According to Şêrko Bêkes, what color is freedom?

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The Color of Freedom According to Şêrko Bêkes: “Şîn” (Blue/Green) and Its Symbolism

Şêrko Bêkes (1940-2013), one of the most important figures in modern Kurdish poetry, frequently associated the theme of freedom with natural imagery and colors. In his poems, freedom is often represented by “şîn” (a color that can mean both blue and green in Kurdish). This color symbolizes the infinity of the sky, the vitality of mountains and forests, hope, and the resistance of the Kurdish people.

  1. Şîn: Sky and Limitlessness

In Bêkes’s poems, blue (şîn) expresses the physical and spiritual limitlessness of freedom:

As in the line “Ez ê li ser banê çiyayan şîn bibim” (“I will drape myself in blue on the mountaintops”), blue is the color of escape and liberation.

For Kurds, the sky is both a refuge and the opposite of imprisonment.

  1. Şîn: Nature and Resistance

With its green hues, “şîn” represents the mountains, forests, and life’s resilience of the Kurdish landscape:

Images such as “Dîlberê şîn” (“Blue/Green Beloved”) identify freedom with the land, ancient culture, and rebellion.

For Bêkes, nature is a manifesto of freedom that endures despite colonial oppression.

  1. Şîn: Between Melancholy and Hope

This color sometimes takes on a melancholy tone in Bêkes’s work:

“Şîna bêdeng” (“Silent blue”) conveys the melancholy of freedom not yet fully achieved.

However, “şîn” also embodies hope for the future. For example, in the poem “Kevokên Şîn” (“Blue Doves”), migratory birds herald freedom.

  1. Comparative Literary Context

Like Lorca’s “Green Wind” or Nazım’s “The Blue-Eyed Giant,” Bêkes constructs a universal aesthetic of resistance with “şîn.”

Just as Ahmed Arif’s “Purple” is a color of resistance in Kurdish literature, Bêkes’s “şîn” serves a similar function.

Şîn Is Like the Language of Freedom

According to Şêrko Bêkes, freedom is neither completely blue nor completely green; it is a color of resistance and desire born from a mixture of the two. In his poems, this color sometimes manifests in a bird’s wing, sometimes in the eyes of an exile, and sometimes in the morning mist of the mountains.

Important Note: Bêkes’s color symbolism also aligns with the historical meanings of “şîn” in Kurdish culture.

“Şîn, ne tenê rengê ezmanê bêdawî ye,
Şîn, rengê xwînê me ya ku hê jî Dişewite.”
(“Blue is not only the color of the endless sky, / Blue is the color of our blood that still burns.”)

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