The death of ‘Little Prince’

Doğan HIZLAN

I saw on the Internet an illustration of Berkin Elvan looking like the Little Prince. I heard that he had lost his life after being in a coma for months, as he was hurt in his head by a gas canister. I was no doubt among those waiting for good news to come from Berkin.

Because no matter who says what, the life of a child is above all politics!

This is valid in Palestine, in Egypt, in Eastern Anatolia, in Japan and in Istanbul! This moral truth prevails everywhere in the world and it needs to prevail.

Hearing the news of Berkin’s death, I sought refuge in literature from this sorrow, as I always do. Literature does not make me forget my pain, on the contrary makes it revive with all its intensity! But at the same time it gives a feeling of resistance that is not eroded. It shows how a human can become cruel!

After seeing the illustration I read the Little Prince one more time! I recalled once again how it shows the richness of the world of children, which we tend to look down upon by saying “little.” Saint Exubery showed how important is tolerance, imagination, humanity, mercy and freedom to question.

There cannot be any justification for the killing of a 14-year-old kid! Humanity ends the moment you start struggling to find a justification!

This is the only reason for uniting everyone. Let’s not forget those who were on his bedside in the hospital for months. This was a duty of humanity.

Today, whoever can hold a pen needs to write about Berkin Elvan.

I talk on every occasion about the power of literature, its power to show us the truth, and about the fact that it is the first factor to remind us of our humanity. Sometimes I’m even criticized for this. This is precisely why we needed to read!

Anyone, anywhere in the world, who has read Nazım Hikmet’s poem titled “Daughter Child” could learn the short way how children cannot be killed.

“I’m knocking on your door,
Uncle, aunt give me a signature.
Children should not be killed,
They can eat sugar too.”

Those who read those lines could shoot neither Berkin nor any other kid anywhere in the world!
I know how when children take a step outside their house, they take a step into a world of images. Because children look at the world with hope and joy, and with more resistance than any of us, even in the most difficult times.

Who, reading the poem of Ece Ayhan, can find a justification for the death of Berkin Elvan?

“Look here, here below this black marble,
A kid is buried who would have been raised from nature to the chalk board
Had he had one more break.
He is killed in the class of the state.”

Questions come to my mind, the answers are important.

I wonder how many of the politicians who have been running from one campaign rally to the other, speaking with a microphone in their hands for hours. How many of them have read the Little Prince?
Have they heard of Ece Ayhan? Well it’s for sure that they have not read his poem, but don’t they know the poems of Nazım Hikmet?

If their answer is no, don’t expect them to feel Berkin Elvan’s death on their heart. Who asked about the situation of the kid who had been in hospital for months? What does all this sharing of sorrow serve, presenting condolences after the death?