For Turan Karakaş...

The news of Turan Karakaş's passing shook me as much as it shook all of us. From the day I first met him, Turan Bey was in poor health. Over time, his condition worsened, and finally, last week, he bid farewell to life.

My meeting with Turan Bey happened as follows: One day, Turan Bey called me on the phone, gave me the address of a restaurant in Nişantaşı, and asked us to meet there.

At the restaurant, we had a pleasant conversation with his exceptionally gentlemanly demeanor. In this conversation, he mentioned that he was uncomfortable with certain events at Cumhuriyet Newspaper, that he objected to the situation, and even spoke about taking some matters to the legal field. 

Turan Bey spoke highly of the distinction I made in my articles between political democracy and economic democracy, and stated that addressing these topics was very beneficial.

Turan Bey approved of my opposition to the understanding of democracy that emerged following the 1789 French Revolution, where everyone attained the status of a citizen with the right to vote and be elected, and he requested that I address this topic through the concept of class.

Stating that my approach—that the acquisition of the right to vote and be elected by all citizens as a result of the French Revolution was not true democracy—was exceptionally apt, Turan Bey noted that my approach within the framework of the economic democracy understanding that emerged with the industrial revolution in England following the 1840s was also appropriate, and he requested that I write a book on this subject.

While this approach of Turan Bey made me exceptionally happy, it also placed a very heavy burden on me. Writing a book in the context of income distribution, the formation of classes, and the relationships between them was a quite difficult task for me. Despite all these difficulties, in a sense, having given my word to Turan Bey, I considered these conversations a duty. 

Writing a book, especially creating a theoretical framework and filling it with empirical data, required time and a great deal of work.

However, both the beauty and uniqueness of the subject and Turan Bey's elegant proposal almost forced me to focus on this topic. Nevertheless, because academic work requires labor that consumes a great deal of time and energy, despite all my efforts, I could not fulfill this request of Turan Bey within his lifetime.

However, since this request remains pending, I will strive to carry out such a study in memory of Turan Bey, and if I succeed, I will dedicate this work to his memory. Life, I suppose, is something like this; people's traces of thought and ideas continue even after their lives.

From the conversations we had during our meetings at the restaurant in Nişantaşı, I understood that he was an indomitable revolutionary. 

In our meetings at that restaurant, the idea that he was a true revolutionary, someone who had occasionally entered into serious conflicts with the police and the military, awakened in me.

As someone who had clearly perceived the malice of the capitalist system, I saw very clearly that Turan Bey had turned toward active revolutionary activity. Perhaps it can be interpreted as follows: he lived his life having transformed the legal profession he pursued in the context of his revolutionary understanding into an action that vehemently rejected the negatives of capitalism, and he bid farewell to this world.

In addition to being a lawyer, Turan Bey was a friend who also engaged in writing and publishing, striving to disseminate the ideas of like-minded people in society.

I believe he was active in the establishment of the 12punto publication, along with his friends around him, especially Mustafa Bey.

Although I cannot fully know Turan Bey's influence and work during the establishment phase of the said publication, I am of the opinion that he played a major role in this formation.

My writing regularly for 12punto was ensured by Turan Bey and Mustafa Bey. In fact, in the early days, Turan Bey had asked me to send my articles to him personally as well. Upon this, when I sent my articles to the newspaper, I would also send a copy to Turan Bey's address. 

Getting to know Turan Bey felt like getting to know a gentleman who had filtered through from the past and arrived in our time, perhaps a bit out of time.

Specifically, Turan Bey was a complete gentleman who did not conform to the unethical behaviors of the time and always kept friendship at the forefront.

At this stage of my life, I am as happy to have known such a gentleman, even for a short time, as I am deeply pained to have lost him in the flow of fate. I wish God's mercy upon Turan Bey, and patience for his family and those of us who loved him.