Kazım Berzeg: Pioneer Of Republican-Era Liberalism

Lawyer Kazım Berzeg lost his life in İstanbul on Feb. 7.
He was laid to rest at Karacaahmet Cemetery in İstanbul on Feb. 9. Berzeg was my aunt's husband; he was my uncle. Berzeg and his family used to live in the same building with us at the Oran mass housing complex in Ankara until the 1990s. I spent my childhood and youth listening to Berzeg and following his political and intellectual struggle. Berzeg is the second most important person, after my father, Yahya Kanbolat, to play a role in shaping my worldview.

Berzeg was a pioneer of liberal thinking in the Turkish Republic. His life was mingled with republican-era liberalism. For years he lived as the only liberal. "Liberalism is about taking the state of law, human rights and liberties under a guarantee. It is an order of the law. It is a fair order," he used to say. He was courageous enough to write articles in which he defended liberalism following the May 27, 1960 military coup when there were strong supporters of statism (in Son Havadis, the “Latest News" newspaper).
At the age of 54, he was among the seven founders of the Association for Liberal Thinking (LTD), which was unofficially established in Ankara in December 1992 and then officially in April 1994. He became the association's executive board president. He even allocated his lawyer's office in Ankara's Karanfil Street to the LTD and contributed much to the institutional development of liberal thinking. He was the Turkish lawyer who obtained the most number of rulings from the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) -- 160.
Berzeg used to say Turkish bureaucracy was even stronger and more institutionalized than that of the USSR, as even USSR citizens were not as helpless before the bureaucracy as the Turks. He said the main problem in Turkey is the power of the bureaucracy. "Internal and foreign enemies are the food of despotism. … The state should not interfere with religion, language and clothing of people," he used to say. Berzeg was the lawyer who, for the first time, approached the right to private property as a human right during the trials known as "Sariye Akkuş.” He also received the first such ruling from the ECtHR on this issue, which later set a precedent for similar cases on private property.
During the days of the Feb. 28, 1997 military coup, he was courageous enough to defend the case of Leyla Şahin, who was prevented from continuing her university education because she wore a headscarf. He was an intellectual who defended the Justice and Development Party's (AK Party) resistance against military tutelage, but who, at the same time, opposed the AK Party turning into a state party.

Berzeg was an intellectual person by birth. He was a genius who did the best at whatever he tried. He was even able to solve the most difficult math problems without using a pencil or paper. He was able to write musical notes of a song he heard and to play it. He had a very strong memory. He was able to memorize pages of text. He had sufficient mechanical knowledge to separate a tractor into parts and put it back together again. Even when he was performing his military service as a reserve officer, he showed his skills in various fields.

Defying those who claimed sugar beets could not be grown in eastern Anatolia, he rented a piece of land in the eastern province of Ağrı and became the first person to grow sugar beets there. In 1976, Berzeg again was the first person to produce bread in different flavors and without salt. Yet, before everything else, he was a gentleman, a respectful person. He used to speak to everyone with much respect no matter who they were. He used to listen to young people and care for people in need. He used to provide financial support to needy university students and would not collect a lawyer's fee from clients who were in need -- moreover, he would provide financial assistance to them. Berzeg would never speak about anyone in negative terms. He never used his thoughts for politics or business until his death. He did not bow his head before anyone. He did not owe a debt to anyone and he did not ask for anything from anyone. He gave without wanting anything in return and received the prayers of many people.
Just like his great-grandfathers, Hacı Dogumko Berzeg and Hacı Giranduk Berzeg, who waged a war of independence against tsarist Russia in Sochi and the northwestern Caucasus, Kazım Berzeg was a courageous intellectual.

HASAN KANBOLAT