without one another. The left needs to look at Black Sea region from a real left.
* Besides political and social sides, this issue also has cultural and literary aspects. Can the Black Sea region reflect the present diversification and variety in the fields of literature, art and culture?
- Actually some efforts were made in this regard such as publishing magazines and papers but it is quite difficult for this kind of things to survive without receiving support from the political area. Because of an alphabet problem, the works in the field of literature were made in Latin alphabet, not in Laz language, Georgian or Hemþin Armenian. We have put forward a proposal to found an institute of Caucasian Cultures in Hopa but the organization requires a high cost. I wish the left centralization entered into this organization right now. These are in fact problems that can be settled with a campaign across Turkey. It is possible to turn the impossible into possibility. I would in very deed like to see Turkey democratize and lead these fields itself.
* Do you expect the People’s Democratic Congress, which aims to bring the Kurdish movement and the Turkish left together, to lead the formation of a revolutionary movement and an international rising?
- There is a remarkable opponent population that has stayed out of socialist movements owing to olden ideological differentiations and nonsense indefiniteness. Once gathered, this population will no doubt create a dialectic majority and energy. This was partially achieved in 12 June election which was a notable success in this regard. In my opinion, this organization will be of great importance against the state of civil war that the government expressly wants to drag us into.
* In relation to autonomy, the basic criticism directed by media, intellectual community and relatively the left wing was as to the uncertainty of its content. Which way would be democratic; to leave determination of a project to people or to define a project’s theoretic frame in the first instance?
- We no doubt long for that socialist picture where decisions are made by us, not by others on behalf of us. However, regarding the subject of autonomy, the theoretic frame could have become clearer if it had been discussed by the left movement as well. Besides, to put the model of alternative local governance into practice could also contribute to this process. Today we can perform our works thanks to the presence of MKM which is an independent structure and raises many artists. However, besides the political area, the government doesn’t propose any policies in the fields of culture and art.
* As to your film Future Lasts Forever, what would you like to say about it?
- The main point here is that we need to record everything since these ‘masters’ didn’t only slaughter innocent people but also wanted to erase memories. I tried hard to reach audio archives regarding evacuated villages and other events but there are unfortunately no archives available. I also made a search at Mehmed Uzun library which has three empty rooms that can be opened for use as Musa Anter Center of Memory Record for example.
* In the film, you subject has more weight than voices. Why?
- Context is my start point while deciding on my films. The simple point of origin in this film was that; ‘I wanted to shoot a film about the reflections of the thirty-year-old war which has affected me too as a citizen of this country’. Reflections of a war can best be seen on children and women. The film originated from this point of view. As to voice which is the major instrument of handing down cultural memory and oral culture; your way leads you to voice when you want to do something in the Kurdish territory. I attached a great importance to laments in this film. The film as a whole could be seen as a voice record which would be effective to tell the story to other sides in particular. The issue of voice isn’t a great thing when memory is being talked about. This is a natural conclusion.
* Luis Altusher wrote a memoir with the same title of the film…
- Yes, I’ve read that book from which the film took its title. Poet Murathan Mungan also handles a similar theme in his poem Carnation. I tried togive a philosophical reference.
In an interview with ANF, Alper remarked that special powers have been implemented for years in Black Sea Region because of the Kurdish issue. Alper noted that the left in Black Sea region therefore needed to look at Black Sea from a true left perspective.
* To start with the events in Hopa both before and after the election meeting by Prime Minister Erdoðan. Hopa remained on the political agenda for a long time. However, the events in Hopa have a background. What lead to what has happened in Hopa?
- We need to go back to the 90’s to understand the situation there. The region of Hopa, Artvin and Çamlýhemþin has always had a left culture and tradition for many many years. The left survived there while it was losing ground in other parts of the country. It is a region with a multicultural structure with many people such as Laz people, Pechenegs, Greeks, Georgians. Each ethnicity knew each other and therefore their differences never became a problem. In this respect, Hopa is a place that could be a model for Turkey. However, the situation in the region changed with the 1980 military coup and the following years. We know what happened in those years. The state tried to invade all areas, while community organizations were mainly generated in Black Sea region. The subconscious of this organization was the lack of dominance of Turkish-Islamic ideology in that region. The people there suffered almost as much as Alevis. In one way, maybe through feudal relations, the people in that region managed to protect their identities. The intergenerational communication has continued for generations and this left culture has been passed to the other generations.
