Author Tarık Çelenk speaks to Fatih Altaylı: 'Is the Turkish left peasant?'

Journalist Fatih Altaylı hosted author Tarık Çelenk on his YouTube channel.

Çelenk, who writes essays on the Turkish right, also made comments regarding the Turkish left.

Evaluating through the example of Barış Manço, Altaylı said, "Barış Manço, in the prototype you describe and explain, knows a foreign language, is a graduate of a good school, has very close relations with foreigners, especially Europeans, and his family even lived in Belgium for a time, yet he is a typical right-winger." Çelenk responded as follows:

'THE TURKISH LEFT'S CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE FORMATION OF A CONSERVATIVE IDENTITY ARE FAR GREATER THAN THOSE OF THE RIGHT'

"If you notice, in my article titled 'Is the Turkish left peasant?', I emphasized the positive contributions of the Turkish left, especially figures like Barış Manço and Atilla İlhan, to the final national identity in Turkey. Rather than the right in Turkey, the contributions of left-wing sociologists, artists, and cultural figures to the formation of the identity we call indigenous and national, which we call Ottoman, and which we call conservative, are far greater than those of the right."

'I DO NOT SEE THE LEFT AS PEASANT'

"But in that sense, I am speaking in terms of urbanity; left-wing intellectuals, including the late Cem Karaca and Barış Manço, have truly contributed to our religious and national identity and our conservative tradition. A cultural figure may be an atheist, but they remain within a cultural sphere; they do not assimilate. They have made many contributions. From that perspective, I do not see the left as peasant."

WHO IS TARIK ÇELENK?

Born in Erzurum in 1961. He graduated from the ITU Faculty of Electrical Engineering in 1982. Subsequently, he was appointed as an engineer officer in the Naval Forces Command. He resigned in 1999. He served as a board member in the private sector and at ISKI. Between 2006 and 2012, he took part in the establishment of the Ekopolitik NGO. He participated in the 'Wise People' commission. He was involved in the establishment of Vakıfbank Cultural Publications. He prepared the books 'Thought Atlas of the Turkish Right', 'The Journey of Reconciliation with the Other: Ekopolitik', 'The Century-Old Knot: Mosul Province', and 'The Turkish Right: Neighborhood, Crisis, and Critique'.