We talked with painter ahmet gunestekin about batman, the city
where he was born. What does Batman mean to you?
Batman is where I spent my childhood, where I have my memories, my happiness and my pain, a place with which I’ve never lost touch. I have even been a close witness to the city’s rapid growth, its tragedies and its moments of happiness.
What about Hasankeyf?
It is the history and heritage of my ancestors. The legacy of a great civilization that extends from an ancient past going back welve housand years right up to today and into the future. The basin of a great
civilization that can never be built again.
And the Tigris?
The Tigris is the setting for all the legends, the Kurdish tales, the Mesopotamian epics. The waters of the Tigris are at the same time a source of inspiration for the troubadours. The Tigris is Mesopotamia’s vital artery.
What is the best time of year to go there?
You can go to Batman in any season except winter. Spring and fall are especially pleasant.
What should one see and eat?
One should see Hasankeyf first of all. Then the Malabadi Bridge, one of the loveliest architectural structures from the Middle Ages and striking for the signs of the Zodiac depicted on it. It’s also a good idea to sample the local dishes at Batman city center. Batman cuisine is exceptionally
cosmopolitan. You’ll find a blend of the regional cuisines there, starting with Surt and including Mardin, Diyarbakir and Sanhurfa. I particularly recommend the ‘sac lava’
Celebrations in turkey
Ankara is getting its own ‘Europe Park’ on May 8 when Goksu
Park will host festivities throughout the afternoon. Among the events are a Karagoz show, a kite festival, a water bicycle race, a Europe train and
concerts.
Two poets meet and read their poems in paris. Starting with
bedri rahmi eyuboglu’s warning, ‘don’t make a racket’, the recording continues with the voice of nazim hikmet.
The poem within
Acclaimed for her work and the awards they have brought her,
poet Gonca Ozmen’s work is characterized by depth and simplicity. Now her poems, most of them from her second volume ‘Belki Sessiz’ (Quiet Perhaps), have been translated into English and published under the title, ‘The Sea Within’. George Messo translated the poems of Ozmen, who has made Nevi’zade Atayi’s maxim, “Let us create new legends of our own ’, her motto.
The story within
Ever since its publication in 1971, Furuzan’s first book,
‘Parasiz Yatili ’ (Ward of the State), has been immensely popular and its
author a prominent name in Turkish literature. As a book, Parasiz Yatili has the distinction of being a turning point not only in Furuzan’s life as a writer but in the Turkish short story as well, a book whose style, language and sensitivity have preserved their freshness despite the years. Dubbed a ‘masterpiece of melancholy ’ by its adherents, Parasiz Yatili has now been translated into French by Elif Deniz and Pierre Vincent under the title, ‘Pensionnaire d’Etat’.
travel for beauty 