TEHRAN -- Turkish translator Veysel Basci talks of his interest in the Persian language and the translation of Persian literary works into Turkish.

“It was eight years ago when I came to Iran to study Persian language and literature at the University of Tehran and began to translate in order to learn Persian more quickly, but later I found out that I could do translation professionally and seriously pursued it,” he told the Persian service of ISNA.
He continued, “I found this interest when I came to Iran. Unfortunately, after the Islamic Revolution, not many Turkish students came to Iran, and there were only a few who used to do the translation before the revolution. Those translators also have retired and now at this time, there are very few translators left.
“There are not more than 40 Turkish students studying Persian in Iran, while 3,000 students are studying in Istanbul. There are several reasons for this. Some prefer not to come to Iran because of political issues and the negative propaganda against Iran. Cultural relations between the two countries were much better before but now some people in Turkey believe that Iran is an Arab country and ask me if I learned Arabic while I was there.
“So we felt the need to learn Persian. In Turkey, there are translations of all kinds of books published in the world. We translate five or six works from modern Persian literature into Turkish every year. Works by Sadeq Hedayat, Mehdi Akhavan-Sales, Sohrab Sepehri, and Ahmad Shamlu were previously translated by prominent figures like Mohamed Kanar, translator of the Persian-Turkish dictionary and Mustafa Çiçekler, head of the Persian Department of Istanbul University.
On his interest in Persian poetry, he said, “I like Persian poetry, especially poets like Sadi, Hafez and Molana Rumi. I think Persian classic poetry is better than classic prose. Among the contemporary writers I like Hushang Golshiri, Sadeq Hedayat, and Abbas Marufi.
“About female writers, I can say Iranian authors mostly pay attention to feministic concepts in their stories, or maybe I just feel this way. Of course, they have the right to put forth their ideas,” he commented.
He then talked about Molana Jalal ad-Din Rumi and said, “When someone like Molana did not consider himself to belong any culture or any specific land, so why must we restrict him to a specific land? Molana belongs to all nations.
“Some people have their feelings of nationalism, but I don’t believe in these concepts. I don’t think about the identity of Molana, I only think about what he has said. Maybe Molana is buried in Konya but his spirit is here or can be anywhere else,” he concluded.
Translation of a selection of poems by Mohammadreza Shafiei Kadkani, works by Iranian contemporary writer Mostafa Mastoor’s “Pig’s Bone and Leper’s Hands” and “Kiss the Lovely Face of God” into Turkish, as well as Iranian classics “Tarikh-e Jahangosha-ye Joveyni” and “Resale-ye Sepahsalar” are among Basci’s credits.
His wife, Nezahat Basci, is also preparing 50 stories selected from both classic and contemporary Persian literature for her fellow children in a collection named “A Collection of Iranian Stories.”