Tıp ve Edebiyatın Kesişimi

Bu yazı bir küçük bir ödev için hazırladığım bir yazı, iyi okumalar!

Günümüzde sağlık alanlarının dünya çapında yaşadığı sorunlardan biri, hastaların da insan olduğunun unutulması, hastaların kişiliklerini önemsememek ve kişisel tercihlerine önem vermemektir. Klinisyen olmak genellikle karmaşık analitik düşünmeyi gerektirir ve bir hastanın insani vasıflarının derinliklerine inmek, doktorların işlerini yapma yeteneklerini etkileyebilecek, dikkat dağıtıcı bir unsur olabilir (Searle, 2016).

Halbuki hastalar, duygusal varlıkları ve yaşamsal sorunları olan karmaşık insanlardır. Sağlık çalışanlarının en iyi bakımı sağlayabilmeleri için bu çoklu kişisel boyutları anlayabilmeleri ve takdir edebilmeleri gerekir (Conwill, 2013). İyi bir doktor olabilmek için hastaların kişisel özelliklerini anlamak, onların düşünceleriyle ve duygularıyla bağlantı kurmak önemlidir. Edebiyat, bu soruna bir çözüm sunar. Edebiyat, sağlık çalışanlarının, hastanın bakış açısına, hikayelerine ve hastalıklarına daha fazla değer vermelerini sağlayarak hekim ve hastanın arasındaki ilişkiyi geliştirip, güçlendirebilir.

Edebi eserler, sağlık çalışanlarına farklı düşünme tarzları, farklı kişileri tanıma fırsatları sunarak, onlara yeni bakış açıları sunar. T.S. Elliot’un dediği gibi “pek çok kitap okuyoruz çünkü yeterince insanı tanımıyoruz.” (Goodreads, T.S. Eliot Quotes, tarih yok). Doktorun, edebiyatla olan ilgisi, doktorun hastayla olan ilişkilerini etkiler. Doktorun hastayı nasıl dinlediği, söylediklerini nasıl algıladığı, ona hangi soruları sorduğunu etkiler. En sonunda ,iyi bir iletişim sayesinde, hastanın tedavisinin olumlu şekilde nihayete ermesini sağlar. Pek çok uzman, dikkatli dinlemenin daha iyi teşhis ve yaklaşımlara yol açabileceği konusunda hemfikirdir (Holloway, 2005).

Edebiyat ve tıbbın kesiştiği birçok çalışma vardır. Bunlar: doktorların kendi hastalarını anlattıkları kitaplar, doktor karakterleri içeren kitaplar, olayları hastanede yer alan hikayeler, sağlık ve hastalıktan bahseden eserler… Bunlar, hem doktorların hastalara ve hastalıklara bakış açılarını değiştirip, geliştirebilir hem de diğer okuyucuların doktorluğa ve hastalığa bakış açılarını geliştirir.

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for A Hat kitabında, Dr. Oliver Sacks nörolog olarak çalıştığı sürede, görüştüğü ve tedavi ettiği bazı hastalardan söz etmiştir (bu kitap hakkında ingilizcede yazdığım yazıyı okumak için buraya tıklayın!). Bir tıp öğrencisi ve geleceğin bir doktoru olarak, bu kitabı okuduğumda, farklı hasta tiplerini tanıma fırsatının yanı sıra, doktor olan Sacks’in hastalara nasıl davrandığını ve onlarla nasıl iletişim kurduğunu anlama şansım oldu. Bu tip kitapların, tıp öğrencilerinin ve doktorların mesleki hayatlarına uzun vadeli katkılarının olacağını düşünüyorum.

Edebiyat ve tıbbın kesiştiği başka bir eser, Albert Camus’un yazdığı ‘‘Veba’’ kitabıdır. Camus, Cezayir’de bir şehir olan Oran’da yaşanan ve Oranlıların birçoğunu öldüren salgın hastalığını anlatmıştır. Kitabın ana karakterlerinden olan Bernard Rieux , olayın cereyan ettiği bölgede hastaları tedavi etmeye çalışan bir doktordur. Dr. Rieux, pratik ve gerçekçi bir şekilde işini yapan bir adamdır. Ancak doktorluk, görevleri, ağır bir şekilde ona yüklüyordu. Hiçbir zaman hastaneden eve erken dönmüyordu, hastalarının yaşadığı acılara ve sıkıntılara şahitlik ediyor ama onlara duyduğu şefkatin yanı sıra duygularına hakim olabilmeye çalışıyordu, yoksa yaşam Dr. Rieux için mümkün olmazdı. Bu kitap, okuyuculara, bir doktorun hayatını yakından tanıma şansı sunar. Doktorların yaşadıkları bazı zorlukları öğrenmiş olurlar. Bu tip eserler olmasaydı, hastalar doktorların bakış açılarını başka nasıl öğrenebilirlerdi ki?

