Perhaps it is that we are born the same year, in 1941, he was born in Templos I was born in Königsberg, a famous old Prussian University town, today in Russian hands.

I interviewed him in 2006 and with some paragraphs I would like to introduce him and the Zeytinlik surroundings where he grew up and about which he cannot stop writing.

He was always involved with the Olive Festival right from the beginning and has contributed and collected many stories, legends and wisdom which are the heritage of Cyprus.

On the occasion of the Olive Festival 2009 he has published a new book “Templos – Social Life and Culture of Zeytinlik” a collection of stories and testimonies, photographs and old sayings of this village Zeytinlik. It is in Turkish and English. He was very rushed to finish it for the festival so a small part of the English translation is not as correct as he wanted it.

The other book which is published in Turkish, English and German is “Legends of Cyprus” where you learn what some of the rock formations, earth hills, houses and bridges have to tell. I had the pleasure to translate it into German.

A third book “Discover the Precious Things of Life” was already published in 2006 and I have already commented on it when it was launched.

Nesim, Ali  

Writer, Philosopher and Man of the Theatre

born in Zeytinlik in1941

A Citizen of Templos

There was a boy of five, with a stick in his hands, sitting under an olive tree near the village of Zeytinlik -  Templos in the old days -  tending the flock of his parents’ sheep. He scooped water from the brook coming from the mountain and disappearing towards his village. He was tired. From his place he could see the castle of 101 houses which is today called St.Hilarion Castle, where he looked out for the beautiful queen combing her golden hair, as the legend tells, and who one day came down from her castle to follow the sweet tune of a pipe. There she found the shepherd with whom she fell in love.

The time was 1946 and this boy was Ali Nesim, son of Zeytinlik farmers in several generations. Today Ali Nesim is a tall, slim, upright man with deep eyes. “The house we are sitting in at this moment is situated on the land of my grandparents and parents. There used to be four brooks, filled with water year-round to water our fields of wheat and vegetables. We were not more than 100 villagers, but there were many summer houses for the city people who came here for the hot season. The villagers all worked very hard, all the men, women and children.  After the field work my mother used to make bread and hellim for Kyrenia market. It meant getting up early in the morning milking the cows and tending the other animals. I remember my donkey on which I brought the milk to the collecting centre. I loved going to the market, riding on it. We delivered meat, vegetables, oil, and all the handicraft things the village women made. You know where the Ordur Pazari in Girne is? That used to be an empty field where we tethered our donkeys and carts to unload our goods for the market in the still existing building opposite the Round Tower, a market which at that time used to be in full swing. Then came the harvest time, when work never stopped, and our backs ached. But in the evenings when the work was done we all sat together, happy to be together and to be healthy, and we sang.  One of the grown-ups told us of the many legends, unwritten literature, known only in the oral tradition. These legends made a great impression on us. The women went with a silent prayer for a secret wish to the village tomb, a legendary place. Children dreamt of the golden haired queen, and lovers sought advice in the Phanoremeni Chapel.....

Discover the Precious Things of Life (Review)

by Heidi Trautmann

Do something unusual, today

let your old soul die

and bring to new life

love of heart and body

and happiness.

With this poem on the back cover of his new book “Discover the Precious Things of Life” Ali Nesim declares his belief that the world is in need of a new philosophy, in need of a new courage to find a way back to our true identity, to give new strength to body and heart. A new philosophy as the basis for new ideas, a new direction in art and a new process of thinking. Rebirth. “The rivers of the old days are dry so we need to find new wells. We have developed away from nature, wisdom is no longer required but I am positive that one day we will find the key again to open the door for the acceptance of wisdom, free will and rationalism”.

These three keywords Ali Nesim are apparent in all his essays, for him this is the only way for a peaceful coexistence. He says so because he knows the harshness of life from his own experience and from watching his fellow villagers as a young boy and as a young man. In his short stories he brings to life events from his home village Zeytinlik, stories which were told in the evening hours after hard work in the fields.

“From where I have lived I could see Saint Hilarion which we called the castle of 101 houses and we children dreamt of the beautiful queen with golden hair who will one day come down to find her lover, the shepherd. I was tending sheep in my childhood and thus I leaned to the mountain, it was my intimate friend I shared all my problems with, my teacher who taught me using my eyes and my ears, my most beloved teacher”. He declares his love for the mountain in a poem, his appreciation  and gratitude. He deplores the destruction of nature, the blindness of people who allow this to happen, the loss of beauty in his home country.

He had chosen to study philosophy and sociology because he was interested in the structure of humanity, how the background of people, their daily life and their past and also legends, have an influence on their development. Only when you know your roots can you understand what is on the surface. Ali Nesim has been teaching in the Turkish Secondary School in Nicosia for 20 years and in those years he discovered his passon for the theatre, wrote many plays and directed the theatre groups.

“I could later enjoy it in full as Director for the Kaymakli Theatre which had burnt down in 1999 and will hopefully be rebuilt this year. Today I direct the theatre group in the Near East University and am also Director of the Turkish Cypriot Theatre Club. Inbetween I hold lectures or write books or travel to other beautiful places in the world like Budapest, Vienna and Prague.”

Ali Nesim's book was launched in June 2006 and the entire income of the first edition will go to the Orthopedic Disabled Association in Nicosia.

Copyright Heidi Trautmann 2009