Haydar posted his poem on YouTube. In it he remembered Russian poets and activists, as well as Soviet citizens who gave their lives in the struggle against Nazism.
At the end, Haydar appealed to the family of the deceased pilot of the Russian Su-24. He said, “Bowing my knees, I beg forgiveness from the mother of Oleg Peshkov.”
The whole poem translated from Turkish is presented below.
“I, the Turkish poet Hüseyin Haydar,
I have witnessed dark and shameful acts,
However, I am sure that they will judge all of the damned villains.
It is unthinkable, but this crime
Happened in front of everyone, and my fault is,
I could have tried; I could try to stop him,
But, unfortunately, I realized it late.
I, the Turkish revolutionary Hüseyin Haydar,
To every Russian, to all the people: I'm sorry.
Courage of the Russian mountains, plains and steppes
Forgive me, the land of the great Lenin.
Before our eyes were torn fraternal bonds,
All this happened in front of me.
I might, I could have prevented it,
Reckless we were not, that is only our fault,
That we are not masters of our own country,
That the fatherland torch shines so little.
And so I turn to Eurasia and Turkey,
In songs and in prayers forgiveness I ask
From Mayakovsky and Gorky,
From Ivan soviet who protected
From Nazis his land.
I ask for Pardon from country heroes
Women, men, children and the elderly,
Of 23 million people who died
And Gagarin who accomplished his feat,
And the Soviet brother that gave us his hand
In our great national war.
Of Simona Aralova (authorized representative of the RSFSR in Turkey —RT) I ask forgiveness
And Russian women, who lasted through the war,
All those who have generosity of their soul
Showered blessings in a difficult moment.
I ask forgiveness of the Russian peasants,
Of the Russian revolutionary.
In the presence of all those who died in the war,
In the presence of thousands of rifles and shotguns
I state boldly:
I, the Turkish poet Hüseyin Haydar,
I admit I'm guilty, turning my head to the light.
I could not from shame save my country
Great Russian people, forgive me for it.
And bowing my knees, I beg forgiveness from the mother of Oleg Peshkov.”
Hüseyin Haydar is a famous Turkish poet and laureate of national awards; his work is printed in a variety of literary magazines across the country.
In 1983, the publishing house “Yazko” published his second collection of poems “Black songs.” In 1987, the publishing house “Jam” released a collection of “The Star eclipse” and a collection of poems, “The body of water” by the publishing house “Adam” which was published in 1992.
After he released his poem, students of Istanbul University and Istanbul Technical University organized a protest, during which they read aloud poems by the poet. The students of the two universities read verses by Haydar on Taksim Square in central Istanbul and around the Bosporus; they made a video and posted it on YouTube expressing their solidarity with the poet.