Verdiğim örneklere benzeyen şiir, roman ya da hikayeleri yazan William Carlos Williams, John Keats, Nawal El Saadawi, Khaled Hosseini, Friedrich Schiller gibi yüzlerce doktor örneği daha vardır. Tıp öğrencilerinin, edebi eserleri okumaları ve yazmaları teşvik edilmeli ki hem kendilerinin hem de doktor olmayan okuyucuların ufukları genişleyebilsin.

Dünya çapında, tıp fakülteleri, daha iyi doktorları yetiştirmek için tıp öğrencilerinin edebiyat gibi farklı sosyal bilimleri tanımaları gerektiğini anlamıştır. Bu nedenle ‘‘narrative medicine’’ başlığı altında dersler verilmeye başlandı. 

Sonuçta, Anne Hudson Jones’in dediği gibi, ‘‘hem hekim de şair de şifacı olabilir… tıp vücuda, şiir ruha hizmet eder’’(Jones, 1997). Oliver Sacks’ın bir sözüyle bitirmek istiyorum: ‘‘Teknolojik tıbbın yükselişiyle kişisel anlatıyı korumak, her hastayı kendi geçmişi ile uyum sağlama ve hayatta kalma stratejileri ile benzersiz bir varlık olarak görmek eşit derecede önemlidir. Teknik terimler gelişip değişebilse de , insan hastalıklarının ve sağlığının fenomenolojisi oldukça sabit kalır ve hasta bireylerin dikkatli ve ayrıntılı tanımları olan vaka geçmişi asla eskimez.’’ (Sacks).

Kaynakça

Conwill, M. (2013). The benefit of literature to a medical student . Hektoen International, A Journal of Medical Humanities.

Searle, C. (2016). Treating Patients as Human Beings. Retrieved from https://intermountainhealthcare.org/blogs/topics/transforming-healthcare/2016/12/treating-patients-as-human-beings/

Holloway, M. (2005, May 1). When Medicine Meets Literature. Retrieved from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/when-medicine-meets-liter/

Goodreads, T.S. Eliot Quotes. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/423486-we-read-many-books-because-we-cannot-know-enough-people

Sacks, O. (n.d.). The Man Who Mistook His Wife for A Hat.

Jones, A. H. (1997). Literature and medicine: physician-poets.

The Golgi – Cajal Conflict

This blogpost was posted on the blog of SIGN (Student Interest Group of Neurology) which is a student club run under HÜTBAT, the scientific research club at Hacettepe University, Faculty of Medicine, and which I’m a member of. Check out our other blogposts here!

In 1906, Camillo Golgi and Ramón y Cajal shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine “in recognition of their work on the structure of the nervous system”. This was quite an uncommon occasion in the history of the Noble prize, as Golgi and Cajal’s views on the arrangement of the nervous system were contrasting! While Golgi claimed that the nervous system was a continuous single network, defending the reticular theory, Cajal believed in the individuality of the nerve cell, coming up with the neuron doctrine. Golgi and Cajal’s discoveries were so significant that they marked the beginning of neuroscience as a discipline.

Camillo Golgi

Ramón y Cajal

Long before that, in 1839, the cell theory was developed by Theodor Schwann and Matth’as Jakob Schleiden, with contributions from Rudolf Virchow. The theory postulated that:

• All living organisms are composed of one or more cells.
• Cells are the most basic unit in life.
• All cells arise from pre-existing cells.

However, due to the complicated structure of nervous tissues, the histological methods at the time were not developed enough to allow scientists to stain and observe brain and spinal cells. Consequently, nervous tissues were not yet proven to obey the rules of the cell theory. The Purkinje cells which were already discovered, looked more like fibers than to what was then referred to as cells.

In 1873, Golgi’s discovery of the la reazione nera (the black reaction), nowadays called the Golgi stain, was considered a milestone in studying the composition of nervous tissues. When a nervous tissue is stained by this stain, only a small percentage of the cells are stained, making it possible to examine nerve cells and their processes.

Neuron cell stained with Golgi stain

Using this staining method, Golgi studied the structure of the nervous tissue. He claimed that nerve endings do not end freely, but continue with other nerve endings forming a plexus, thus defending the reticular theory.

