Magin_Edward-thesis

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contact with poets. Indeed, my first drive into looking for Kurdish literature at that time
was the feeling of Kurdishness. And Kurdishness means “the feeling of being a Kurd” or
the feeling that I am a Kurdish man and I have the right to be like all the people who have
their freedom and independence―and one of the markers of our cultural identity is our
language and our literature. Because, as you know―and I think we talked about this
subject last time―we have a very big problem, which is the Kurdish problem. Kurdistan
is divided into four pieces and is ruled by four foreign countries, four foreign
governments: Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Syria. The drive was patriotic. This was my drive to
look for our Kurdish literature. And when I was in the college, I started to write some
simple poems about Kurdistan and about our rights, and these simple poems became
songs. The students, Kurdish students in the university in Baghdad―not in Kurdistan,
because at that time we did not have a university here―the Kurdish students started to
sing these poems, and that’s why I felt very happy and encouraged to write more. Yes.
So, this was my start with Kurdish literature.
EM: You mentioned Ahmed Cezîrî and Ahmed Xanî. Who are your favorite
poets, and why do you like them?
BS: Yes. I can’t say who is my favorite, Ahmed Xanî or Melaye Cezîrî. I love
both of them, but I love Ahmed Cezîrî as a poet of poetry technique and a poet of love
and emotional feeling. And I love Ahmed Xanî as a man who addressed the Kurdish
issue, because he was a patriotic poet and he had philosophical ways in thinking. So we
can consider Ahmed Xanî one of the best Kurdish thinkers. He was so clever in bringing
logic and thoughts into the poem. So really, I respect both of them. And I can say that if I
am a poet, I can say I am a student of two teachers―Ahmed Xanî and Melaye Cezîrî.
EM: Well, I think you’re a poet. Many people are reading your work, for sure.
Can you speak about changes that have occurred in Bahdini poetry, both good and bad?
BS: Actually, because of the political situation, most of our poets of this
generation, and the young poets―they didn’t read the classic literature and they have no
idea about what has been written before now. Because most of this literature was