Right-wing leaders commemorate communist poet Nazım Hikmet on death anniversary

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Turkey's right-wing political party leaders have commemorated communist poet Nazım Hikmet on the 57th anniversary of his death.

Hikmet is usually commemorated by leftists in Turkey and the commemoration tweets of right-wing leaders prompted surprise.

İYİ (Good) Party leader Meral Akşener shared a video of Hikmet's pictures while she read a poem by Hikmet.

Yaşamak, bir ağaç gibi tek ve hür,
ve bir orman gibi kardeşçesine,
bu hasret bizim... pic.twitter.com/lWK8TYIKRB

— Meral Akşener (@meral_aksener) June 3, 2020

Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA) leader Ali Babacan said, "I commemorate Nazım Hikmet, who is still among us with his verses, with respect."

“İnsan; denizin olmadığı yerde, umut adına, martı olmalı.”

Vefatının 57. yıl dönümünde, akıllara kazınan dizeleriyle hala aramızda olan Nazım Hikmet Ran’ı saygıyla anıyorum.#NazımHikmetRan

— Ali Babacan (@alibabacan) June 3, 2020

Future Party leader Ahmet Davutoğlu was another leader to commemorate Hikmet, deeming him "the great poet."

"Ben yanmasam,
Sen yanmasan,
Biz yanmasak,
Nasıl çıkar karanlıklar aydınlığa…"

Yüreğinde memleket hasretiyle 57 yıl önce hayata gözlerini yuman büyük şair Nazım Hikmet’i vefat yıl dönümünde rahmet ve saygıyla anıyorum.

— Ahmet Davutoğlu (@Ahmet_Davutoglu) June 3, 2020

Imprisoned for many years in Turkey due to political views expressed in his poems, Nazım died in exile in the Soviet Union after suffering a heart attack in 1963. His body is currently buried in the famous Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow, among many other "Russian literary giants.

He was stripped off his Turkish citizenship due to his political views in 1951, but was re-granted his citizenship in 2009.