Then came Cajal whose fascination of Golgi’s stain is evident when he says, “A look was enough. Dumbfounded, I could not take my eyes from the microscope!” and he continues, “What an unexpected sight! Sparse, smooth and thin black filaments or thorny, thick, triangular, stellate, or fusiform black cells could be seen against a perfectly translucent yellow background!”

Cajal immediately began using the stain in his laboratory studies. He modified and improved the stain and finally reached the conclusion that nerves were individual cells that don’t fuse with other cells in the nervous tissue, which is the complete opposite of what Golgi had proposed. Cajal’s discovery was called the “neuron doctrine”.

Golgi continued rejecting the cellular individuality of neurons, even in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech. 

But whose theory turned out to be the correct one?

Cajal’s. In the 1950s, the validity of his theory was formally proven with the use of the electron microscope. Even then, when the neuron doctrine became widely accepted, Golgi continued to defend the reticular theory.

Both Golgi and Cajal are two of the biggest names in neuroscience. Cajal’s work is considered one of the biggest contributions to understanding the constitution of the brain structure. He is now known as the father of modern neuroscience. Although he opposed Golgi, he had depended on Golgi’s histological method in his observations and studies.

References

Glickstein, M. (n.d.). Golgi and Cajal: The neuron doctrine and the 100th anniversary of the 1906 Nobel Prize.

Müller-Wille, S. (2010). Cell Theory, Specificity, and Reproduction, 1837–1870 .

Juan A.De Carlos, José Borrell. (2007). A historical reflection of the contributions of Cajal and Golgi to the foundations of neuroscience.

Larry W. Swanson, Gunnar Grant, Tomas Hökfelt, Edward G. Jones, and John H. Morrison. (2007). Introduction to A Century of Neuroscience Discovery: Reflecting on the Nobel Prize Awarded to Golgi and Cajal in 1906.

Warmflash, D. (2016). Santiago Ramón y Cajal and Camillo Golgi: The Two Fathers of Neuroscience.

Book Review: “The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat”

A fascinating and very beautifully written book. It’s a collection of case studies written by Oliver Sacks during the time he worked as a neurologist. He tells the stories of many of his patients that have bizzare neurological disorders.

I read this book at the same time when I had my nervous system committee at university. i.e the time of medical school where we learn about the anatomy, histology, physiology and biophysics of the nervous system. So it was interesting to learn about certain mental disorders at university and then correlating the information I had learned with real patients who have suffered from these same disorders.

This is the first book I read for Oliver Sacks and therefore my first encounter with his interesting perspective toward medicine and treatment. He values paying attention to the personal narratives of patients besides tackling the disease itself. This pretty much matches what we’ve been taught since day one of med school: listen to the patient, know his/her story and history. Oliver Sacks describes himself saying: “I feel myself a naturalist and a physician both; and that I am equally interested in diseases and people”. He deeply criticizes impersonal neurological sciences and treatments which have been rising since the past century.

Here are the stories of three of Dr. Sacks’s patients who have disorders we learned about this past month:

• Mrs. S had completely lost the idea of ‘left’ both with regard to her body and to everything else around her. For example she would complain that her portions are too small, that’s because she only ate the right half of the plate. She would put on makeup, only ont the right side of her face. And “it is almost impossible to treat these things, because her attention cannot be drawn to them.” This syndrome is called hemispatial neglect [1]. When we learned about it in physiology, the professor showed us this picture:

If you ask the patient: Do you see a woman or a man? He would answer a woman, because he can’t percieve the man on the left!

Here’s another example from a patinet with right side neglect.

The fist drawing (a) is the model picture. When the patient was asked to copy it he drew (b). He didn’t draw the right side because he could not perceive it.

• Sacks also descibes “phantom limbs”. In Phantom Limb Syndrome patients who have an amputed limb experience sensations in the limb that had been amputed! The syndrome is actually quite common, occuring in 80-100% of amputees [2].
• Another patient, Christina, completely lost her sense of proprioception, i.e. lost all muscle, tendon and joint senses, meaning that she lost the sense of her body. With therapy and practice, she learned how to do things using only her eyes becoming completely dependent on vision. For example, if she didn’t look at her hand, she had no idea where it was in space.

The book is full of examples just as interesting as the ones I’ve mentioned. It is obvious from the book that Sacks takes the time to get to know his patients. He values their preferences and comes up with personalized treatments for them. He treats not only the pathology but thinks of every patient as a whole individual. He criticizes some practices in medicine and says: “We paid far too much attention to the defects of our patients… and far too little to what was intact or preserved… we were far too concerned with ‘defectology’, and far too little with ‘narratology’.” Sacks humanizes his patients, “restoring the human subject at the center” of medical treatments.

