Hello lads, it's been a while. Ziya Gökalp (1876-1924) was a Turkish sociologist, writer, poet and politican, nicknamed the "father of Turkish nationalism" he was also the father of the social science of Sociology in Turkey. Born in the city of Diyarbakır, the house he was born in is now a museum. He influenced a lot of the youths of Turkey who later on founded the Republic of Turkey. Most notably Atatürk who said he was "the father of his thoughts.". After the Ottomans lost WW1; he, along with other Turkish nationalists were arrested and exiled to Malta to prevent them from joining the Turkish War of Independence. While in exile, these nationalists were slandered and criminalised by supporters of the invading powers, most notable being Ali Kemal*, which was the minister of Interior of the collaboration government in İstanbul. He accused Ziya Gökalp of being a Kurd and trying to make his Turkish nationalism a hypocrisy due to him not being Turkic by race (Although Gökalp's nationalism is a civic nationalism and based on citizenship not blood. And even then Gökalp is of Turkic descent.). Ziya Gökalp writes his reply in a poem titled "To Ali Kemal". After the Turks win their war of independence, Ali Kemal gets linched by the people he betrayed, in the end, Ziya Gökalp is cherished by the people as a hero while Ali Kemal is only remembered as a stench, karma. As always, the original poem in Turkish is in the link and if you want to read more about Ziya Gökalp, I have linked an article about him in Atatürk Ansiklopedisi, you can translate it.

(Image source: Fikriyat)

Warning: I am not a professional translator, so there are bound to be some errors, please correct me if I make a mistake.

To Ali Kemal

You say that "I'm a Turk", you're not!

"and I'm Islam" you say, you're not Islam

Neither did I want a record from you about my race

Neither did I demanded it for my religion

I worked for Turkishness for my own delight

I never hoped for a reward about my job

Because of that I suffered through numerous disasters

I never said with regret: Alas!

Even if I was a Kurd, an Arab or a Circassian

My first purpose would be the Turkish nation

Because if the Turk is strong, definitely

It saves every nation of Islam!

I'm a friend of Turks if I'm a Turk or not

You're an enemy of Turks if you're a Turk or not

Because my aim is to cherish the Turk

Yours is to kill all whom cherishes

Turkishness is both my ideal and my blood

You can't take it off my back because it's not fur

The person who calls the servant of Turkishness "not Turkish"

Even if you're Turk by blood, you're a bastard, not a Turk.

The Article on Ataturk Encylopedia: here

The Original poem in Turkish: here

*Ali Kemal is also the grandfather of ex-prime minister of Britain Boris Johnson