* Could this environment be preserved in the period after the 1980 coup?
- Yes, it could. Despite the high rate of migration from the region, this environment revived especially in the summers when university students came here to spend summer and thus leaded the creation of a lively environment and continuity of intergenerational communication. This period coincides with the years when Kurds begun their struggle. In the 90’s, during the years of intense conflict with Kurds, the government sent soldiers to the East and most of those soldiers were from the Black Sea region. When this was the case, the highest rate of soldier deaths in that period was in this region where the government implemented an anti-Kurdishness policy to undermine the multicultural reality of the region. This policy was especially put into practice in Trabzon. Nationalist movements intensely grew up in the region as the families of martyr soldiers severely began to turn towards the nationalist community. In fact, the people of the Black Sea region are those who speak their mother languages and therefore can understand Kurds better in cultural terms.
To get back to the matter of Hopa, when the Kurdish struggle started to break the centenarian republican ideology in the early 90’s, the fear of losing street credit was of great importance for the state. In the midst of all this, nonsense unsubstantiated rumors were spread about a Pontus Greek to be established in the province of Trabzon. The hostility towards Greeks and Armenians reached a very scary level at that point. As a result of this, many different people stopped talking about their problems. Most of them became extremely pro-Turkishness to hide their identity, while the rest was affected by what was happening; they looked back and realized that ‘their language and identity’ were going to be lost’. In this respect, musician Kazým Koyuncu played a crucial role model in the region of Eastern Black Sea. It was a significant development in that period that Koyuncu and some other musicians made music in Laz language, published magazines of Laz culture and sang songs in Georgian, Armenian and Hemþin language. The resisting left in this region didn’t go beyond displaying a weak reaction.
In the summer of 1991 for example, when the bodies of dead soldiers were brought to the region, people could write simple but essential slogans on street walls such as “Don’t join the war and shed your brother’s blood’. The album of Yaþar Kurt and the works performed by Kardeþ Türküler with people from that region had a great impact. However, the state made a very strong intervention in the region and remanded many people in custody to break this going. The issue of nature and environment thereafter started to play a key role in the region. The ten-year-old monist and dominant policies of the AKP government in Black Sea region have created a perception which views everything as money. However, the conscious stance and continuous resistance staged in the region of Çamlýhemþin and Hopa started to create a remarkable impression while the whole region was being submerged by dams and hydroelectric power plants. Especially the significant reaction of the people in Hopa forced the relevant company to desist from constructing the dam there. The state openly saw that the struggle against HPPs was closely linked with other social struggles. The AKP therewith launched a new attack on Hopa when it was laid bare that who protects his nature, culture and language would protect everything. The government therefore thought that this resistance could spread and set an example in the entire region. The government feared this because it has always used the Black Sea region as a backyard.
* In your writing on Birikim magazine, you talk about the centralist structure of left. What kind of results has this configuration produced in Black Sea region from past to present in terms of unionist movements and large and small leftist movements?
- When we look at the movements before and after the Soviets, we see the common problem of the left movement as failure in spreading out in the base and taking yet a bureaucratic turn after some time is the common problem of the leftist movement. Istanbul has always been the center to determine policies for the left but Zonguldak could have been a very important center for left and a place dominated by a socialist party. The failure of left in addressing the locality issue well is related with the ideological configuration of the left movement in Turkey. Although the left side considers itself as independent, the left movement is in one way infected with the Kemalist thought which we take as unwholesome.
I know that many left and socialist circles stayed out of the struggle that Kurds gave in the 90’s to ‘protect their language’ which these circles considered as an ethnical nationalism. The ideological centralization was shaped in Istanbul from where policies were sent to other regions.