It would have been nice if the author had described the physiological reasons behind all these disorders as he didn’t talk much about that. However I highly recommend reading the book, it’s definitely a must-read.

Anıtkabir

بعد وفاة مصطفى كمال أتاتورك، مؤسس الجمهورية التركية، في قصر دولمه بهجة في إسطنبول، نقلت جثته إلى متحف Etnoğrafya Müzesi، لكن اتفق على ضرورة إنشاء ضريح كبير يضم جثته.

اتفق على اختيار أنقرة مكاناً للضريح، كونها العاصمة التي عاش فيها أتاتورك وأحبّها، واقتُرح بناء الضريح في مواقع عديدة من العاصمة التركية، من ضمنها قلعة أنقرة، لكن الاختيار وقع على هضبة راسيتيبي Rasattepe كونها هضبة عالية تُرى من بعيد وتقع وسط المدينة بالضبط.

المنظر كما يبدو من الهيكل

بعد اختيار المكان، أزيلت الكثير من القبور التي تعود لبعض سكان الأناضول قديماً.

نقلت القبور وما احتوتها من جثامين وأغراض دفنت معها إلى متحف الحضارات الأناضولية.

استمر بناء هيكل Anıtkabir الذي يضم في مبانيه الضخمة وطرقاته وزواياه أحجاراً جيء بها من مختلف دول العالم، تسعة أعوام.

في العاشر من تشرين الثاني عام ١٩٥٣، نقل جثمان أتاتورك من المتحف الذي كان يرقد فيه إلى Anıtkabir في احتفال كبير شارك فيه رئيس الوزراء آنذاك عدنان مندريس.

في Anıtkabir رمزية عالية للوطن والتضحية والوفاء، ومن ذلك على سبيل المثال “طريق الأسود” الذي يضم على كلا طرفيه ٢٤ أسداً صممت هياكلها على طريقة الحيثيين الذين سكنوا الأناضول قديماً وأسسوا حضارة كبيرة فيها.

ترمز الأسود للقوة، لكنها جُعلت جالسة مثل القطط الأليفة كرمز للسلام.

تتجاور الأسود أسدين أسدين  رمزاً إلى وحدة الأمة التركية.

طريق الأسود معبدة بحجارة متباعدة عن بعضها، وهو عمل هندسي مقصود يستدعي بالضرورة أن ينظر الزائر إلى الأرض، يتحسس مواطئ قدمه حتى لا يقع. مما يظهره في حالة خشوع في حضرة المقام المهيب.

طريق الأسود

في Anıtkabir عشرة أبراج سميت بأسماء بعض المفاهيم المهمة التي شكلت الجمهورية التركية وهي:

• برج الاستقلال

• برج الحرية

• برج الثورة

• برج الجمهورية

• برج السلام

• برج ٢٣ نيسان (ذكرى تأسيس مجلس الأمة التركي الكبير “البرلمان”)

• برج الميثاق الوطني

• برج النصر

• برج مهمتشك (Mehmetçik) (تصغير محمد باللغة التركية، وهو مصطلح يستخدم في تركيا بمودة وحب، ويقصد به جنود الجيش العثماني والتركي)

• برج “مدافعة الحقوق” (مجموعة من الجمعيات العثمانية التي تأسست بين العامين ١٩١٨ و١٩١٩)

في Anıtkabir كذلك تعرض الكثير من أغراض أتاتورك الشخصية و٣١١٨ كتاباً من كتبه، وبعض الهدايا التي أهديت إليه وإلى ضريحه.

جانب من كتب أتاتورك المعروضة

Anıtkabir اليوم واحدٌ من أهم معالم أنقرة، يقصدها السائحون الأجانب كما الأتراك، ويزدحم المكان بالأتراك على مدار العام وخاصة في الأعياد الوطنية، حيث، كما يقول أحد معارفنا في تركيا منتقداً “يحجّ الناس إلى الضريح”..

المكان اليوم ليس مجرد ضريح لزعيم قومي، بل هو بمثابة رمز يمثل الوحدة والقوة والقومية التركية، بل إنه أصبح مقصداً للتبرك وتقديم الهدايا والقرابين، كما أنه مقصد الشباب والطلاب في رحلاتهم المدرسية والكشفية. Anıtkabir من الأماكن التي تظهر فيها عناية الدولة التركية بها جلية واضحة.

