Osman Kavala reveals: He suggested the poem Erdoğan recited 20 years ago!

In recent weeks, a photograph showing President and AKP Chairman Erdoğan sitting at the same table as Osman Kavala, who has been imprisoned for 7 years, became a major topic of discussion. Ertuğrul Özkök shared this photo, taken 20 years ago, in his column and told the story behind it.

Writing that 150 people had called on the PKK to lay down their arms at that time and were subsequently hosted by then-Prime Minister Erdoğan, Özkök wrote about the same subject the following week, listing the 4 names invited to the table by Erdoğan.

Today, another article was written about that photograph. Following the two articles, a letter was written to Özkök by Osman Kavala from prison.

Stating that the poem 'I Want a Homeland', which Erdoğan recited in Diyarbakır in 2005, was suggested to Erdoğan by himself through Adalet Ağaoğlu, Kavala wrote the following:

Last weekend, I received a letter from Silivri.

It begins with “Dear Ertuğrul Özkök”.

It is a letter regarding the two articles I wrote in recent days.

My articles about the meeting Prime Minister Erdoğan held with 12 intellectuals and journalists in 2006 attracted a lot of attention.

The person who wrote the letter I received was the very person sitting in the corner directly across from Erdoğan at that table during that meeting.

In other words, it was Osman Kavala, who has been held in Silivri prison for 7 years.

I am quoting the letter exactly…

I asked Ms. Adalet to suggest that poem to the Prime Minister

“Dear Ertuğrul Özkök

Your article reminding us of the meeting 20 years ago brought those days to my mind and made me think deeply.

Before the meeting, I had asked Ms. Adalet to suggest to the Prime Minister that he recite Cahit Sıtkı Tarancı’s poem ‘I Want a Homeland’, which I love very much, in Diyarbakır. Since Ms. Adalet also knew the poem, she accepted immediately, and the Prime Minister, as you wrote, responded positively and recited the poem in Diyarbakır.”

THE SAME POEM WAS RECITED BY THE ISRAELI PRESIDENT IN PARLIAMENT

Özkök stated that the letter in question did not end there. Expressing that there was an interesting piece of information about the poem 'I Want a Homeland' in the rest of the letter, Özkök shared how Kavala noted that then-Israeli President Shimon Peres had recited this poem in Hebrew in Parliament:

“He must have been inspired by this; during his visit to our country in 2007, Shimon Peres (Szymon Perski) recited its Hebrew translation during his speech at the Grand National Assembly of Turkey.

The message of the poem is always valid for every homeland.

Thank you very much for the reminder.

Greetings and best regards.

Osman”