TEHRAN – Two books by Iranian writer Hamid Hesam have been released by the Turkish publishing house Feta in Istanbul.

“Immigrant from the Land of the Sun” (“Günes Ülkesinden Gelen Anne”) containing memories of Koniko Yamamura, the mother of soldier Mohammad Babai who was martyred in the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war, is one of the books.

Yamamura is the only Japanese mother whose son was martyred during the war. She chose the name Saba after she married an Iranian Muslim in Japan and moved to Iran afterwards, where her life was totally changed after her 19-year-old son Mohammad was martyred.

What makes her life distinguished are the events that changed her life.

“I never thought my life story would turn into a book, because if I were living in Japan with my parents, I would have had a typical life, but marrying an Iranian Muslim changed my life completely,” she has said.

“After the martyrdom of my son, several writers proposed to write my biography but I did not agree, however, in a journey to Hiroshima I met Hesam and I trusted him, and the interviews began for the book,” she added.

Hesam has also said that he met Yamamura in 2014 during a visit to Hiroshima along with a number of Iranian cineastes, authors and war veterans who attended the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony.

The other book is “Water Never Dies” (“Su Ölümsüzdür”), which covers the memories of war veteran Mirza Mohammad Solgi, who died from the wounds he suffered that were inflicted by chemical weapons used during the war. 

He was one of the commanders of the 32nd Ansar al-Hussein Army.

The book is a new style in oral history, which was created based on the memories of Solgi. The book also contains narratives of warriors from the Abolfazl Brigade and the four commanders of the 32nd Ansar al-Hussein Army. 

Both books have been translated into Turkish by Aykut Pazarbasi. Hesam was selected as the Islamic Revolution Artist of the Year in 2018.

Photo: This combination photo shows the covers of the Turkish editions of Hamid Hesam’s books “Immigrant from the Land of the Sun” and “Water Never Dies”. 

MMS/YAW