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Wells of Knowledge: Streams of poetry, music and resistance in Turkey |
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Merve Kılıçer |
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“If history writing does not emancipate, it must be serving tyranny.” |
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Cemal Kafadar, ‘Kendine ait bir Roma’, pg.1 |
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In 2012, rumors started about a shopping mall to be built in the place of Gezi Park 1 near Taksim |
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Square in İstanbul. This park had not necessarily been in good shape for a while, but it offered a |
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shaded passage way for passersby, benches for the homeless, a playground for children and most |
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importantly, it was the last bit of green space in the concrete face of our cosmopolitan home. The |
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whole project was called ‘Taksim Yayalaştırma Projesi' (Project for The Pedestrianization of Tak- |
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sim) and the ruling government of AKP was insistent on realizing it despite the oppositions from |
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TMMOB (the chamber of architects) and solidarity organizations against gentrification like İstanb- |
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ul Kent Savunması (Istanbul City Defence) and Taksim Dayanışması (Taksim Solidarity). In fact, |
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many people had already been protesting and showing resistance against such projects that demol- |
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ished historic buildings of the area in the name of ‘urban transformation’. At first, protests evolving |
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around such projects were small scale and the police were aggressive enough to diffuse the crowd. |
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Things started to intensify when Emek Cinema, a historic cinema theatre, was demolished to be- |
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come a shopping mall in the spring of 2013. Following this event, more people started joining envi- |
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ronmentalist groups camping and organizing small concerts at Gezi park to raise awareness. On |
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29th of May, many people including myself were notified through friends and social media that the |
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trees of the park were being uprooted by the construction company and that police forces attacked |
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people who tried to resist them. When the police blocked all entrances to the Taksim Square and |
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the park, it marked the beginning of the biggest protest in the history of the Republic of Turkey. |
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Demonstrations started in Istanbul, around Taksim and spread across the country with the slogan |
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‘Her yer Taksim Her yer Direniş’, translating ‘Everywhere is Taksim, Resistance Everywhere’. |
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I was also with the protestors as I had spent most of my youth in Taksim and the Beyoğlu neigh- |
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borhood and I wasn't going to sit behind while they destroyed my home town. After two days of |
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protests and battle with the police, security forces finally stepped out of the square, hence starting |
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the 2 week long-occupation of Taksim Square. In the days of occupation, the park and square be-came fully pedestrianized because all the roads were blocked with barricades, and money exchange |
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was not necessary due to the donations the movement had received with emerging solidarity prac- |
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tices. |
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The occupation was a historic event for all of the country. It was like falling in love. It was terrify- |
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ing. It was traumatizing. It took lives. And it brought lives together. It was hopeful. And fearful. It |
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was a reverberation of the un/under/misrepresented multitude of Turkey. And we were clueless |
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about where to go from there. I remember an international journalist had asked me if it was a polit- |
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ical protest. I said, ‘No, there are no political parties behind this movement’ as my understanding |
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of what politics could be was limited. We were just an ‘apolitical generation’ who rebelled out of |
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nowhere, surprising the entire country. |
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After 7 years, I’m still trying to figure out how and why we managed to come together. Surely pro- |
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tecting a green area that belonged to our home, protecting friends and the increasing level of op- |
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pression were the instinctive push points but my real question is: how did the spirit of Gezi Park |
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come to life? |
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<span id="textdadaloglu"> |
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The park brought together people from different economic backgrounds, ethnicities and beliefs, |
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manifesting the idea that when we stand together we are heard. And our voice carried all the tunes, |
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rhythms and stories of Turkey. To analyze this historic moment, I’ve been listening closely to the |
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echoes of this voice through researching cultural and folkloric production in the history of this |
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land. I asked myself: Could the accumulation of these voices and words be the forming substances |
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of Gezi Spirit? What kind of knowledge do we inherit from the land we feel rooted in? Which are |
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the stories we were raised with and how did they shape our perception of the world and ‘other’ |
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people we share it with? |
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</span> |
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Learning and unlearning the tenets of our upbringing is a process of growth. At the park, we wit- |
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nessed the clash of all the false and accurate knowledge we were introduced to throughout our |
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lives. This clash brought us a little closer to the understanding of what is political and how we can |
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have a voice in it while building an idea of a different future. Starting this research was not easybecause history is always somehow mystified and obscured. It feels like looking down into a well |