The matter of autonomy, which has been brought to the agenda in connection with the Kurdish issue, should be discussed by the entire left movement. This is because it is a significant problem to ignore the discussion of inexactness of national policies and their conformity in local areas. For instance, I would refuse the right of a Kayseri deputy to have a say in a road project in Black Sea region.
* Does the left’s deficiency in discussing autonomy or presenting an agenda in the face of many problems and solution offers root in the influence of Kemalist ideology on the left?
- Yes, to a great extent. The national pact is still effective for example. Kurds in Syria, Iran and Iraq or the extinction of Hemþin language don’t mean anything to the left. However, I feel this pain and attach importance to these points. When you explain the situation, people start to talk about the matter of hunger which is of first priority for them. In fact, freedom is as important as bread and these two things can’t exist without one another. The left needs to look at Black Sea region from a real left.
* Besides political and social sides, this issue also has cultural and literary aspects. Can the Black Sea region reflect the present diversification and variety in the fields of literature, art and culture?
- Actually some efforts were made in this regard such as publishing magazines and papers but it is quite difficult for this kind of things to survive without receiving support from the political area. Because of an alphabet problem, the works in the field of literature were made in Latin alphabet, not in Laz language, Georgian or Hemþin Armenian. We have put forward a proposal to found an institute of Caucasian Cultures in Hopa but the organization requires a high cost. I wish the left centralization entered into this organization right now. These are in fact problems that can be settled with a campaign across Turkey. It is possible to turn the impossible into possibility. I would in very deed like to see Turkey democratize and lead these fields itself.
* Do you expect the People’s Democratic Congress, which aims to bring the Kurdish movement and the Turkish left together, to lead the formation of a revolutionary movement and an international rising?
- There is a remarkable opponent population that has stayed out of socialist movements owing to olden ideological differentiations and nonsense indefiniteness. Once gathered, this population will no doubt create a dialectic majority and energy. This was partially achieved in 12 June election which was a notable success in this regard. In my opinion, this organization will be of great importance against the state of civil war that the government expressly wants to drag us into.
* In relation to autonomy, the basic criticism directed by media, intellectual community and relatively the left wing was as to the uncertainty of its content. Which way would be democratic; to leave determination of a project to people or to define a project’s theoretic frame in the first instance?
- We no doubt long for that socialist picture where decisions are made by us, not by others on behalf of us. However, regarding the subject of autonomy, the theoretic frame could have become clearer if it had been discussed by the left movement as well. Besides, to put the model of alternative local governance into practice could also contribute to this process. Today we can perform our works thanks to the presence of MKM which is an independent structure and raises many artists. However, besides the political area, the government doesn’t propose any policies in the fields of culture and art.
* As to your film Future Lasts Forever, what would you like to say about it?
- The main point here is that we need to record everything since these ‘masters’ didn’t only slaughter innocent people but also wanted to erase memories. I tried hard to reach audio archives regarding evacuated villages and other events but there are unfortunately no archives available. I also made a search at Mehmed Uzun library which has three empty rooms that can be opened for use as Musa Anter Center of Memory Record for example.
* In the film, you subject has more weight than voices. Why?
- Context is my start point while deciding on my films. The simple point of origin in this film was that; ‘I wanted to shoot a film about the reflections of the thirty-year-old war which has affected me too as a citizen of this country’. Reflections of a war can best be seen on children and women. The film originated from this point of view. As to voice which is the major instrument of handing down cultural memory and oral culture; your way leads you to voice when you want to do something in the Kurdish territory. I attached a great importance to laments in this film. The film as a whole could be seen as a voice record which would be effective to tell the story to other sides in particular. The issue of voice isn’t a great thing when memory is being talked about. This is a natural conclusion.
* Luis Altusher wrote a memoir with the same title of the film…
- Yes, I’ve read that book from which the film took its title. Poet Murathan Mungan also handles a similar theme in his poem Carnation. I tried togive a philosophical reference.
