Turkish National Anthem - İstiklal Marşı

• O benim milletimin yıldızıdır, parlayacak;:

  A white crescent and star superimposed on a crimson background comprise the Turkish flag. The poet here is referring to the crimson flag's star, and is declaring that it belongs to the hearts of those comprising the Turkish nation, who cherish it deeply, and refuse to be deprived of it (and thus, their freedom and liberty) by anyone.

• Kahraman ırkıma bir gül;:

  Although the word used here, "ırk", means "race" in contemporary Turkish, it had different associations in Ottoman Turkish. In Ottoman Turkish, it also carries the connotations of "generation", "offspring", and "family lineage"; in short, "kin". Also note that the poet was of Albanian and Uzbek origin. Thus, the correct translation is "Smile upon my heroic kinfolk", rather than "Smile upon my heroic race".

• ne bu şiddet, bu celal?:

  The poet elaborates upon his earlier anthropomorphization of the flag by suggesting that it contain its rage and resentment, and resume its noble and honourable self in order to validate the efforts of the Turkish patriots fighting to protect it.

• Hakkıdır, Hakk’a tapan milletimin istiklal.:

  There is a wordplay here that is difficult to replicate in English. The play is on the homophonic words "hak" (justice, right), and Hakk (God). This allows the line to be perceived in Turkish as both "my God-loving countrymen are deserving of freedom", and "my justice-loving countrymen are deserving of freedom".

• Yırtarım dağları, enginlere sığmam, taşarım.:

  The original word used ("Enginler"), which can be somewhat approximated as "the Infinites" or "the Great Expanses", is a romanticized Turkish poetical word (with no direct English translation) that refers to anything perceived by humanity as a vast, boundless expanse: the heavens, the oceans, the horizon, the Universe, etc. The poet is thus expressing that his love for freedom and his vigor spent in its pursuit cannot be contained by anything known to humanity and would overflow even the largest "Infinites".

• Benim iman dolu göğsüm gibi serhaddim var.:

  The verse here alludes to the well-funded military might of the invading foreign powers from various European nations, i.e. "the West", and compares it to the exhausted bodies and limited resources of the rag-tag team of patriots comprising the Turkish resistance army. Using "steel" as a rough synonym for "military strength", the poet asserts that the men and women who are fighting to defend the nation from invading powers must not be daunted by these countries' superior arms and technology, because it is his firm belief that the strength of spirit that comes from heartfelt optimism and faith are just as strong as any "walls of steel" the enemy might have around them.

• Ulusun, korkma! Nasıl böyle bir imanı boğar,:

  There is a difficult-to-translate wordplay here on the word "ulusun", which can be broken down into a root, "ulu", and a suffix, "-sun". The verb form of the root "ulu", means "to howl, to cry out, to bellow", while the adjective form means "grand, sublime, noble". The suffix -sun serves to modify the adjective-form of this root to give it a second-person singular connotation, while it modifies the verb-form to give it a third person connotation. Thus, the phrase "ulu-sun" may be interpreted in two ways: "let it howl/bellow out!" (i.e. "let your mighty voice echo across the land!") or "you are noble, fellow patriot, as is your cause!". It is also possible to break down the word as "ulus" and suffix "un" which would mean "your nation/people". Out of these three, the most intuitive meaning of the word here is "let it howl/bellow out".

• Siper et gövdeni, dursun bu hayâsızca akın.:

  The verse here alludes to the well-funded military might of the invading foreign powers from various European nations, i.e. "the West", and compares it to the exhausted bodies and limited resources of the rag-tag team of patriots comprising the Turkish resistance army. Using "steel" as a rough synonym for "military strength", the poet asserts that the men and women who are fighting to defend the nation from invading powers must not be daunted by these countries' superior arms and technology, because it is his firm belief that the strength of spirit that comes from heartfelt optimism and faith are just as strong as any "walls of steel" the enemy might have around them.

Last edited by amateur on 2017-05-14