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with twinkling eyes and trying to see the bottom. Looking at myself on the fluctuating deep dark |
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surface, I started to ask simple questions about my own history. I looked at memories and mo- |
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ments of growth that could shed light on what direction I should take after the protests. I started |
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listening back to the songs of my childhood which I had memorized without questioning their |
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meaning or understanding when I heard people chanting them. I realized that most of them were |
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originally poems and that by following such cultural productions I had accessed an abundance of |
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alternative streams of knowledge that were previously hidden to me. |
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Poetry and music start their journey together and develop in parallel with each other, rooting into |
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the culture. The first Turkish poets were shamans, of the nomad Turkish communities, whom were |
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called Kam, Baksı, Ozan alongside many other names. These shamanic figures were often wander- |
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ers or minstrels who traveled with their instruments from land to land, chanting their own poems |
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and those of their predecessor. They were storytellers who narrated with poetry, music, dance and |
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plays. Such practices are common in many cultures around the world and although the societies |
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and beliefs went through significant changes over time, this method of carrying knowledge re- |
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mained part of everyday life. |
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Kalktı Göç Eyledi Avşar Elleri, |
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Ağır Ağır Giden Eller Bizimdir. |
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Arap Atlar Yakın Eder ırağı, |
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Yüce Dağdan Aşan Yollar Bizimdir. |
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/ |
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Rised and migrated the Avşar tribes, |
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The folk slowly moving is ours. |
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Arabic horses render the distances close, |
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The paths overrunning the mighty mountains are ours. |
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Dadaloğlu’s (18th cc) epical folk poem was chanted by Ruhi Su in 1960’s |
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Islam started spreading through similar traditions of folkloric chanting and poetry migrating from |
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regions today known as Iran (Horasan) and Afghanistan. In time, many nomadic tribes of Central |
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Asia started abandoning their polytheistic beliefs, like the shamanic belief Tengrism 2 , and started |
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joining Islam. In this process Islam became greatly influenced by previous belief systems and |
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merged in their ritualistic way of relating with nature and the world beyond. The teachings of the |
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Sufi leaders, were being carried through dervish followers and minstrels called Ashik who usedsimilar instruments and poetic forms as old shamans. Through these figures who improvised and |
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chanted stories of the past and present, Islamic myths and epic stories started spreading in Anato- |
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lia. When Ottoman rule first started spreading through the region (13 th century), they joined forces |
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with other Turkic dominions and gradually became a powerful empire. The newly-built Sufi |
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schools and trained minstrels had a key role in educating people and spreading the school's specific |
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rhetoric. Some of the guiding figures and masters of this process were famous Islamic thinkers and |
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folk poets such as Yunus Emre, Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi and Hacı Bektaş-i Veli. |
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A similar version of this musical chanting practice along with poetry made its way into the Ot- |
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toman Palace and helped create the Ottoman classical music with the initiative of Sultans from dif- |
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ferent eras. In the palace, men were taught at the Enderun (Palace) School and women received |
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musical training at the Harem of Topkapı Palace. These two paths of music and literature, in folk- |
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lore production and in palace music, led my curiosity and this research through different parts of |
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history. While researching about the history of palace music, I learned about the involvement of |
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female musicians, poets and their increased presence in the public sphere with the arrival of mod- |
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ernism. For this essay, I follow the path of folkloric production which relates to the current political |
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issues and represents different ethnic communities of Anatolia. My family does not belong to a mi- |
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nority group of Turkey but growing up in a diverse and historic city like Istanbul, one becomes |
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aware of the misinformation we are taught within the education system. This type of history telling, |
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which glorifies nationalistic qualities, is common all around the world and eliminates stories of mi- |
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norities and critical thinking methods. To emancipate myself and my practice, it is meaningful to |
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investigate the past through folkloric production that has reached our present day. Following Ashik |
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traditions 3 and practices has been helping me to travel in time and listen to the stories of people |
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from different centuries. This tradition which has been taught and transferred through mentoring, |
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allows this volatile knowledge 4 to flow and continue reaching different audiences. |
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Bize de Banaz'da Pir Sultan derler |
