Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar and the country

If we wanted to explain the current state of our beloved country from yesterday to today in a single sentence, we would turn to those famous words of Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar: “Turkey does not give its children the opportunity to be occupied with anything other than itself.”

These words of Tanpınar are invaluable for understanding the dark fate of the country and the situation in which people have found themselves from yesterday to today. However, in this article, I want to focus not on the country, but on the author and the problems he faced. While Tanpınar was occupied with the country's problems, what was he experiencing, what kind of life was he leading, and what problems was he trying to overcome?

Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar was born in Istanbul on June 23, 1901. Because his father was a judge, he spent his childhood in many different cities. For instance, he attended high school in Antalya. Subsequently, he entered the Faculty of Letters at Istanbul University. He took classes from figures such as Köprülü, Mehmet Fuat, and Cenab Şehabettin. What followed was a career in teaching.

We know that he taught in Erzurum, Konya, Ankara, and finally in Istanbul. On the other hand, in 1939, he was appointed as a “Professor of New Turkish Literature” to the “19th Century Turkish Literature” department established within the Faculty of Letters by the order of Minister of National Education Hasan Ali Yücel, despite not having a doctorate, and was tasked with writing the history of Turkish Literature.

While on the subject, it should be noted that Hasan Ali Yücel was his closest friend. İsmet İnönü was also a very valuable figure for him; while he occasionally leveled significant criticisms at the CHP, he held the Pasha in a separate regard.

Tanpınar's time as a member of parliament also coincides with the years immediately following this. Between 1942 and 1946, he entered Parliament from the CHP ranks as a deputy for Maraş. Afterward, because he was not nominated again, he worked as an inspector at the Ministry of National Education. Finally, he returned to his chair at the faculty. When the calendar pages showed January 23, 1962, Tanpınar passed away. His grave is in Aşiyan, Istanbul, right next to the grave of Yahya Kemal.

Tanpınar's Diaries were published in 2007. I think we can read those diaries as a document that holds a mirror to the author's life. According to this, one of the most significant problems Tanpınar faced was loneliness. Whether the author was alone or not, he always felt lonely. Moreover, even when he was with his friends, the feelings he experienced were painful. He expressed this situation in his diaries as follows: “There is something in all of them that makes me disgusted with myself.” We do not know exactly what the root cause of this state is or how he arrived at this emotional state, but the following expressions we encounter in the diaries might serve as an answer to see the general framework: “Actually, I am not a bad man; but I have been battered, shaken, neglected, and despised.”

It is obvious that there are many reasons that made Tanpınar say these words. The feeling of loneliness is undoubtedly one of these reasons. Another reason is the age-old problem of lack of money. We can say that the problems the author experienced on a financial level deeply affected and even shook him. So much so that we know from the diaries that he had moments where he felt he would “go crazy from lack of money.” Yes, he had a profession, but because he also shared his earnings with his siblings, it was not enough. In one place, he says, “I had my own house in a single room at the age of forty.” Everything in his life happened late. His first prose book was published when he was forty. “Even now,” he says, “my second novel is waiting at Remzi.”

The author almost enters depressions due to economic problems. These lines belong to him: “My lack of money started from almost nothing, like some diseases, grew, multiplied, and took me under it. My surroundings are full of creditors. I have debt notes in my pocket. Right now, I am living only on debt and charity, and the debt will drive me crazy.”

Whatever a person who is about to go crazy thinks about money, Tanpınar thinks the same, and he leaves this note in his diaries regarding this situation: “As long as money exists in the world, honest people cannot be found.”

We cannot say that these problems the author experienced were completely independent of the country's reality. Indeed, the conditions we are in can also manifest as a reflection of the dominant political-cultural system in some way. So, at this point, what does Tanpınar think about the right and the left, and where does he position himself? Let us go to his lines again for the answer to the question. The author speaks on this subject as follows: “I am not with the rightists, because the right is the East, and the East is always ready to swallow us, to swallow us from within.”

He expresses why he is not with right-wing thought in one place with these harsh expressions: "I am coming back to right-wing politics. Being a rightist is very difficult, even impossible. First of all, the most ignorant and foolish people in my country are rightists. Or they are clearly traitors and immoral. Peyami Safa... Can one encounter anyone more disgusting than Peyami Safa?"

Let us continue from here if you wish. Tanpınar also says the following on this subject in one place: “I am neither from the right, nor am I a communist or a declared sympathizer. I am just a democrat; if possible, I would join a democratic socialist organization and be pleased. But I would not take the moral responsibility of such an organization upon myself. In Turkey, a socialist party is only possible with the opening of a communist party. Otherwise, communists will flood in and harm the country, or that party and its members.”

When the subject is Tanpınar, even books full of lines are not enough, but within the limits of our article, we want to put a period here for now. However, before finishing our article, I want to say this, starting from Tanpınar. While the country grants its children no opportunity other than the right to be occupied with itself, those children are also trying to overcome many problems on the other hand, struggling as if to survive. It is within those struggles that people try to make their voices heard, and the faintness of their voices stems a little from this.