Translation - If Only I Had Been on That Ship - Ah Muhsin Ünlü

Why I Translated This Poem

As a political scientist navigating the structured theories of the West, I often find that formal discourse fails to capture the visceral, absurd, and deeply spiritual pain of the Middle East. I translated this poem because Ah Muhsin Ünlü provides a language for the "unresolved" state of our geography. It captures the collision between the mundane—a 700-lira debt—and the monumental—the crushing weight of state violence and global hypocrisy. This is not just a poem; it is a scream against the "sacred" status of the state that remains relevant from the 1990s to the tragedies of today. Furthermore, it remains relevant to this day and has never been translated into English.

Translation

I borrowed 700 lira from Alper today

So that the State of Israel may be buried in darkness!

Because if an oppressed one owes a debt

To another oppressed

To an oppressed person

Oppressed...

My love

I cannot find a verse that fits right here.

Yet there were so many verses in the ’90s…

Everywhere we looked, there was a different Allah

Every prophet we saw is a new cave.

Being human is sensational intrinsically.

Remember the words I have poured onto your tongue.

Alper lent me 700 lira today

How many bullets could Israel make with that money?

Is what Tariq Ali said about Muhammad Iqbal true?

Says he died of syphilis in the brothels of Lahore.

That’s what we used to think back in the ’90s, my love

We thought writing poetry would purify our country.

Now Iqbal is in heaven, Tariq Ali is British

As you know, a bullet costs next to nothing

And let’s say I love both Khomeini and Jack Daniel’s

Let’s say the entire city is exempt from rent

Let’s say even oppressors can be gentlemen…

Go ahead, belittle the love you have for me!

Lira, Alper lent me today, seven hundred

Straight away: two packs of Marlboro, a bit of spear, a bit of shade/cold.

I picked these out from the import section especially for you, my love

Let our salt be found in the children roasted by phosphorus.

Oh, yeah, I know—these are just old-fashioned sayings

Outdated irrationalism; anti-capitalism is outdated.

The world is a big village, and the best cigarette is Marlboro

Arabs stab from behind; Israel is, after all, a legitimate country.

If a ship full of animals

is bellowing for no reason

The victim is always to blame—what can the killer do?

As you know, in the Middle East, the oppressor always gets his way

Stop cursing. Even the oppressors are created by Allah!

Did I mention that Alper lent me some money?

I bought a spear—it’s way too arabesque and anachronistic.

If you say shadows, my forehead is bare—I don’t lurk in the dim corners.

Maybe as soon as I get my hands on the lira, 700

I should have turned my face toward the west, just as it was.

Before I could blink, there was Tariq Ali coming from the other side

''Hey, man; you know that thing—that huge London Bridge…''

Jokes were always like that in the '90s, honey

So blatantly showy, crude, vulgar, and kitsch!

Back in the '90s, oppressors knew the street code.

They had wives, children, and dogs.

An oppressor left all alone would think of Allah

Don’t relax. Oppression does not come from Allah!

Oh, if only I had been on that ship

I would swing my spear all the way to Ashdod

Maybe it will hit some ugly fascist

Maybe right in the head of an oppressed.

But that’s how war is sometimes—civilians

Can die for the sake of the state.

The '90s are over—now it's the '10s, and hey

All of you scoundrels who believe in the state

When you come across me in hell

I am going to land such a punch right on your nose

As your life passes before your eyes like the Gaza Strip

You will understand what God means,

What morality means,

And the dream…

Please convey these words exactly as they are to the people of Paradise, my love:

May Allah curse the very existence of the state

Malboro too!

Afterword:

The text requires an interpretation to be better understood. This interpretation is limited to what the commentator understood.

The Poet’s Identity (Ah Muhsin Ünlü / Onur Ünlü)

Onur Ünlü is a director known for one of the most intriguing projects in Turkish television history: the absurdist comedy series 'Leyla and Mecnun'. Under the pen name Ah Muhsin Ünlü, he published a single book of poetry in 2005. He has not published any other poetry collections. He continues to work as a movie director. He has reinterpreted the tradition of the “Second New” poetry movement, which emerged in Turkish poetry in the 1950s, from an absurd and theological perspective.

The Atmosphere of the 1990s

The repeated emphasis on the “90s” in the poem is significant. A few words about the crisis among Islamist intellectuals in Türkiye, the unsolved political murders, and the era’s distinctive “melancholic yet angry” atmosphere help to make sense of the dream of “cleansing the country through poetry.” Because the 1980 coup effectively cut off both the far-left and far-right movements in Türkiye, the leftist movement—the country’s intellectual driving force—was virtually wiped off the political and social scene. At this point, Islamism filled the resulting intellectual vacuum and, bolstered by its role in the opposition from the 1980s through the 2000s, developed the capacity to produce intellectual discourse.

The 1990s, however, were a period when civilian politics lost control over the country, and institutions such as the military, police, and intelligence services (the “deep state”) unleashed a reign of terror with the state’s backing.
It was a dark time when the PKK, the organization of the Kurdish separatist movement, escalated its attacks, while state institutions, on the other hand, displayed raw violence. It was an era marked by unsolved murders, the complete loss of influence by civilian politics, and the pervasive, melancholic Arabesque music that accompanied it all.
Islamism, which was capable of producing intellectual discourse, has entered an intellectual crisis regarding what should be done and what should be. Writing poetry to “cleanse” the country is a narrative device used to highlight that while the 1990s were an era when one could still look to the future with hope, the 2010s marked a time when that hope was lost. At the same time, a sense of grievance is evident regarding the failure to resolve problems despite Islamism’s seizure of political power and control over the state apparatus.

The Tension Between Muhammad Iqbal and Tariq Ali

Muhammad Iqbal: Pakistan's national poet and Islamic philosopher.

Tariq Ali: A British writer and activist of Pakistani origin.

Rather than focusing on the historical truth of the claim of “syphilis” here, this is a narrative about how a figure considered ‘sacred’ is “demolished” by a Western/secular intellectual. It encapsulates the loss of hope and trust that pervades the entire poem.

The Concept of "Existence of the state"

Although it should be translated into English as “survival of the state,” I have chosen to render it here as “the very existence of the state.” In Türkiye, this concept is used as a “sacred cloak” to cover up all forms of lawlessness. If it is for the sake of the state’s survival, anything goes. Therefore, asking God to bring down a curse on this is a scathing criticism.

700 Lira and Alper

The character “Alper” here is, in fact, that “friend from whom we borrow money” that we find everywhere. 700 liras is too small an amount to change the fate of a nation.

However, it reveals the unease he feels—even though he isn’t the one responsible—about the fact that the things he bought with the small loan he took from his friend might be contributing to the evils in the world, even if only through the tiny benefit he provided.

Gaza Strip (The Pun)

The poet plays on the Turkish idiom 'life passing by like a film strip' (hayatın bir film şeridi gibi geçmesi), replacing 'film strip' with 'Gaza Strip' to underscore a life defined by confinement and tragedy.

09/April 2026 - Montreal