ANKARA
Turkish intellectual Necip Fazil Kisakurek's legacy brings us the genuine voice of our land – as opposed to the mentality of Westernized intellectuals, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday.
"Necip Fazil meant the removal of the restraints in our culture, arts and intellectual thinking," Erdogan said in a speech at the Necip Fazil Awards Ceremony for Literature and Research in Istanbul.
"The Turkish Republic brought a new alphabet and language as well as a new understanding of culture and arts to Turkey. During the single party period, all of these spheres were confined to certain templates. All of the bridges with the past were burned and links with our traditions were slashed. While we were becoming estranged from our own culture, Necip Fazil managed to get us in touch with our past and maintained that struggle with determination," he said.
"Necip Fazil was a monument of self-confidence, who could say 'I am here and because I am here, Turkey therefore exists,' during our most oppressive period on words and thinking. Necip Fazil instilled self-confidence into us, even more so than the arts, poetry and literature he also instilled into us," he added.
Erdogan also said that Necip Fazil awards should become well-known on the international stage.
"I believe that these awards may become one of the most distinguished globally," Erdogan said.
Necip Fazil is a Turkish poet, novelist, philosopher and activist who contributed to Islamist thought in Turkey.
He lived between 1904 and 1983 and has several poems, novels, stories, memoirs and plays.
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