عزيز سنجار مثال بسيط على ذلك، فهو تركي حاز على جائزة نوبل في الكيمياء، وقد أهدى ميداليته للضريح، وليس غريباً أن يزور الضريحَ الأطباء في عيدهم، والأطفال في مناسباتهم، والخريجون يوم تخرجهم، والسائحون ومحبو الجمهورية طيلة أيام السنة..

لن تجد في أرجاء المكان الواسع أو أمام الضريح من يقرأ عل روحه الفاتحة، ولكنك ستجد فيه حتماً شباباً يهتفون للجمهورية ومؤسسها.

على كلٍ، زرت المكان ثلاث مرات حتى الآن، وأنصح كل مارٍ بأنقرة بزيارته!

Flying Home During the Coronavirus Pandemic

Two weeks ago, I came back home after Middle East Airlines announced that there will be an evacuation flight for Lebanese in Turkey from Istanbul to Beirut on the 11th of June.

This trip was different. I was excited to see the measures taken against COVID-19 and experience traveling in the days of the pandemic.

Before my flight to Beirut I had to take the coronavirus PCR test at least 72 hours before the flight. (Learn more about the different coronavirus tests here. If you have to take it, no need to worry about it! It’s slightly uncomfortable, but it’s really quick).

When the test was over, all I had left to do was book a plane from Ankara to Istanbul and pack my bags.

The trip was very long and tiring. First, I took a bus to Ankara’s Esenboğa airport. To ensure social distancing, more than half of the seats on the bus were left empty.

Bus to Ankara’s airport

The airport in Ankara was pretty empty.

They didn’t even bother to turn all the lights on 😁

The flight from Ankara to Istanbul was a Turkish Airlines flight, the plane was pretty empty. Only the window seats were occupied, which I thought was great.

No handbags were allowed on the plane, no food was served and hygiene kits were handed out.

Turkish Airlines has The Quran and documentaries about Islam which is nice 🙂

The airport in Istanbul was also empty. Hand sanitizers were everywhere and the airport staff was there to ensure social distancing and to make sure everyone was wearing a mask. I was even sitting in a corner with a group of Lebanese and one of them took her mask off to eat some chocolate, one of the airport staff came toward us and asked her to wear her mark on 😂.

The plane from Istanbul to Beirut was run by Middle East Airlines. Before checking in, our PCR test results were checked.

The plane was huge and completely full. I didn’t see a single empty seat. Masks were handed out before boarding.

As soon as the plane landed, and for some reason, many immediately stood up and starting moving around, taking their bags and getting ready to leave. Flight attendants tried to make passengers sit back since the plane hadn’t completely landed yet and was still shaking. Many started shouting, even yelling at the flight attendants. Everything was hectic!

In Beirut’s airport everyone was even more angry and no one was giving the staff’s instructions any attention.

Social distance was completely forgotten!

In the airport we filled a couple of forms regarding the place we live in in Turkey, the house in which we plan to spend our 14-days home-quarantine and our contact information. Our luggage and clothes were disinfected and we were free to go!

I tried waiting for my parents inside the airport, but was asked to wait outside. No one was allowed to stay inside to prevent crowding.

My 14-day quarantine ends tomorrow. I was expecting to receive phone calls and check-ups from The Ministry of Health or something to make sure I’m staying at home, but no one did.

Yaman was there to see me too ❤️

Ramadan and Eid Under Quarantine at Mavera

This is the second Ramadan I spend in away from home. While I had face-to-face classes, had almost all of my iftars out, prayed tarawih at the mosque every night last Ramadan, I spent this Ramadan and the Eid that followed under quarantine like everyone else.

I wasn’t feeling very well the first 9 or 10 days of Ramadan, so I barely read any Kuran, prayed tarawih, and didn’t study at all. but I got better Alhamdullilah.

In this post, I share with you all a glimpse of what Ramadan and Eid were like this year, here in my dorm, Mavera, under quarantine with a group of lovely girls I’m lucky to have as dorm-mates.

On the night just before Ramadan, thanks to Amira, we decorated the dorm, from the hallways to the cafeteria…

Our friend Amira’s lantern

The dorm’s cafeteria

Although mosques all around the country were closed so we couldn’t pray tarawih at the mosque, and although all restaurants were closed and no one got a single iftar invitation, this Ramadan was exceptionally nice. I got the chance to get to know many girls whom I’ve been living in the same place with for a year or more but never got the chance to get to know them. Suhoors and iftars were great as we all had them all together every day. I especially enjoyed the last ten days were we prayed tarawih all together at night.

