Well, I think mr Erdoğan's “kind words” about Finland and Sweden are not unexpected. Mr Erdoğan is not only a dictator, but also an international blackmailer. He isn't much different from Putin: he uses the strategic position of Turkey just like Putin uses his gas and natural resources. He's definitely a criminal and a terrorist, but a criminal in the OTAN and his blackmail on Finland and Sweden, which are so eager to enter OTAN and renounce their historical neutrality, is a dilemma for both. What to do? You want to become OTAN members? Well, give us back our Kurds you so kindly protect in your Putin-frightened countries, we'll exterminate them, and then you can become members of anything you want. This is very simple and, I repeat, not at all unexpected. Now, you have to choose, and your choice could be very harmful to people who sought for refuge in you countries against death and/or lifelong... (continuer)

Not unexpected but a little bit surprising since my guess was that the first one to make a hearty statement like this would be Mr. Orbán, the great leader of our brother nation Hungary, who has openly declared to be a close friend to Mr. Putin, the great leader of our eastern neighbor Russia whose existence is currently threatened by the hords of Ukrainian Nazis.

Hello everybody,

Could someone please submit the original Turkish lines of this poem from the novel Yaşamak Güzel Şey Be Kardeşim? Due to my non-existing Turkish skills I'm unable to trace them myself.

Sincerely yours,

Juha Rämö

@ Juha Rämö

Hello Juha! As you can see, I have added Nâzım Hikmet’s original verses in Turkish from his novel “Life is a Beautiful Thing, my Brother!” (1962). I have also added an Italian translation and an English translation of N.H.’s verses. The English translation you submitted to this site is a rather free and poetical version. The Turkish poem is much simpler. Note: I have translated “sevda” as “love”, but this is rather a verbal noun and, maybe, a better translation could be: “loving”.

See you, and thanks!

@ Riccardo Venturi

Dear Riccardo,

Thank you very much for the original Turkish verses by Nâzım Hikmet. The Finnish songtext by Brita Polttila undoubtedly differs from the original Turkish lines. The contents are there, but the structure is different as is that of my English and Swedish translations. I wonder if this page should be restructured by replacing Olen kommunisti with Hikmet’s original verses and adding the rest of the page content as translations of the two. I don’t know if Hikmet’s text has been set to music, though.

Could you please replace the introduction of my contribution with the following:

Traduzione inglese dei versi di Nâzım Hikmet / English translation of Nâzım Hikmet's verses / Traduction anglaise des verses de Nâzım Hikmet / Nâzım Hikmetin säkeiden englanninkielinen käännös: Mutlu Konuk Blasing

Yours sincerely,

Juha

@ Juha Rämö

First of all, a service communication: my old mailbox is no longer available. My new e-mail address is: info.riccardoventuri@protonmail.com. Please use it for all purposes.

I have replaced the introduction of your contribution. As for your proposal to modify this page according to Nâzım Hikmet’s original Turkish verses, I did some research and found that they have never been set to music and/or sung. Apart from this, I think this page is and should remain dedicated to a Finnish song written by Brita Polttila and performed by Agit Prop, although based on Hikmet's verses included in his novel. In practice, it is the same case as Pete Seeger’s well known I Come and Stand at Every Door, which is also based on a poem by Nâzım Hikmet. Of course, no page of this website is definitive; but, for the moment, I prefer that this page remains as it is, i.e. focused on a Finnish song.

By the way, I wonder if perhaps it would be better to attribute the song to Agit-Prop. Please let me know what you think.

Best regards, RV

Dear Admin,

The Finnish lyrics contain a humorous mistake. In the fourth line from bottom, it reads purkka-armeija which in English is bubblegum army. The correct Finnish word is hurtta-armeija, an army of bloodhounds. I have corrected this and a couple of other mistakes. I would be grateful if you replaced the existing Finnish lyrics with the ones below.

Thanks a lot,

JR