Writer Mehmed Uzun remembered today

Writer Mehmed Uzun remembered today

Writer Mehmed Uzun, one of the pillars of modern Kurdish novel, will be remembered at his grave in the fourth anniversary of his death today.

According to information given by family member Celal Uzun, the commemoration ceremony will take place at Mardinkapi Cemetery at 11:00 a.m. and is expected to be attended by Uzun’s family, close friends and lovers.

Who is Mehmed Uzun?

Uzun was a Kurdish writer who had to leave Turkey before 1980 and settled in Sweden in 1977. He was sued many times in Turkey and was deprived of Turkish citizenship in 1981. Uzun was able to return to Turkey only in 1992. Numerous books he wrote were published in about twenty languages. Uzun also did researches on the Kurdish language.

Being a member of the Swedish Writers' Union for many years, Uzun at the same time worked actively for the Swedish and International Pen Club. All the Kurdish novels written by Uzun, who was also a member to the Swedish and World Union of Journalists, were also translated into Turkish.  

Uzun was for the first time put on trial in the spring of 2001 in relation to his novel “Light like Love, Dark like Death” and his book "Pomegranate flowers". Following a treatment for the cancer he was diagnosed with, Uzun lost his life in Diyarbakýr on October 11, 2007.

He was buried on October 13 at Mardinkapi Cemetery. Speeches at his funeral were made by writer Yaþar Kemal, politicians Þerafettin Elçi, Ahmet Türk and Osman Baydemir.