Briefly about the (Kolo) or Sister Shako and Kolo the Goat novel
Vedat Dalokay:
As a Writer and an Art Admirer
Sister Shako's husband and two sons were killed as part of a vendetta. Instead of being bitter, however, she allowed her abiding faith, her harmony with the land, and her exuberant spirit to see her through. "A vivid and elegiac portrayal of an elemental wise woman and of the rural Turkey where she lived half a century ago."
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Dalokay (d. 1991), a one-time mayor of Ankara and an architect, offers his reminiscences about growing up as the grandson of the ``landlord'' of a small Turkish village. The translator, a friend of Dalokay's, mentions that this work received a number of literary awards in Turkey and adds that ``the people seemed familiar to me, totally realistic. Yet the story was full of fantasy and poetry.'' Though Ener's smooth, melodic translation preserves the latter elements, these often cryptic vignettes will seem anything but familiar or realistic to western youngsters. Brief tales center on young Dalokay's friendship with Sister Shako, a reclusive, eccentric widow whose life revolves around caring for her seven goats, including the unusual, temperamental Kolo. The narrative is filled with sometimes obscure symbolism as well as references to local customs, expressions and lore (many of which are clarified by footnotes). Adults rather than young readers may well be this book's most appreciative audience. Ages 10-up. (Mar.
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The art and the artist may be considered as the vit
al mediums to understand and
comprehend the world, the life and the reality for
Dalokay. He saw himself bound to
politics even in the moments he got apart from it,
but the moments that he defined of
really taking a breath were the ones he was alone w
ith art. Turgay Gönenç, a poet friend
of Dalokay, tells his admiration for art with these
words: “The only unchanged fact he
cared the most, which I had observed from the first
days of our friendship, was his love
and respect to the art and the artist.”
Drawing, complementary with the most influential ar
t that took place in his life:
architecture seemed to be the most used way of inne
r expression for him as well. It was
even visible in the sketches that he drew when he f
irst met his first wife in Ankara and
showed his brother in order to express his admirati
on and desire for marriage.
His talent on sketching that could generate itself in a
student annual, in a caricature in İzmir
Fair to earn money or in a rough draft of an archit
ectural project, was enhanced day by
day to a different direction: water color painting.
In between the notes on his critical causeries abou
t various branches of art with various
people, the ones with Gönenç were noteworthy. In re
spect to their authenticity these notes
gave clues about Dalokay’s standpoint. For example,
from his usual small talks on
painting with Gönenç, it could be deduced that Dalo
kay was in a discipline and an
attention of a student. For Dalokay knowing how to
look at a painting was more
important than owning it.
 |
Fig.3.89. Some of Dalokay’s sketches
(Arkitekt, (vol. 91/3), 1991, p.55.)
These small talks were improving him gradually more
skilled on watercolor painting so
that sometimes his works may even become presents t
o be given. Dalokay was full with
the desire of making these talks more often. This p
roves not only his desire for learning
how to paint while painting but also his care for c
riticism. (Fig. 3.90)
His positive attitude towards criticism in fact see
med to be confronted with people from
other professions. The small talks he had with his
poet friend Turgay Gönenç, were not
only on painting and on poetry but also on architec
ture. Gönenç exemplifies their long
lasting and enthusiastic conversations on architect
ure with the one which made him the
counselor of Planning of Taksim Square project for
the competition due to Dalokay’s
endless insistence.2006
His interest in drawing was welcomed in architectur
e. Above and beyond, sketching and
painting; the ways Dalokay satisfied his interest i
n writing were taking different forms in
different fields of action. On the one hand it was
possible to see him in his child book with a
naive, humble and a soft language. On the other han
d in his discourse as a politician or a
mayor he used to have a plainspoken and even a tact
less sense, from time to time.
Nevertheless, despite his two quite the opposite fa
ces whatever the field of act is dominant,
the descriptive and figurative way of his use of th
e language is consistent. This fact is due to
his deep narrative interest and rich knowledge.
Fig.3.90. Some of Dalokay’s water-color paintings
(Arkitekt, (vol. 91/3), 1991, p.56.)
Turning back to his childish innocence and spontane
ity, the book “Kolo” was written in
return for his deep love to children, in the last d
ays of his mayoralty period. It was a
period he got bored from the difficulties and obsta
cles he faced while realizing the
exciting and delightful duties of the municipality.
“Kolo”, the award winner of The
Institute Turkish Language (Türk Dil Kurumu) in 198
0 and Mildred L. Batchelder Prize
given by American Library Association in 1995, late
r translated into German, French and
English constituted the stories from his own childh
ood memories he told his children for
several times.
Since I could have contributed by telling the real
story of the years of my
childhood that I left behind to the children all ov
er the world. I used to adore
listening pathetic stories and fairy tales when I w
as a child and now, either. I
grew up, my moustache and beard grew up. Even they
turned to white. I became
an architect, a father. I became a mayor but I stil
l could not know when the age of
childhood ends, when the time comes to be an adult.
