Your Honor (Hakim Bey -- Sezen Aksu)

Lyrics and music: Sezen Aksu, the prolific singer and song-writer, producer, and activist. This piece voices her resentment toward one-time ubiquitous judicial measures of the Turkish state in an effort to curb the right to exercise the freedom of speech.

Here are two beautiful musical interpretations:

• Mehmet Erdem: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yy8mCKQnzWU
• O. Zulfu Livaneli: www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9loy0vCh2A

Original lyrics:

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Şikayetim var cümle yasaktan

Dillerimi Hakim Bey bağlasan durmaz

Gelsin jandarma polis karakoldan

Fikrim firarda mahpusa sığmaz eyvah

Gün olur yerle yeksan olurum

Gün olur şahım devri devranda

Kanun üstüne kanun yapsalar

Söz uçar yazı iki cihanda eyvah

Sussan olmuyor susmasan olmaz

Dil dursa Hakim Bey tende can durmaz

Yazsan olmuyor yazmasan olmaz

Kaleme tedbir koma tek durmaz

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I just read the Wikipedia Turkish article about Mehmet Erdem. Some details of his life bear an eerie resemblance to mine. Apparently, we are both mechanical engineers by education; probably, both of us went to boarding schools; we are both interested in mathematics and physics; the first instrument we ever played was mandolin (Well, this was common to most high-school kids of that time. However, very few really mention this.); we both play baglama (Despite the fact that I like Greek culture, I have to point out that this is a Turkish music instrument, not Greek ... OK, I may start a blog about this.). There, you have it!

Reality check:

Actually such resemblances, or coincidences, are statistically quite common, given the size of the population. Thus, there is nothing surprising, except the fact that coming across such occurrences, meaning "finding them at random" is highly unlikely. Hence, I was "lucky", and that is that.