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Bizi de kem kişi bellemesinler |
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Paşa hademine tembih eylesin |
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Kolum çekip elim bağlamasınlar |
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Hüseyin Gazi Sultan binsin atına |
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Dayanılmaz çarh-ı felek zatına |
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Bizden selâm söylen ev külfetineÇıkıp ele karşı ağlamasınlar |
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/ |
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<span id="textmuharrem"> |
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They call me Pir Sultan in Banaz |
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Do not suppose I’m the sinister one |
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Pasha should advice his servants |
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Not to pull my arm and tie my hands |
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May Hüseyin Gazi Sultan* ride his horse |
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Irresistible to his çarh-ı felek** self |
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Send our salutes to the burdened household |
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They should not shed tears in presence of strangers |
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*An important Islamic war hero celebrated by the Bektaş-i Alevi community) |
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**The navy rifle that turns and sparks when lit |
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-Pir Sultan Abdal’s poem was chanted by Ashik Veysel in 1961 |
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</span> |
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In Anatolian lands, when the majority of people converted to Islam, it influenced the language and |
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the way people related to their entourage. Gradually, the Islamic lodges became institutional enti- |
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ties with political power within the Ottoman Empire. Specially the lodge of Hacı Bektaş-ı Veli had |
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central importance for the Alevi 5 communities with the Ashik tradition playing a key role in com- |
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municating their beliefs and world views. For instance, Pir Sultan Abdal, a dervish and poet, fol- |
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lower of Hacı Bektaş-ı Veli, became a political figure and defended social equality with a critical |
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approach towards the Ottoman Empire. In fact, in Turkey, Alevi culture is often associated with |
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socialist ideologies due to the similarities in their approach to commonality and has been systemat- |
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ically silenced for expressing critical views or starting riots against authority. The oppressive atti- |
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tude of the ruling authorities towards Alevi communities has continued long since the collapse of |
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the Empire. |
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After this fall of the Ottoman Empire following the 1st World War, folk of Anatolia, with different |
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ethnicities and cultures, came together in order to save the land from western colonizers and fight |
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the War of Independence with the leadership of Atatürk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey. |
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The republic settled after negotiations with the invaders and reforms were made terminating reli- |
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gious tariqas 6 in order to start a new secular state. The intention of unifying people, led the new |
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state to evolve around nationalistic ideologies which gradually eliminated the diverse fabric of the |
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land. This orientation reflected on the themes of anthems and torch songs that narrated epics |
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about the independence war and glorified the ‘Turkic’ nation. These ideologies were propagated |
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faster around the country with the arrival of new sound recording technologies (gramophones,phonographs) and communication lines (telegraph, radio). However, despite the first radio broad- |
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casting starting in 1927, it was only after the 1950’s that radio and the nationalistic propaganda it |
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brought along was able to reach all regions of central Anatolia. The westernization in music had |
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already started in the last decades of Ottoman Empire with European notation techniques being |
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introduced to archive songs composed in the palace. During the first years of the new republic, ra- |
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dio broadcasts had an important role in spreading the reforms of westernization and educating the |
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rural (folk) population. Even though Turkey was a free republic, the geopolitical position of the |
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country alongside its urgent need to catch up with new technologies and the remaining debts of the |
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Ottoman rendered it vulnerable towards cultural colonization. With the aim of defining the identity |
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of ‘national music’, from 1926 till the end of the 1940’s trips were organized to archive (notate, |
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record on vinyl) the folkloric production in Anatolia. The archived content was used to teach west- |
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ern educated musicians to perform folkloric tunes on a few of the radio programs that transmitted |
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folk music. At times, these programs invited Ashik figures to play live. Ashik Veysel, one of the |
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most famous Ashik of the late Ottoman and early Republic times, was the only Ashik with Alevi |
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roots to be played on the radio. Even though in the 1930’s he was titled as the national poet of the |
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state, his Alevi roots, were still not recognized. In the 1940’s he was teaching to play cura at several |
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Village Institutes 7 (1942-1947) where he encountered Ruhi Su and many other musicians and intel- |
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lectuals from Istanbul. |
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The cultural production of those years can serve as a recording of the political climate around the |
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country. Starting from the 1950’s the western educated musicians, like Ruhi Su, Tülay German, |
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Sümeyra Çakır or Fikret Kızılok, in order to stay connected to their roots, started combining folk- |
