EU Minister visits Turkish poet Nazım Hikmet’s grave in Moscow

MOSCOW – Anadolu Agency

Nazım Hikmet fled to Moscow in the 1950s and died in exile in 1963. AA Photo

Turkey’s EU Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu paid a visit to the grave of famous Turkish socialist poet Nazım Hikmet in Moscow June 8.

“Away from his homeland, stripped of citizenship, he passed away in these lands as a treasured figure of our country,” Çavuşoğlu said during his visit.

With a prolific body of work translated into more than 50 languages, Hikmet is widely considered among the most influential Turkish poets of the 20th century.

Having spent years in Turkish prisons for his political views and being stripped of his citizenship, Hikmet fled to Moscow in the 1950s and died in exile in 1963.

The Turkish government restored his citizenship in 2009.

Çavuşoğlu said he wanted Hikmet’s grave to be transferred to Turkey, but added any decision regarding this could not be one-sided.