Written by Engin Erkiner
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Embarrassment, being withdrawn, not being able to reproduce oneself are common in political exiles. Those who haven't even learned to make a few sentences in the language of the country they live in for years are not few. They live with their memories, they are constantly interested in the country and people they had to leave, this interest fills their whole lives. Years later, they realize that time has passed and that they have not been able to do anything remarkable in the country they have been living in for years. This is a sad situation and has happened to many political exiles. Creative exile means continuing to produce theoretical and/or practice in exile. Exile has been an integral part of the life of socialists for many years. Marx spent years in exile in France, Belgium and England. It is here that he writes Capital and other important works. Lenin was in exile in Switzerland from 1907 to 1917. He writes materialism and empiriocriticism here. The Germans, who experienced the most documented exile of the 20th century, have significant creative exiles. Adorno and Horkheimer of the Frankfurt School write the Dialectic of Enlightenment, which will be among the important works of the 20th century in the USA. Anna Seghers is forced to go to France first and then to Mexico and writes her well-known novel, Transit. Nazım Hikmet should be counted first and foremost among the exiles in Turkey. Having to leave his country does not prevent him from producing. Another important name is Yılmaz Güney. He continues to be the director and receives an award. Memed Uzun writes novels in Sweden, far from Turkey of the 1980s and after, when Kurdish was considered a non-existent language. Another important name of the exiles in Europe is Doğan Özgüden, who lives in Belgium. He continues his journalism and opposition without a break in exile. Many people perish or perish in exile, but there are also a small number of creative exiles. Being away from your country is not a reason for not being able to produce. The difficulties of producing may have increased, but they can be overcome. For 20-25 years, the concept of distance has changed. With the great increase in communication opportunities, instant communication has emerged not only with people in the country left behind, but also with those living in any part of the world. Access to information made easy. The possibilities of self-development and reproduction have expanded beyond compare with the past. If you haven't learned the language of the country you live in in 20-30 years even enough to read a newspaper, there is not much to say. Accessing information on every subject is no longer a problem, but it is necessary to know the language at a level to understand that information. When political exiles from Turkey began to arrive in European countries in the early 1980s, those who took language learning seriously, even if they were few in number, were not considered well. "They're learning a language, so they don't want to come back!" At least 20 years later, those who realized their mistakes and tried to learn the language were not successful. They were too late.
