The final interview journalist Hıfzı Topuz gave before his passing has emerged

Journalist and author Hıfzı Topuz (100) passed away today. The interview conducted with Hıfzı Topuz by journalist Şenol Çarık from 12Punto.com.tr before his passing has emerged.

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The final interview journalist Hıfzı Topuz gave before his passing has emerged

Hıfzı Topuz, a former Honorary Board President of the Turkish Journalists Association, recipient of the TGC Press Freedom Award, and Honorary President of the Communication Research Association (İLAD), passed away on Tuesday, September 26, at the age of 100.

The final interview that journalist and author Şenol Çarık conducted with Hıfzı Topuz before his death has emerged. In that interview, Topuz had said, "If I were to come to this world again, I would be a journalist again. I have no regrets."

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE INTERVIEW WITH HIFZI TOPUZ:

In your book of conversations with Öner Ciravoğlu, "Ardından Yıllar Geçti" (Years Have Passed Since), you say, like Rosa Luxemburg, "I cannot paint a picture of happiness, but I live by savoring it." Are you very happy?

Yes, I am very happy. I have had no ambitions in life. I have had no ambition for money, no ambition for position, and no political ambition. I have always lived as a humble person. And I have lived well. I didn't even make an effort to live well. It just happened. I started journalism as a reporter. The minimum wage was perhaps 90 liras back then, and I started with 50 liras. After that, my salary gradually increased. I was very happy as I rose in the newspaper. I became an intelligence chief, I became a managing editor. I became an editor-in-chief. All of these made me very happy. A person is happy when they work in a job they love. People find happiness in work. It feels like if I don't work, I would be unhappy. So, I always have to do something. And my life has passed like that.

"A PERSON DOES NOT GET TIRED WHEN DOING THE WORK THEY LOVE"

Is yours a life lived to the fullest at every moment?

First, a period of journalism, then Paris. I worked at UNESCO for 25 years. We thought of solutions for the development of communication in third-world countries, for the free and balanced flow of news, for free journalism against the great American and British trusts, and to break monopolies. I performed all my duties with pleasure. A person does not get tired when doing the work they love; it doesn't feel like drudgery. I wake up in the morning and start working. As you can see, my desk is full of papers and books. I cannot work comfortably outside of my own desk and room. When I work, I browse through 8-10 books at once.

While writing every chapter, I definitely check them to avoid making mistakes; I try to find the truth. I don't write novels from memory like that. What I write are definitely documentary novels. One must research those documents and not make mistakes. I don't realize how the hours pass. When they invite me somewhere, I say, "Oh God, my work will be interrupted." Sometimes it is interrupted for a few days. After my book is published, there are book signings, speeches, and they invite me to schools. There, I meet people who think like me. I speak comfortably without censoring myself. And the reaction I get from them gives me morale, and I say I am not alone, there are people who think like me, and I rejoice.

"I AM WAITING FOR BRIGHT MORNINGS"

I look to the future with hope. I never fall into pessimism. There are some pressures, yes, but these are temporary things. There have been and are pressures all over the world. But I always see pressures as temporary. The French Revolution happened, and after that, what pressures came, what France saw. Then what happened? The Declaration of Human Rights and the principles brought by the French Revolution dominated the world. Dictatorships were destroyed one by one. In my lifetime, I have witnessed the fall of so many dictatorships.

I saw Mussolini, Hitler, Salazar, Franco; I saw many dictatorships in Latin America, Africa, and the Congo. I know that dictatorships are temporary. In the end, common sense and the idea of freedom prevail. So, like Fikret said, I am waiting for bright mornings. I trust in bright mornings. They will definitely come. I think like Fikret, like Nazım, like Atatürk. These give me morale, and I see my happiness in the days to come.

So, what do you think is the situation in Turkey today?

News Source: 12punto