We also read Quran daily with a dear friend all the way from Kazakhistan.

Quran afternoons

However, Ramadan came to an end very fast. Everyone I talk to from relatives to friends says the same thing 😦

On the morning of Eid, we prayed the Eid prayer together at the dorm and then sat together, ate sweets and just sat for a while, which was nice.

Cake!

Our friend Abla even gave everyone a “عيدية”! (Egyptians are just so cute!). Aaaand I tried Karak for the first time (I think it’s a mixture of tea and milk), and I LOVED it. I think I’ll start making it at home.

And here are our family pictures for this Eid (I’m the one on Sena’s laptop obviously):

Lastly, my favorites, Riffu and Yaman:

أنقرة: الانطباع الأول

مذكرَّات ٢٤ تشرين الأوَّل ٢٠١٨

هو يومي السابع في أنقرة. المدينة جميلة ولطيفة جداً.

أناسها لطيفون، يردون بالسلام ويبتسمون عندما يمرون بجانبك..

الكثير من الناس يدخنون، بشكل لافت جداً، نساء ورجالاً وشباباً..

طيور المدينة غريبة وجميلة..

مصطفى كمال حاضر في كل مكان. أعني كل مكان.

في أسماء المدارس وعلى جدران الصيدليات والدكاكين..

أجد غياباً في المظاهر الإسلامية. الكثير من نساء المدينة بدون حجاب.. المطاعم ملأى بالرجال وقت صلاة الجمعة.

أم أنني لاحظت ذلك لمقارنتي إيَّاها بإسطنبول..؟

أضيف أن غروب شمسها جميل جداً..

أنقرة كما تبدو من قلعتها

Lebanese Youth, Crazy Apricots and Dying Rabbits

This article has been sitting in my drafts for quiet some time now. In November of 2019, I got a chance to meet people from Turkey, Lebanon, Iraq, Morocco, Jordan, Palestine, and Kurdistan, to discuss problems and expectations of youth. Spending five days with them in Turkey was one of the top highlights of my year.

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Lebanon, all the way from Sakarya!

I got accepted to “Fikir Atölyesi: Problems and Expectations of Youth in MENA” held in Sakarya University. The experience was enlightening, informative, and lots of fun. I got to visit Turkey again (it’s always a joy to go to Turkey), I got to write and present about Lebanese youth and the revolution, and best of all, I did all that with such interesting company.

Lebanese Youth took the streets, diverting their history

Participants presented under a wide range of titles ranging from unemployment, to addiction, gender equality, and political participation to name a few. It was refreshing to see youth from all those countries coming together to discuss such pressing topics.

The presentations encouraged positive discussion on problems that youth face, and ways in which they could be tackled. The experience left me with great memories, new friendships, and insight into Turkish fruits and traditional dance.

If any crazy apricot or dying rabbit is reading this: it was truly a pleasure meeting you. Thank you for all the fun and memories, and I hope we meet again someday.

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  Sakarya University

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  Taksim, Istanbul

Below are some slides from my presentation on youth problems, expectations, and protests that started in Lebanon last October:

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زخاريف جدران بيروت الثائرة

عربي | English | Türkçe

Diary entry – October 25, 2019:

It’s day 9 of the protests. People refuse to leave the streets, it’s a very strong movement. No one is talking about anything other than it. Everyone is on the streets. I am troubled because eventually, these protests will end, and 10 years later this revolution will have become history, a history I didn’t take part in making…

Günlük kaydı – 25 Ekim, 2019:

Protestoların dokuzuncu gün bugün. Insanlar sokaklardan çekilmiyorlar, çok güçlü protestolar bunlar. Kimse ondan başka konuşmuyor. Herkes sokaklardadır. Rahatsızım. Sonunda, protestolar sona erecek. 10 sene sonra bu devrim artık tarih olacak, benim katılamadığım bir tarih…

I spent last weekend with my family in Beirut, which I haven’t visited for almost five months. We wandered the streets where the protests took place, and still are. Walking through Beirut’s downtown seeing what was left of the tents protesters built, the graffiti the artists of Beirut wrote and the sculptures they made, seeing the broken glass and vacant streets, I had a mixture of feelings I’m not able to explain. Not being able to be on those streets when a lot of people were, and not being able to be with those fighting for a better country for all of us makes me really sad. I hope we’ll all be able to benefit our Lebanon in one way or another..

