The Turkish Association of Translators (ÇEVBİR) lost a friend and colleague, Suphi Nejat Ağırnaslı, in the resistance movement in Kobanê (Syria).
Ağırnaslı (30) studied sociology at the Bosporus University in Istanbul. In 2011 he received his MA degree with a thesis on the neglect of safety measures in the docks in Tuzla (Istanbul) where many labourers die as a result of job-related accidents.
The question of how to create another world, a world without exploitation, was at the heart of his academic work, of the articles he wrote for newspapers and magazines, and of the books he translated. And it was not restricted to words. Last August Suphi Nejat Ağırnaslı decided to join the ranks of the Kurdish YPG (Yekîneyên Parastina Gel; ‘People’s Protection Units’) in its resistance to Islamic State (IS) and quietly left Istanbul. On 5 October he was killed in Kobanê while defending the city.
An article (in Turkish) in which Ağırnaslı thinks of alternative ways for translators and other freelance workers to organise themselves, is available here (http://www NULL.bianet NULL.org/biamag/emek/136458-freelance-calisan-orgutlenebilir-mi). In this text he formulates ideas on how to use recent developments in the labour market, such as outsourcing, to create a collective resistance and way of living.
(http://www NULL.ceatl NULL.eu/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/turkije NULL.suphinejat NULL.foto_ NULL.okt14 NULL.jpg)Suphi Nejat Ağırnaslı