Istanbul is a city that inspires poets, is the subject of poems, and is poetry itself...
There is also a city that is in harmony with poetry and almost breathes with poetry, which must be Maraş. “Man's path does not pass through Maraş by chance. Man goes to Maraş with perseverance” Rasim Özdenören said in one of his writings. Although I have a nature trying to see different geographies, I could only go to Maraş twice. Both were the trips made with perseverance to justify this finding. The first one was made to shoot the part of a documentary work about Maraş; it was a well-planned, purposeful visit. The second is a journey about the poetic side of this city...
Before I move on to the motivation that led me to visit Maraş for the second time, I should mention a few incidents that I encountered in Maraş, which I found striking in terms of how this city was in harmony with poetry. If an artisan, whom you greet while strolling around in the Maraş bazaar with a bit of sadness, before the last representatives of the coppersmithing art have closed their shutters, shyly hands you a photocopy of a poem he wrote... If the imam of the mosque from the times of Bayazıts in the bazaar proudly extends his last published poetry book... If the young university student sitting next to you at a meeting you attend presents the latest issue of the literary magazine they publish with a modest manner... And if you encounter with all these in Maraş, where you come for a meeting about a master of poetry like Sezai Karakoç, you will realize that there is a vein of poetry in that city.
In one word, I can summarize my impression of Maraş, which I went to for a symposium titled "Forty Hours with Sezai Karakoç in Kahramanmaraş": Poetry and city. Maraş is a city which has been in harmony with poetry. In fact, there is a direct relationship between poetry which is thought to come spontaneously and perseverance rather than the obligatory relationship between falling into Maraş and perseverance. Isn't poetry itself an event that takes place by persevering in the face of life and existence? Just as there is a fundamental contradiction between perseverance and compulsion, it is necessary to establish a direct connection between poetry and your 'perseverance' in the face of life. The commemoration of a master, who became the horizon of poetry in Maraş, where Sezai Karakoç mostly spent his secondary school years, gains a different meaning when it overlaps with what I have witnessed. In my opinion, the most important presentation at the symposium was made by İbrahim Demirci. While making a broad analysis on Sezai Karakoç's language, ranging from civilizational conflicts to cultural transformation with the meticulousness of a language master (by the way, Köksal Alver's presentation on “Social Dissolution in S. Karakoç” was noteworthy), he established the relationship between Sezai Karakoç's style choice and what he wanted to do very well. Considering that the ideological polarization in our world of art and thought was based on language for a period (it still is), it could not be grasped where his use of Turkish language, which was sometimes found strange even by the people it addressed, fit in his long walk without considering the language-purpose-instrumentality relationship.
Rasim Özdenören showed how powerful his conversation is as much as his pen while conveying many memories that have not been spoken until now. And the memories that he said he told for the first time about his relations with Sezai Karakoç, were in a nature that helped Sezai Karakoç to be understood and illuminated the relationship between many names who have been influential in certain segments of our intellectual and artistic life. The fact that this city, which is identified with many intellectuals and artists from Nuri Pakdil to Cahit Zarifoğlu, commemorates Sezai Karakoç has a meaning that goes beyond the context of poetry, poet and city. Despite the shortcomings, I care that a poet, whose thoughts' central axis is civilization, was analyzed by those who are devoted to a civilization that has realized its language through poetry in a city that has been in harmony with poetry. Thanks to Maraş Municipality and Duran Boz, who showed such an example of loyalty...