Mahmud Baksi

Mahmut Baksi Kurdish: Mahmud Baksi (* 1944 in Kozluk in the province of Batman, † 19 December 2000 in Stockholm ) was a Kurdish- Swedish journalist and writer.

Having grown up in Kurdistan lived Mahmud Baksi after military service in Istanbul. Originally trained teacher, he worked as a journalist. In 1968, he published books on the lives of the Kurds in Turkey. The books were banned and the author imprisoned. Germany was his first exile, in which he could take refuge in 1970 for illegally Baksi. Already in 1971, called on the Turkish military junta extradition of the author. Only in Sweden found Baksi until his death a relatively secure asylum, where he work for newspapers, radio and television, and could publish.

The life situation of the Kurds and the political situation in the Middle East were also central themes of his works, such as the social, economic and cultural conditions of the migrants on the run and in exile. Large notoriety gained youth and children's books Mahmut Baksis, as well as his lyrics for the Kurdish singer Şivan Perwer. His books have been published in Swedish, Danish, German, English, Kurdish, Norwegian and Turkish languages, partly written by himself in these languages ​​(Turkish, Kurdish, Swedish), partly in translations.

In Germany, the novel " Dono ", which appeared Baksis reflects memories of the Resistance in the ' rogue state ' in the 1990s. With his girlfriend Elin Clason he wrote the novel "On the night of the mountains " ( Helin ) who received awards as a youth book in Austria and Switzerland.

After his death in exile in Stockholm Baksi was buried on 4 January 2001 as requested next to his parents in Diyarbakir. The ceremony was attended by an estimated 50,000 to 70,000 mourners, more newcomers were denied entry at the gates of the city. Many mourners were temporarily fixed by the Turkish police.

Works

In a German translation

• Mahmut Baksi, Elin Clason: In the night over the mountains. dtv. Translated by Christine Hollinger. ISBN 3-423-78159-9
• Mahmut Baksi: I was a child in Kurdistan. Carlsen Verlag 1996
• Mahmut Baksi: dono. Roman - Edition Ararat. Translation from Kurdish by Barbara Sträuli. Restlessness publisher. ISBN 3-89771-851-0