The book was published in 1980 with the encourageme
nt of his close friends: Demirtaş
Ceyhun and Tahsin Saraç. The book, housing the very
first years of Dalokay’s life in its
pages, might be also regarded as an illustration of
the architectural talent of Dalokay.
I wanted to apply my talent in the use of the stone
, the brick and the wood in the
building that I would design as an architect, my na
tural habit, to the language that
will materialize the story thus to the medium of na
rration. The story is a like a
plain and modest structure, like the “kom” (house)
of the Şako Bacı. Kom was
made of earth, stone and few wood blocks. The story
should be like that, either,
but should also meshed with the words of the childr
en and the region.
Before Kolo, his will for writing could be testifie
d in his attempts to buy Newspapers such as Akşam Ulus (Barış) Politika, etc. for several times. His
adventure in press sector started with his first intent in buying Akşam Newspaper with his prize
that he received from the competition of Pakistan, as he proposed to Demirtaş Ceyhun in 1970,
which could not be realized due to its high price:
Let’s buy a newspaper together. As I have heard Akşam
is in an awful situation.
Even it can not pay the salaries. Let’s buy Akşam
Newspaper. For example; let’s
make all the workers of the editorial office, all c
olumnists, and partners. As much
share as I have, Çetin Altan has also such. But I h
ave two conditions; first is that
you will be the general director of publication. Se
condly, the newspaper, will
propose a campaign for bringing the grave of Nazım
Hikmet to Turkey. We will
bury him somewhere near Ankara. I will design the p
roject of the grave. I don’t
let anyone else. I will be grateful if you publish
the articles that I rarely wrote in
the newspaper.
After the disappointment in Akşam
, his second attempt in 1972, came up with him owning Ulus
Newspaper, in a partnership with Yaş
ar Aysev. CHP had closed and sold the
publication and advertisement rights of it. With th
eir accordance to the desire of Ecevit on
changing the name of the newspaper as a condition to sell,Ulus
’ name was altered to
Barış The publication of Barış
under the control of Aysev, as a local newspaper, was not
enough for Dalokay. This phase of the adventure was
ended by Dalokay’s decision of
selling his shares to Aysev.
Following this enterprise, his last attempt realize
d in 1976. This appeared when he was
offered a partnership by İ
smail Cem, Kadri Kayabal and Ercan Arıklı for Politika
Newspaper because of the decreasing circulation rat
es. Here, again under the general
directorate of publication of Ceyhun, Dalokay produ
ced some articles, whereas because of
the similar economic reasons in Barış
, he came to a point to give up.
Another unrealized intent that was to be known was
his wish to write the novel of Sinan
that he admired in collaboration with Gönenç: “I gu
ess if we had been living in the same
city we would do several things together.”
In spite of residing in different locations, as
a result of their frequent meetings, Dalokay’s appr
oach to poetry took another form
during the days he spent with Gönenç. This new visi
on that his friendship opened makes
him apprehend the plasticity of the words better. A
ccording to him, the poem, which
should not be separated from philosophy, must be ec
onomic; with few words it must be
able to reach multidimensional richness of meaning.
Hakan Dalokay, his son, characterizes him as a lite
rature and poetry admirer, especially
for Nazım Hikmet, with the words that:
Just from the very little age, every night, in the
lap of my father, I used to listen
the poems of Nazım. I still keep them on memory...In
the library of our house,
the whole world classics and poetry books used to o
ccupy.
Here also Arısoy, exemplifies his keen on poetry wi
th a poem he wrote to his unborn son
in the architectural office. Arısoy summarizes him
“This is the way beloved Vedat
Dalokay, was not giving up his hope to the future a
nd “to the days to be lived” as great
poet Nazım Hikmet said, against all the lasting neg
ativeness’. It is possible sum up with
his admiration to Nazım, with, his daughter, Sibel
Dalokay Bozer’s words: “After his
death, I went to his library and read a poem of Naz
ım; I know he would want this one to
be read after him.”
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Vedat Ali Dalokay (November 10, 1927 – March 21, 1991) was a renowned Turkish architect and a former mayor of Ankara.
He was born in Elazığ, Turkey from kurdish family in 1927 to İbrahim Bey from Pertek.[1] He completed his elementary and secondary education in the same city. Then he left for Istanbul for a university degree and graduated from the Faculty of Architecture of Istanbul Technical University in 1949. Later in 1952, he completed his post-graduate studies at the Institute of Urbanism and Urban Development of Sorbonne University in Paris, France.
Along with numerous national award-winning projects in Turkey, Dalokay has been awarded internationally for the Islamic Development Bank (1981) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and perhaps his most famous project, the Faisal Mosque (1969) in Islamabad, Pakistan.
His design for the Kocatepe Mosque in the Turkish capital, Ankara was selected in the architectural competition but, as a result of controversial criticism, was not built. Later, a modified design was used as a basis for the Faisal Mosque in Islamabad.
In 1973, he was elected the Mayor of Ankara from the CHP. Dalokay had served until the 1977 local elections, when another CHP member, Ali Dinçer was elected to replace him.
Vedat Dalokay died in a traffic accident on March 21, 1991, in which his wife Ayça (age 44) and son Barış (age 17) were also killed.
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