Translation and Ethics

One of the best things about TEBP is the opportunity it has given me to meet wonderful new people all over the world. I have tremendously enjoyed working on this post with Yigit and hope you'll enjoy reading it too!

1) Turkey has a very rich political history. The predecessor of the current Turkish State, the Ottoman Empire, lasted from 1299 to 1922 when Turkey became an imperial monarchy and that monarchy was replaced in 1923 by the Republic of Turkey. Even though you are too young to have actually witnessed the change from one form of government to the other, you grew up in a country with a vast cultural heritage that goes back thousands of years, but that is very young as a de iure state. How would you describe the political scene in which you grew up?

I always remember the September morning in 1980 in which I woke up early with loud announcements made by the military forces in the street that a coup had been made. I did not immediately realize the situation. I was 10 years old. My mother and father explained to me that the military had taken power and a new political era had started in the country. In fact, this was the third military coup in Turkey. Every ten years, in 1960, 1970 and finally in 1980 we have seen coup’de etats. Certainly, you cannot blame people for expecting another one in 1990. But this did not happen. The military did not or could not intervene democracy again and we have been living an uninterrupted civil life for 29 years.

1980 was an important cornerstone for the country not only in the political but also in the economical sense. Liberalism and free foreign trade had started. Until then, the export and import of goods had been strictly limited, Turkish people were not able to reach foreign markets. But the first civil government after the 1980 coup led by Turgut Ozal changed the situation radically. Now there were plenty of European and American goods in the market and with foreign trade accelerated, many rich people arose in the cities. In the mean time, the political activists of the past were suffering in the prisons of the military, under very unfavourable conditions. The leftist groups in the country suffered a sharp blow but the ordinary citizens were content because the terror in the streets had ended. It was true that the streets were not safe before the intervention. I remember that my mother cautioned me at the time: in case I was questioned by people as to whether I had left or right wing views, I would say that I was only a child and did not know anything about these matters.

In the Turkey of the 80’s, ideals imposed on the younger generation were quite different from those of the 70’s. The revolutionary views and political action were out of fashion. We were supposed to study, get a good job and earn as much as we could. In this atmosphere I chose to study business administration, but it did not take long for me to understand that I was acting very wrongly. I never liked business school and my faith led me to very different paths.

2) In your bio you mentioned how much you loved Ankara, the capital of Turkey, when you were a child but you don’t seem to like it so much today. Why is that?

You know, early childhood is mostly remembered as the happiest period of our lives. In fact, this is a deceptive situation because childhood memories resident in our minds have previously been bent, filtered and distorted in the prism of a child’s brain. This must be the main reason why I used to love Ankara. In fact it was always a dry, tasteless city but I did not know that at the time. Ankara did not get any better. In many years, it completely lost its identity in the coarse hands of a hateful mayor.

3) You mentioned your parents were both intellectuals. Your mother was a radio producer and your father was an actor. You tried acting for a while, but then decided to go with radio production. What made you decide to do that and how did you get started in radio production?

From an existentialist point of view, our lives are determined by our choices. Yet, though I am not a religious person, I cannot help believing that our lives are predestined. Sometimes you cannot open a door, no matter how hard you push. Anyway, I think the wisest thing to say is that acting did not suit me. I did not have the talent. If I did, what would stand in my way? But radio, even though it was my mother’s profession, I never had in mind. I had worked with video for years and it was very distant to my mind to imagine a production without moving pictures. But as I said, I seems to me that I was destined to work in the radio. After a long procedure following my application to TRT, they appointed me to an open position in Trabzon Radio. For economical, psychological and professional reasons, I did not reject it. Trabzon was a small city and I would be away from my family. There was hardship waiting for me and hardship I received, for some time. But today, after 10 years in the radio, I am happy to be in the world of sounds and have no inner wish to make a shift towards television.

4) You’re somewhat of a self-taught English speaker and translator. Tell us a little about how you got started and your dream of reading certain books in English.

I started very young with simplified books. Then came the comics. I do not know why I began to translate my first Asterix in English. What I know is that I always liked the languages and at some point I wanted to have a good command of English. So I began to read and translate. At the beginning, translation was a tool to learn the language. And learning English was half play and half self-competition. I was young and I wished to learn a bit of everything. When one is young, the heavy pressure of time is not felt and life seems limitless. I had to be over 30 to understand that I could not learn about everything, and moreover, I did not need to.

Anyway, with my unfocused hunger I bought books in English, tried to read them and failed. In years, I retried several times and failed again and again. But there was no desperation on my side. I liked to be a learner and had a goal: I would read them some day.

Of course, besides the love of knowledge, I also hoped that learning English would help my professional career in the future. But it was not clear in my mind what career I wished to follow. And of course, I did not know that my future position in the radio would be very local and I would always feel sad that my English knowledge was being wasted.

In this sadness, I felt that I had improved my English to a certain point. My management did not care about this, so what else could I do? I decided to start another self-competition and so began my translation career. Staggering and tumbling, I translated my first book which was an academic compilation of articles. Then came another compilation: Jack London’s compiled writings not previously published in Turkish. After that, I completed a new translation of his “Martin Eden” which is due to be published in 2010. Right now, I am working on Pieter Spierenburg’s “A History of Murder”. I am sure others will follow.

5) How do you juggle translation and radio production?

Translation is both my hobby and my second profession now. It is also my passion. Most of the moments allowed from my work and my family, I commit to translation. This means I spend my night hours translating. I sleep a few hours less for the sake of translating a few pages more.

6) You mentioned in your bio that even though your hometown is small, your personal universe is very big. After reading about you, I got the impression this has a lot to do with your passion for learning. However, I could be wrong. Can you tell us a little bit about your world.

That seems to be quite correct. I live in a small city with limited cultural sources. Without books, writing and translation, the world would be dull. I can’t understand people who keep their profession as the centre of their world. Everyone needs -at least- a second thing to do. For me, that is translation now. Surely there are lots of things I would love to do –travelling, photography, biking, concerts etc. Yet, there is one obstacle: My little children. And do you know, they are the most beautiful obstacles! They make my life meaningful and complete my world. So the basic elements of my personal universe are as follows: The radio, translation, and most of all, my family.

If you would like to contact Yigit, please write to info@tebp.org so we can forward him your request.