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loric tunes and themes with popular western instruments and methods. While Tülay German |
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adopted folklore songs into jazz tunes and collaborated with Ashiks that migrated to the city, Fikret |
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Kızılok went to study with Ashik Veysel in Anatolia and made records with the songs of his mentor. |
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This new approach was the result of the emigration of Anatolian folk (especially the minorities) to- |
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wards big cities to work in factories or study at the universities and technical schools. The universi- |
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ties became the meeting point for western educated city youth and the Anatolian youth who were |
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brought up with local traditions. This possibility of exchange created a synthesis of ideas, traditions |
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and culture which shaped the political solidarity groups. Influenced by neighboring Soviet Union,leftist movements sided with the Kurdish and Alevi people who already had a history of disobedi- |
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ence and used their traditional cultural production to propagate ideas of equality. These groups |
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were showing resistance to the economic sanctions of the U.S. who had been providing financial |
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support to Turkey and to do so, they were using the folkloric language which created a bridge be- |
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tween intellectuals, factory workers (in Turkey and in Europe) and farmers of the rural areas. |
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Şenlik dağıldı bir acı yel kaldı bahçede yalnız |
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O mahur beste çalar Müjgan’la ben ağlaşırız |
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Gitti dostlar şölen bitti ne eski heyecan ne hız |
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Yalnız kederli yalnızlığımızda sıralı sırasız |
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O mahur beste çalar Müjgan’la ben ağlaşırız |
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Bir yangın ormanından püskürmüş genç fidanlardı |
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Güneşten ışık yontarlardı sert adamlardı |
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Hoyrattı gülüşleri aydınlığı çalkalardı |
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Gittiler akşam olmadan ortalık karardı |
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Bitmez sazların özlemi daha sonra daha sonra |
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Sonranın bilinmezliği bir boyut katar ki onlara |
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Simsiyah bir teselli olur belki kalanlara |
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Geceler uzar hazırlık sonbahara |
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/ |
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The carnival has dispersed only a bitter breeze remained in the garden |
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That Mahur tune plays Müjgan and I keep weeping |
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Friends are gone the feast has ended old thrills are no more nor is the haste |
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Solely mournful in our loneliness timely untimely |
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That Mahur tune plays Müjgan and I keep weeping |
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Young saplings they were erupted from a forest of fire |
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They would sculpt the light from the sun they were tough men |
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Their laughters were wild shaking the brightness of the day |
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As they left it all went dark before the evening came |
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The longing of the curas will not end then and then |
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The obscurity of the afterwards adds a dimension to them |
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And perhaps they become a pitch black solace for the ones left behind |
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Nights are getting longer preparation is for the fall |
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Atilla İlhan’s poem, Mahur 8 (1972) was composed by Ahmet Kaya in 1993 |
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The resistance included many intellectuals and cultural workers who persistently retold the politi- |
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cal history of their land through poetry. Musicians who had adopted the folkloric traditions, used |
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the same method to pass on this knowledge and started to compose contemporary poetry into |
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songs. Poems of leftist intellectuals like Nazım Hikmet, Ahmed Arif, Atilla İlhan and many more |
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continued to be composed for decades by famous musicians in response to the local and global pol-itics. Still today young musicians, jazz soloists, rappers and pop singers voice the songs of famous |
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Ashik figures or folkloric ballads in various styles and spread the voice of the ‘other’ around the |
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world. These songs carry not only the tunes and world view of important intellectuals but also their |
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struggle and pain caused by political exiles, imprisonments, tortures and executions in different |
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stages in history. The poems telling folkloric stories continue living in songs, and reaching new |
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generations of youth that continue chanting them for future generations. I would like to think of it |
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as a cycle of growth that happens in our collective consciousness, that suddenly surfaces in mo- |
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ments like the Gezi Park Occupation. To contribute to this growth I share my research and through |
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my practice I bring forward poems, poets and composers that continue to teach me about this col- |
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lective past. |
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Gezi Park 1 : In 1806, where Gezi Park is located now, Ottoman Military Barracks were built. In 1939, after a process of |
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abandonment of the structure, it was demolished along with the Armenian grave yard that dated back to 1560. The aim of |
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this change was to plan a modern, ’healthy’ city with green areas, near the residential districts to be built. |
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Tengrism 2 : is a shamanistic religion practiced in Central Asia. It is characterized by shamanism, totemism, and ani- |
