ANKARA - Anatolia News Agency

The anecdotes of Nasreddin Hodja, a Seljuk satirical sufi, who is believed to have lived and died in the 13th century in the central Anatolian province of Konya’s Akşehir district, have been translated into Kurdish in a book.

At a press conference held to promote the book at Ankara Meydan Sahnesi, Fener Alp, who did the translation, said the main goal of translating the anecdotes into Kurdish was to improve the unity of the public living in Turkey, bring the richness of cultures together and provide a peaceful environment for the people. Alp said the work had taken a long time. “Nasreddin Hodja’s anecdotes are like folk poems told and known by all people. It is an honor for us to translate the anecdotes into a language that had been prevented from being spoken in the past, Kurdish,” Alp said.

He said language was the honor of humanity and the necessity of life, adding that this was why he had translated the anecdotes into Kurdish.

He also added that the work was the first of its kind and such works would be done for other languages.
Nasreddin Hodja anecdotes are known throughout the Middle East. They are told as jokes and followed by a moral and usually the little extra something that brings the consciousness of the potential mystic a little further on the way to realization.