Kore Savaşı’nın Türk Edebiyatında Uyandırdığı Akisler
İkinci Dünya Savaşı’ndan sonra Batı Bloku’nda yer almak ve NATO’ya girmek isteyen Türkiye bu sebeple Kore Savaşı (1950-1953)’na asker göndermiştir. Türk askerlerinin Kore’deki mukavemeti Türkiye’de yakından izlenmiş, bu konuda gazete ve dergilerde pek çok haber, yazı, şiir, hikâye ve roman tefrikaları neşredilmiştir. Peyami Safa ve Yusuf Ziya Ortaç Ulus, Ahmet Muhip Dranas ve Aka Gündüz Zafer, Behçet Kemal Çağlar ve Feridun Fazıl Tülbentçi Vatan, Etem İzzet Benice ve Nizamettin Nazif Son Telgraf, İsmail Hami Danişmend Milliyet ve Hikmet Feridun Es Hürriyet gazetesindeki köşelerinde bu savaşı konu etmiştir. Varlık, Kaynak, Orkun, Tanrıdağ, Ufuklar ve Türk Dili dergilerinde Kore Savaşı hakkında şiir ve yazılara yer verilmiştir. Nazım Hikmet savaşı yakından takip etmiş ve Doğu Bloku ülkelerinde Türkiye’nin savaşa katılmasını eleştiren şiirlerini paylaşmıştır. Kore Savaşı ile ilgili kitap halinde yayımlanan ilk roman Kore’de binbaşı rütbesiyle savaşan Faruk Güventürk’ün Kore’de Kutup Yıldızı isimli eserdir. Fahri Celal Göktulga’nın Rüzgâr isimli eseri ise Kore Savaşı’nı konu alan ilk hikâye kitabıdır. Bu çalışmada elde ettiğimiz edebî metinler ve yazılar ışığında edebiyat yazarlarının savaş karşısındaki tutumları üzerinde durarak savaşın Türk matbuatı ve edebiyat hayatında nasıl bir yankı uyandırdığını tespit etmeye çalışacağız.
The Reverberations of the Korean War in the Turkish Literature
After the Second World War, Turkey wanted to align itself with the Western Bloc and join NATO, and therefore the country sent troops to fight in the Korean War (1950–1953). The resistance of the Turkish soldiers in Korea was closely monitored in Turkey. On this topic, many news, writings, poems, stories, and serial novels were published in different newspapers. For example, Peyami Safa, Yusuf Ziya Ortaç in Ulus, Ahmet Muhip Dranas, Aka Gündüz in Zafer, Behçet Kemal Çağlar, Feridun Fazıl Tülbentçi in Vatan, Etem İzzet Benice, Nizamettin Nazif in Son Telgraf, İsmail Hami Danişmend in Milliyet, and Hikmet Feridun Es in Hürriyet were some of the newspaper columns that mentioned the Korean War. Journals, such as Varlık, Kaynak, Orkun, Tanrıdağ, Ufuklar, and Türk Dili, included poetry and writings about the Korean War. In addition, Nazım Hikmet wrote critical poems. Apart from the stories and novels published in newspapers, the Korean War was mentioned in Faruk Güventürk’s novel and in Fahri Celal Göktulga’s storybook. In this study, in the light of the literary texts and the writings that we have obtained, we will try to determine how the war was reverberated in Turkish press and literature by emphasizing the attitudes of the different literary authors about the war.
After the end of the Second World War, Turkey wanted to be located within the Western Bloc and join the NATO. Consequently, Turkey was the first country after the United States (US) to respond positively to the request of the United Nations (UN) Security Council to send troops to the Korean War. Turkey, together with the United Kingdom (UK) and the US, sent the third largest military force to fight in Korea. A brigade of 4,500 soldiers comprising three infantry, one artillery battalion, and auxiliary troops were put under the UN’s orders to serve in Korea The battle began on June 25, 1950. The first Turkish brigade reached Korea on October 16, 1950, and got involved in the war. For three years, Turkish forces fought the war, and the losses were severe from both Korean and Turkish sides. The Korean War ended with a ceasefire signed on July 28, 1953, due to which 220,000 South Korean soldiers and one million Korean civilians lost their lives and five million people became homeless. As for Turkey, approximately 15,000 soldiers fought in the war, seven 720 of them lost their lives. The public and all the parties in the Turkish parliament were approached positively to send troops to Korea. The opposition parties criticized this decision, for it had been taken without a debate in the parliament. The news about the Korean War, which people actively followed, featured on the first pages of Turkish newspapers to inform the public about its important and decisive events. The resistance of the Turkish soldiers, in turn, particularly in the battle of Kunuri, which took place from 26 to 29 November, 1950, had wide repercussions for the rest of the world. The Turkish brigade was required to advance to the right of the UN Army in the Battle of Kunuri, despite the fact that the consequence of being alone on the frontline would cause the death of many soldiers due to guerrilla raids. Against this background, the Turkish brigade continued to resist and defend itself, and stopped the North Korean forces for three consecutive days, saving the US Eighth Army Division from being destroyed. Afterwards, news about the resistance of Turkish soldiers in Kunuri reached Turkey. Literature, which is not considered separately from the events that concern Turkey, has also considered the topic. The Korean War had broad repercussion for world literature, and famous literary authors of the period also included the topic in their newspaper columns. These examples, belongs to the writers that shared their opinions about the Korean War in the columns: Peyami Safa and Yusuf Ziya Ortaç in Ulus, Ahmet Muhip Dranas and Aka Gündüz in Zafer, Behçet Kemal Çağlar and Feridun Fazıl Tülbentçi in Vatan, Etem İzzet Benice and Nizamettin Nazif in Son Telgraf, İsmail Hami Danişmend in Milliyet, and Hikmet Feridun Es in Hürriyet. Only Peyami Safa and Etem Izzet Benice criticized the sudden acceptance of the decision to send troops to Korea by the decree of the Council of Ministers, since the decision had to be taken by gathering the parliament to discuss the matter, as required by the Turkish constitution. Apart from this, all the authors supported the involvement of Turkish soldiers in Korea. Many news, writings, poems, stories and serial novels about the Korean War were published in the newspapers. The Korean War began to be a topic of intense discussions in the country’s literary journals after September 1950, when Turkish soldiers began their journey to Korea. Yet, the newspapers had headlines about the war already from July 25, 1950, when the decision was made to send troops to Korea. Apart from the newspapers, journals such as Varlık, Kaynak, Orkun, Tanrıdağ, Ufuklar, and Türk Dili included poetry and writings about the war. Kaynak also prepared a special issue about the Korean War. Among these journals, the war was mentioned the most in Orkun. The writings published in Orkun specifically emphasized the Turkish-Chinese struggles in Turkish history. The Korean War was also a subject in literature, such as in the form of poetry. However, most of the books containing poetry were written by amateurs, as folk poets usually composed poetry about Korea during the war. All the authors generally supported the decision to join the Korean War. Nevertheless, Nazım Hikmet – who was in Russia at the time, and who also visited the different Eastern Bloc countries during the war – strongly opposed the Turkish government’s war policies, and by that, he also expressed his staunch criticism against the war in many of his poems. Apart from the stories and novels published in newspapers, the first novel The Northstar in Korea (published as a book about the Korean War) was written by Faruk Güventürk. Wind, in turn, the first storybook about the Korean War, was written by Fahri Celal Göktulga. In light of the literary texts and writings that we have obtained, we aim to determine how the war reverberated in the Turkish press and literature by examining the literary authors’ writings, as they were trying to express and form their opinions, and to make sense of the war as it was taking place in Korea.
