Intolerants prevent realizing ‘Shahnameh’ in Turkey: scholar

Head of Persian Language and Literature Department of Ataturk University whose translation of ‘Shahnameh’ into Turkish brought him a prize at Iran’s 24th Iran’s Book of the Year World Award sees ‘Shahnameh’ a masterpiece. According to the correspondent, Iran’s 24th Annual World Book Award introduced praiseworthy works in different sections and Professor Nimet Yildirim from Turkey was awarded for his translation of ‘Shahnameh’ into Turkish. His acquaintance with the Persian language is interesting. He had originally planned to study the Arabic language, but because he was rejected to study in that field, he was forced to study in his second choice, Persian language.
Now he considers this as one of the best things happening to him and says that the Persian language is more delighƞul than Arabic. As the Head of Department of Persian language and Literature at Ataturk University in Erzurum Professor Yildirim knows himself as a man who loves Persian literature and his work and speaks Persian like his mother tongue. He, who was informed of being selected in this event through the Iran’s Cultural Attaché in Ankara at 11:00 p.m., says: “I’ve been active in this field for thirty years and have travelled 26 times to Iran up to now, and without exaggeration have taken 3 to 4 big boxes of books with me to Turkey on each trip.” “I have written over twenty books on the Persian language. The news of being selected in Iran’s World Book Award is a great appreciation for all the years working in this field. He added that unfortunately due to some extreme views in Turkey, this book has not been introduced in that country in a deserving way,” the scholar added.