Hüseyin Şimşek

Hüseyin A. Şimşek (born January 2, 1962 in Erzincan , Turkey ) is a Turkish-Austrian writer and journalist who publishes in Turkish , Zaza and German .

Life

Şimşek was born on January 2, 1962 in Erzincan Eastern Anatolia . During his elementary and middle school years he lived in a boarding school. In 1976 he moved to Istanbul with his family . There he attended high school for three years, which he left without a degree.

On September 12, 1980 , the military in Turkey usurped government power. Parties, trade unions, associations and other political, economic and cultural organizations were dissolved. Mass arrests and arbitrary arrests quickly became the order of the day. Şimşek was arrested for the first time at the age of 19 for his political attitudes and activities. He was accused of membership in an illegal left party. After he was arrested, he waited five years to be tried in the Metris Type E Military Prison. When the trial ended, Şimşek was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison. The time he spent in prison was many times the length he was sentenced to.

Life as a journalist and author

His goal was to become a journalist and author. Having spent the time he wanted to study in prison, he looked for ways to get into the press without a degree. In 1986 he began to work as a reporter for the weekly magazine Gegen das Year 2000 / 2000'ne Doğru . In October 1987 he continued his journalistic career in the weekly news magazine Punkt / Nokta . From February 1988 he worked as editor and journalist for the much more political, monthly newspaper Die neue Demokratie / Yeni Demokrasi . When the newspaper Kommune / Komün entered the press landscape on October 1, 1989, he accepted the position of editor- in- chief .

On May 1, 1990, he was an editor for the municipality , like hundreds of other journalists and reporters, on the streets to follow Labor Day events and celebrations. During the interventions that the police carried out, police officers beat him on the head with their clubs until he was finally lying unconscious on the ground. He then spent three days in the intensive care unit and then continued to be treated as an inpatient.

In June 1992 Şimşek signed an appeal to end the civil war together with over 160 writers and intellectuals . As a result, proceedings against him were initiated that lasted ten years. In the end, he was sentenced to one year in prison and a fine. In July 1992 he started writing for the daily newspaper Freie Agenda / Özgür Gündem , which had been founded shortly before. Many of his colleagues were murdered while he was working at Free Agenda . One day the three-story newspaper building was bombed and leveled with rubble. Another reporter died in the attack.

The daily newspaper Brightness / Aydınlık began to publish on May 1, 1993. The world-famous writer Aziz Nesin was editor-in-chief of the daily newspaper. Şimşek was assigned to the areas of society and life, for which he wrote reports and articles. At times, with the support of his colleagues, he worked as an independent writer for weekly magazines such as Echo / Yankı, Direction / Yön, Aktüel, Tempo and the daily newspaper Radikal . In autumn 1995 a new weekly magazine called Neues Leben / Jiyana Nu was launched, half in Turkish and the other half in Kurdish . Şimşek worked as editor-in-chief for this magazine. The daily newspaper Demokratie / Demokrasi began to publish on January 1, 1996. Şimşek was again responsible for the areas of society and life and wrote reports and articles. In July 1997 he started working for the daily newspaper Neuer Horizont / Yeni Ufuk , which is part of the Freiheit / Hürriyet group.

During this time he also published some books, including a. three novels , a factual report and a volume of poetry .

In Austria

Şimşek entered Austria on May 2, 1998 . While processing his asylum application, which was answered positively on January 18, 2000, he continued his journalistic and literary work from 1999 to 2001 and participated in the journal Öneri / Suggestion , which was published by a group of migrants in Vienna. Şimşek has been working as an author and journalist in Vienna since 1998 .

At the end of the 1990s he founded the magazine Öneri / Suggestion , but initially had to stop its publication due to lack of money. Today he is a member of the editorial board of the now monthly, established left-wing bilingual Austrian newspaper.

Between 2001 and 2003 Şimşek wrote for the Europe-wide daily Özgür Politika / Die Free Politics . Since 2002 he has been working as a freelance graphic designer . He designed the layout of the monthly Turkish-language magazine of the Wiener Integration Fonds / WIF, Viyana Postası , where he also made written contributions. From February 2004 to 2010, Şimşek was again a member of the editorial board of the Turkish-language monthly newspaper Öneri / Suggestion .

From 2007 Simsek was also active in the TV sector, including with the Cologne TV channel  Yol TV , which can be received throughout Europe and Turkey. From January 2007 to June 2013, the program Panorama Austria (Panorama Avusturya), Unter dem Zeitzeugen (Taniklar Arasinda)   and  Austrian Way (Yol Avusturya) , prepared by Hallac Medien, were broadcast on this channel  .

In 2009 Şimşek published his first German-language volume of poetry Writing is best to die . He was also the author of German poems in the anthology of Turkish migration in Austria edited by Gerald Kurdoğlu Nitsche , heim.at (2005) and Neue Österreichische Lyrik (2008). One of the three main sections of heim.at is also with a line of poetry Şimşek. "Bir gülün soluduğu anla o gülün soluduğu ana" ( The moment in which the rose breathed and wilted me ) is titled.

Şimşek continued to publish in Turkey: the volume of poetry Yüzünüz Karşı Duvar ( Your faces are like walls , 2001), the novel Bu Nasıl Istanbul ( What is that Istanbul , 2005) and the non-fiction books Türkiye'den Avusturya'ya Göçün 50 Yılı ( 50 years of migration from Turkey to Austria , 2014) and Avusturya Alevileri ( Austria's Alevites , 2016).

Hüseyin Şimşek organizes lectures, readings and recitals in Austria.

Works in Turkish and German (selection)

• A much ramified path: Metris. (Roman / Turkish) Verlag Belge, 1987 and 2010 - Istanbul.
• Those born in prison. (Factual report / Turkish) Verlag Belge, 1990 - Istanbul.
• September code. (Roman / Turkish) Verlag Belge, 1991 - Istanbul.
• The moonless nights of the colonized cities. (Volume of poetry) Alan Verlag, 1991 - Istanbul.
• Fire man. (Factual report / Turkish) Alan Verlag, 1995 - Istanbul.
• I want my own color. (Roman / Turkish) Verlag Yön, 1994 - Istanbul.
• Your faces are like walls. (Poetry book / Turkish) Tohum Publishing House, 2001 - Istanbul.
• What kind of Istanbul is it. (Roman / Turkish) Berceste Publishing House, 2006 - Istanbul.
• It's best to die writing. (Poetry book / German) Hallac Medien, Vienna 2009.
• 50 years of migration from Turkey to Austria (factual report / Turkish and German) Verlag Belge, 2014 - Istanbul. (LIT Verlag 2017 - Münster-Vienna)
• Alevi movement in Europe and a concrete example: Austria Alevis (factual report / Turkish) Verlag Belge, 2016 - Istanbul.
• The girls wanted their infrared color (Roman / German, EYE Literaturverlag, 2018 - Tirol)

See also

• List of German-Turkish writers
• German-Turkish literature