Wandering through the streets of Beirut Downtown, I took some photos of the graffiti written by protesters, enjoy reading them 🙂

Bu hafta sonunu ailemle yaklaşık 5 aydır ziyaret etmediğim Beyrut’ta geçirdim. Protestoların yer aldığı sokaklarda dolaşma şansım oldu. Beyrut’ta gezerken, göstericilerin kurdukları terk edilmiş çadırlar, yazdıkları duvar yazıları ve yaptıkları heykelleri görüncü, anlatamadığım duygularım vardı. Bu sokaklar protestocularla dopdoluyken, ve bunca insan daha iyi bir ülke için mücadele ederken, aralarında olamadığımdan üzgündüm. Umarım ki hepimiz Lübnan’ımıza bir şekilde faydalı olabiliriz..

Beyrut’un şehir merkezinde dolaşırken, bazı duvar yazılarının fotoğraflaını çekmiştim. Burada sizlerle paylaşıyorum.

“Hello! Where are the money?” – ”Alo! Para nerde?”

إلغاءعفو عام ١٩٩١ وكتابة الجزء الناقص من كتاب التاريخ – Cancel the 1991 amnesty and write the missing part of history books – 1991 yılındaki afı iptal etmek ve tarih kitaplarının yazılmamış kısmı yazmak

”İnsanlara adalet yoksa, hükümete huzur olmasın”

”Devrim sokaklarda, gönüllerde başlar” – “الثورة تبدأ في الشوارع/في القلوب”

“Your walls let me breathe” – ”Duvarlarınız nefes almamı sağlıyor”

“You lived, and so Lebanon died” – ”Siz yaşadınız, böylelikle Lübnan öldü”

“Beirut is ours” – ”Beyrut bizimdir”

“It will fall” – ”Düşecek”

”Hürriyet” – “حرية”

” الثورة ما بتجي مع دليل إرشادات” – “The revolution doesn’t have a user guide”

“Palestine says: Those who repress Beirut do not free Jerusalem” – ”Filistin diyor ki: Beyrut’u bastıranlar Kudüs’ü kurtaramaz”

“Love and peace” – ”Sevgi vs barış”

“Revolution till the last breath” – ”Son nefese dek devrim”

مين اللي قال الأحمر اللي على العلم دمي، الأحمر اللي على العلم دمَّك – ”Who told you the red of the flag is my blood? The red of the flag is your blood” – ”Kim size söyledi ki bayraktaki kırmızı benim kanım? Bayraktaki kırmızı sizin kanınız”

ما في حزب ما في لون كلنا ضدك ميشال عون

“Revolution” – ”Devrim”

”Ölümümden önce Lübnan’ı yaşatın!” – “دعوا لبنان يعيش قبل أن أموت”

“From Baghdad to Beirut: One revolution that won’t die” – ”Bağdat’tan Beyrut’a, ölmeyen bir devrim”

“إننا لنرى رؤوس أموال قد أينعت و وحان قطافها وإن الشعب لقاطفها”

Talk About Palestine | تكلموا عن فلسطين | Filistin’i Konuşun

English | عربي | Türkçe

تمر ذكرى مجزرة صبرا وشاتيلا التي قتلت فيها قوات الاحتلال وحلفاؤها في يومين أكثر من ٣٠٠٠ فلسطينياً ولبنانياً، لكن شهيد منهم عائلة ووطن وآمال.

يسألني شاب أفريقي: “من أين أنت؟”

– من لبنان.

– همم لبنان.. *ينظر إلى هاتفه ليبحث عن لبنان لأنه لم يسمع به من قبل*

 – آه لبنان! قرب سوريا والأردن وإسرائيل

– فلسطين

– ماذا؟

– هي فلسطين وليست إسرائيل

– لكن الخريطة تقول “إسرائيل”

The anniversary of Sabra and Shatila Massacre passes. Sabra and Shatila which the Israelis and their allies killed more than 3000 Palestinian and Lebanese people, each one of them having a family, a country and many many dreams.

An African friend asks me: “Where are you from?”

• Lebanon, I reply
• Hmm, Lebanon… *Looks at his phone to check where it’s located because he’s never heard of it*
• Ah Lebanon. So that’s near Syria, Jordan and Isreal
• Palestine
• Sorry?
• It’s Palestine, not Isreal
• But “Google Maps” says it’s “Isreal”

Sabra ve Şatila Katliamının yıldönümü geldi. Orada İsrail ordusu ve onun müttafikleri tarafından 3000’den fazla Filistinli ve Lübnanlı öldürüldü. Her ölenin bir ailesi, bir vatanı ve birçok hayali vardı.

