In a 1995 interview with İlhan Kızılhan on Med TV, Jalal Talabani reminisced about an encounter he had at the 5th World Festival of Youth and Students in Warsaw in the summer of 1955. Talabani, an Iraqi Kurdish politician who served as the sixth president of Iraq from 2005 to 2014, spoke of Nazım Hikmet (1902–1963), the legend of Turkish poetry, and his support for Kurdish self-determination.
Talabani, who had secretly left Iraq to join the Kurdistan and Iraqi Students’ Unions at the festival in Warsaw, described Nazım Hikmet as the most unforgettable and influential figure he had encountered during his travels outside of Kurdistan over the past half a century. According to Talabani, Hikmet wore traditional Kurdish clothing gifted by the delegation and gave a speech expressing his appreciation for the Kurdish people and their right to self-determination.
“He said he hoped to see a free Kurdistan one day and that he wished to be there when that day came,” Talabani said. He added, “Before, when we approached others to talk about Kurdistan, no one knew about it or showed much interest. We had to start from zero — explain where Kurdistan is, how it is divided and who the Kurdish people are. But when Nazım spoke, people listened. They grasped the significance.”
Talabani was not the only person to find Nazım Hikmet unforgettable. Kunwar Narain (1927–2017), an Indian poet and writer who attended the same festival as part of the Indian delegation, wrote a poem reflecting on his meeting with Hikmet. Perhaps the enduring impact of Nazım’s presence can be felt most keenly in Narain’s words. The poem, titled Warsaw 1955 with Nâzim Hikmet, features the following lines:
“The remembrance of a casual meet
Even today
Makes life more complete”*
*Translated by Apurva Narain, from No Other Worlds: Selected Poems (Delhi: Rupa, 2008).