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mism. It is both monotheistic and polytheistic. Ancestor worship is also a big part of Tengriism. - https://www.discover- |
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mongolia.mn/blogs/the-ancient-religion-of-tengriism - |
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Ashik tradition 3 : Ashik are traveling bards with a string instrument. Their knowledge is passed on through mentoring. |
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Volatile Knowledge 4 : For further expansion on this term in relation to my practice see Kılıçer, M (2019) ‘Volitional |
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Volutions of the Volatile Waters’ on www.mervekilicer.com |
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Alevi 5: Alevism is a branch of Shi’a Islam that is practiced in Turkey and the Balkans among ethnic Turks and Kurds. |
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Alevis make up 20% of Turkish Muslims and comprise Turkey’s largest religious minority community. - https://rlp.hd- |
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s.harvard.edu/faq/alevism |
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Village Institute 6 a set of schools in the rural areas of Anatolia, gathered children from near by villages to teach both |
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western and eastern/local knowledge. They aimed to develop a basic level of education and raise teachers for the society |
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of the newly established republic. These institutes were terminated with the demand of U.S. because of their socialist |
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structures. |
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Tariqa(t) 7: T he Sufi doctrine or path of spiritual learning. |
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Mahur 8 One of the systems of melody types used in Arabic, Persian and Turkish classical music. - Wikipedia -Bibliography |
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Books |
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Kafadar, C., 2017, Kendine Ait Bir Roma - Diyar-ı Rum’da Kültürel Coğrafya ve Kimlik Üzerine. Istanbul: Metis Publish- |
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ing |
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Ortaylı, İ., 2008, Tarihimiz ve Biz, 15nd ed., 2018, Istanbul: Timaş Publishing |
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Sayın, Z., 2016, Kötülük Cemaatleri. Istanbul: Tekhne Publishing |
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Articles, catalogues and compilations |
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-Alpyıldız, E., 2012, Yerelden ulusala taşınan müzik belleği ve yurttan sesler. Milli Folklor, year 24, issue 96 |
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-Ayas, O. G., 2014, Kemalist Oryantalizm ve Osmanlı-Türk Müziği. Muhafazakar Düşünce, pg. 189-212 |
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-Azar,B., 2007, Sözlü kültür geleceği açışından türk saz şiiri. Fırat University Journal of Social Science, Volume: 17, Nr: 2, |
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pg: 119-133. Elazığ |
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-Bars, Mehmet Emin, 2018, Şamanizmden Tasavvufa. Türkbilig, Nr. 36, pg: 167-186. |
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-Başer, F.A., 2006, Türk halk ve klasik müziklerinin oluşum ve ilişkilerine tarihten bakmak-1. Uluslararası insan bilimleri |
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dergisi, ISSN: 1303-5134 |
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-Erensü, S. and Karaman, O. (2017). The Work of a Few Trees: Gezi, Politics and Space. International Journal of Urban |
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and Regional Research, 41(1), pp.19-36. |
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-DEPO (Catalogue of exhibition and lecture series), 2012, Kind of Electricity Appeared in Outer Space: Musical Turkey in |
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the 1960’s. Istanbul: Anadolu Kültür/Depo |
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N., 2016,Pir Sultan Abdal’ın bir mecmuada yer alan şiirleri I, (Pir Sultan Abdal’s poem in a journal I). |
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-Kaya, H , Çeti n, |
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HUMANITAS - Uluslararası Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi , 4 (8) , 131-156 . DOI: 10.20304/humanitas.277542 |
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-Koç, N., 2012, Cumhuriyet’in ilk yıllarında radyo. Cumhuriyet Tarihi Araştırmaları Dergisi, Year:8, Issue: 15. |
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ISSN: 1305-1458 E-ISSN: 2147-1592 |
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-Kuloğlu, Ü., 2009, Müzik: Türklerin anadolu öncesi müzik gelenekleri ve islamiyet etkisi. T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakan- |
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lığı Türkiye Kültür Portalı Projesi, Ankara |
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-Özdamar, F., 2014, Dede Korkut Kitabı’nın çağdaş müzik sanatçıları üzerindeki tesiri. Mili Folklor, Year 26, Nr: 101. |
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ISSN 2146-8087 |
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-Sarı, Ç.G., 2013, Osmanlı’dan Cumhuriyet’e kadın müzisyenler: Taş plak geleceğinde Lale ve Nerkis Hanımlar CD’si. |
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Toplumsal Cinsiyet, Nr:6 |
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-Tarih Magazine, #1, 2014. Stüdyo Yapım-Proje - Gezi 1 year anniversary print |
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-Türk Folkloru Araştırmaları Yıllığı, 1975, Ankara University Publishing House, Ankara |
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-Uluskan, Seda Bayındır, 2010, Atatürk’ün sosyal ve kültürel politikaları. Ankara: AKDTYK Atatürk Araştırma Merkezi |
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Links |
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-https://vimeo.com/bibak |
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-http://www.ottomanhistorypodcast.com/ |
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-http://gezimusic.tumblr.com/ |
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-https://blog.iae.org.tr/sergiler/taksim-gezi-parkinin-tarihcesi-http://www.rusen.org/konargocer-turkler-kim/ |
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-https://www.alevibektasi.eu/ |
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-http://www.musikidergisi.net/ |
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-http://teis.yesevi.edu.tr/madde-detay/asik-veysel-satiroglu |
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{ |
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"nodes": [ |
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{"id": "Myriel", "group": 1}, |
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{"id": "Napoleon", "group": 1}, |
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{"id": "Mlle.Baptistine", "group": 1}, |
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|
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], |
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"links": [ |
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{"source": "Napoleon", "target": "Myriel", "value": 1}, |
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{"source": "Mlle.Baptistine", "target": "Myriel", "value": 8}, |
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|
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] |
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} |
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