Afrikalı bir arkadaş bana “Nerelisin?” diye sordu. Lübnanlıyım diye cevap verdim. Hmm, Lübnan… (Lübnan’ın nerede olduğunu öğrenmek için telefonuna baktı çünkü daha önce Lübnan’ı hiç duymamıştı). ”Ah Lübnan… Yani o Suriye, Ürdün ve İsrail’in yanında.’’ Dedi haritaya bakınca. ‘’Filistin’’ diye düzelttim.

• Efendim?
• Filistin, İsrail değil
• Ama Google Haritasında İsrail yazılıyor

يمر عقدين من الزمن على استشهاد محمد الدرة بين يدي والديه على يدي قوات الاحتلال…

يأتي شاب إيراني يحدثنا عن الأغنية الجديدة للفنان الإسرائيلي فلان. فنان إسرائيلي…

Two decades have passed since Muhamad Al Durra was killed by an Isreali soldier in the arms of his father…

An Iranian guy comes telling us about the new song that this “Isreali artist” made… Israeli artist…

Muhammet Dura’nın babasının kollarında olduğu sırada bir İsrailli asker tarafından öldürülmesini anıyoruz.

Bir İranlı bize herhangi bir  “İsrailli şarkıcı”nın yeni çıkardığı şarkıyı anlatıyor.. İsrailli şarkıcı..

تمر ذكرى مجزرة دير ياسين:

تشويه جثث الشهداء ببتر أعضائها.

بقر بطون الحوامل مع المراهنة على جنس الجنين.

استشهاد ٢٥٤ فلسطينياً معظمهم من الأطفال والنساء والشيوخ.

أثناء حديثي مع فتاة مغربية أذكر أن لبنان أصغر من فلسطين مساحةً.. ليتبين أن صديقتنا لم تفهم إن كنت أقصد فلسطين، أي من النهر للبحر، أم فلسطين أي الضفة وقطاع غزة.

Deyr Yassin Masscare’s memory passes.

Where many martyrs’ corpses where deformed for fun.

Where Isreali soldiers deformed pregnant women to guess if the fetus was a boy or a girl… for fun.

Where 254 Palestinian was killed, most of which were kids, women and old people.

While talking to a Moroccon girl, I tell her that Lebanon is a much smaller country than Palestine. Turns out our friend did not know if I mean Palestine as from the river to the sea, or Palestine as in Gaza and the West Bank.

Deyr Yassin Katliamını anıyoruz.

Şehitlerin naaşları zarar gördü.

Eğlenceli olsun diye ceninlerin cinsiyeti tahmin etmek için, hamile kadınlara zarar verildi.

Çoğunluğu çocuklar, kadınlar ve yaşlılar olan 254 Filistinli şehit düştü.

Faslı bir kızla konuşurken, Lübnan’ın Filistin’den alan olarak daha küçük olduğundan bahsetmiştim. Sonra öğrendim ki o arkadaşım, nehirden denize olan Filistin’den mi yoksa Gazze ve Batı Şeriadaki Filistin’den mi bahsettiğimi anlamamıştı.

الناس اعتادوا على الاحتلال. لا أتحدث عن أناس درسوا في ثانويات أمريكية ولا عن أناس عاشوا حياتهم في أوروبا. أتحدث عن أناسنا نحن، أتحدث عن السوريين والمغربيين واللبنانيين والمصريين والفلسطينيين والأتراك الذين بدأوا بقبول فكرة الاحتلال كواقع مفروض علينا القبرل به.

People got used to Isreal. I am not talking about people who have achieved their eduction in American high school or have spent their whole lives in Europe, I am talking about our people, I’m talking about the Syrians, Moroccans, Lebanese, Egyptians, Palestinians and Turks who have started to see the Isrealian occupation as a reality that we have to accept.

İnsanlar İsrail işgaline alıştılar. Ne Amerika’daki okullarda okuyanlardan ne de bütün hayatını Avrupa’da geçirenlerden bahsediyorum. Sadece bizim insanlarımızdan bahsediyorum. İsrail kaçınılmaz bir gerçeklik olarak kabul etmeye başlayan Suriyeli, Faslı, Lübnanlı, Mısırlı, Filistinli ve Türklerden bahsediyorum.

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في عالم يسوده الجهل وتخفى فيه الحقائق، حدثوا عن فلسطين ما استطعتم…

In a world where ignorance has taken over, and where the truth is hidden, talk about Palestine as much as you can…

Cehaletin yayıldığı ve gerçeğin saklandığı bir dünyada konuşabildiğiniz kadar Filistin’i konuşun.