Sulaimaniyah, Iraq – The thirteenth anniversary of the passing of the great Kurdish poet Sherko Bekas was commemorated with a memorial service held at his tomb in Azadi Park in Sulaimaniyah.
Cultural, literary, and artistic figures, along with a large crowd of his admirers
and those who appreciate his literary contributions, participated in the commemoration.
The ceremony began with a moving poem recited by Helo, the poet’s son.
This was followed by the lighting of candles and their placement on his tomb,
a deeply symbolic gesture to remember his enduring literary and cultural legacy and his rich poetic heritage.
Literary origins and a struggle
Sherko Bekas, the brilliant Kurdish poet, was born in Sulaimaniyah, Iraq, in 1940.
He grew up in an environment rich in literature and activism;
his father, Faiq Bekas, was a renowned poet and prominent nationalist.
From his father, Sherko inherited a love of poetry and the Kurdish language,
and from his mother, a passion for Kurdish folktales and songs.
He received his education in Sulaimaniyah schools, where Kurdish was the primary language of instruction alongside Arabic.
Early, Bekas was influenced by the Kurdish struggle, joining the ranks of the Kurdish movement
and beginning to write poems imbued with resistance and patriotism, influenced by Arabic and Palestinian poetry.
In 1970, he participated in drafting the “Rwange Manifesto.”
This significant literary document called for renewal and development in Kurdish literature.
After moving to Baghdad, he further refined his poetic language, benefiting from its open and diverse environment.
Exile and Return
The poet was exiled to western Iraq in 1974 and remained under house arrest for three years.
During this time, he documented his experience in exile in his poetry
before the authorities returned him to Sulaimaniyah in the late 1970s.
At the end of 1984, he joined the new resistance movement,
working in its media and with the Kurdistan Writers’ Union in the mountains.
In 1987, he traveled to Sweden and was awarded the prestigious Tucholsky Prize for Literature.
Selections of his works have also been translated into several languages.
Beks returned to Iraq in 1991 following the popular uprising. He was elected to the first Kurdish parliament
and served as the first Minister of Culture in the Kurdistan Region.
Immortal poetic legacy
Throughout his career, he published more than 35 poetry collections,
ranging from long and short poems to poetic plays and open texts characterized by their simplicity and depth.
Sherko Bekas passed away in 2013 in Sweden at the age of 73, leaving behind a rich legacy
that enriched Kurdish, Arabic, and world literature.
His final book, published posthumously in Arabic, is a poetic novel titled “The Cemetery of Lamps,”
translated by Hiwa Osman with an introduction by Ali Bader.
It stands as a poignant testament to the Anfal tragedy and the horrific Nuqrat al-Salman prison.
