Hasan Reşit Tankut (1891–1980) was a Turkish politician and professor. He was a member of the

Grand National Assembly of Turkey The Grand National Assembly of Turkey ( tr, ), usually referred to simply as the TBMM or Parliament ( tr, or ''Parlamento''), is the unicameral Turkish legislature. It is the sole body given the legislative prerogatives by the Turkish Consti ...

and a co-founder of the

Turkish Language Association The Turkish Language Association ( tr, Türk Dil Kurumu, TDK) is the regulatory body for the Turkish language, founded on 12 July 1932 by the initiative of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and headquartered in Ankara, Turkey. The Institution acts as the off ...

Early life and education

He was born in Maraş in 1891, and after his father's death he was raised for some years by Seydo Aĝa, who has been described as an Alevi

Kurd ug:كۇردلار Kurds ( ku, کورد ,Kurd, italic=yes, rtl=yes) or Kurdish people are an Iranian peoples, Iranian ethnic group native to the mountainous region of Kurdistan in Western Asia, which spans southeastern Turkey, northwestern Ir ...

. During the end of his studies at the high school in

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

in 1908, made aware of the differences of

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

and

Turkish language Turkish ( , ), also referred to as Turkish of Turkey (''Türkiye Türkçesi''), is the most widely spoken of the Turkic languages, with around 80 to 90 million speakers. It is the national language of Turkey and Northern Cyprus. Significant sma ...

, he decided to put more importance in the use of the Turkish one. He then studied law and political sciences in Damascus. Later he fought as a volunteer during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and the Independence War. Afterwards, Mustafa Kemal appointed him as an adviser to the Order in the Provinces of the East in 1925 and as the Generalinspector of the

Turkish Hearths Turkish Hearths ( tr, Türk Ocakları) is a non-governmental organization (NGO) in Turkey. It was founded in 1912, during the last years of the Ottoman Empire, in a period when almost all non-Turkish elements had their own national committees, an ...

in 1926. Also on Atatürk's call, he taught History at the

Ankara University Ankara University ( tr, Ankara Üniversitesi) is a public university in Ankara, the capital city of Turkey. It was the first higher education institution founded in Turkey after the formation of the republic in 1923. The university has 40 vocat ...

from 1936–1940.

Academic career

In 1935, he and other representatives of the Turkish Language Association, were involved in the development of the Sun Language Theory. He was also a supporter of the

Turkish History Thesis The Turkish History Thesis (''Türk Tarih Tezi'') is a Turkish ultranationalist, pseudohistoric thesis which posited the belief that the Turks moved from their ancestral homeland in Central Asia and migrated to China, India, the Balkans, the ...

as well as the

Turkification Turkification, Turkization, or Turkicization ( tr, Türkleştirme) describes a shift whereby populations or places received or adopted Turkic attributes such as culture, language, history, or ethnicity. However, often this term is more narrowly ...

campaign of the Government of

Kemal Atatürk Kemal may refer to: ;People * Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, a Turkish politician and the first president of Turkey * Kemal (name), a common Turkish name ;Places * Kemalpaşa, İzmir Province, Turkey * Mustafakemalpaşa, Bursa Province, Turkey ;See also ...

. In 1937, upon Atatürk's demand, Tankut attended an Anthropology and Archaeology Conference in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

, to introduce the Sun Language Theory. Apart from being a founder of the Turkish Language Association, he was also the head of its etymology branch. As an inspector for the Turkish Hearths he received free access to the Kurdish provinces, and he used this freedom for his studies. On the sixth congress of the Turkish Hearths in 1926, he made public that during his journeys he has seized several books in many non-Turkish languages. In 1940 on another journey which included visiting

Bitlis Bitlis ( hy, Բաղեշ '; ku, Bidlîs; ota, بتليس) is a city in southeastern Turkey and the capital of Bitlis Province. The city is located at an elevation of 1,545 metres, 15 km from Lake Van, in the steep-sided valley of the Bitlis R ...

, he noticed with satisfaction that the Sharafname of the Kurdish author Sharaf Khan Bidlisi was not read anymore by the local population. In 1961 he supported the idea to settle Turks in between Kurds and Zazas in order to make them more available to turkification. During his lifetime he published several ethnological studies about the

Zazas The Zazas (also known as Kird, Kirmanc or Dimili) are a people in eastern Turkey who traditionally speak the Zaza language, a western Iranian language written in the Latin script. Their heartland consists of Tunceli and Bingöl provinces and p ...

Kurds ug:كۇردلار Kurds ( ku, کورد ,Kurd, italic=yes, rtl=yes) or Kurdish people are an Iranian ethnic group native to the mountainous region of Kurdistan in Western Asia, which spans southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Ir ...

and the

Alevis Alevism or Anatolian Alevism (; tr, Alevilik, ''Anadolu Aleviliği'' or ''Kızılbaşlık''; ; az, Ələvilik) is a local Islamic tradition, whose adherents follow the mystical Alevi Islamic ( ''bāṭenī'') teachings of Haji Bektash Veli, wh ...

, and books about the Sun Language Theory.

Political career

He also served several terms in the

as a representative for the provinces Muş, (1931-1935), Maraș(1935-1950),

Hatay Hatay Province ( tr, Hatay ili, ) is the southernmost province of Turkey. It is situated almost entirely outside Anatolia, along the eastern coast of the Levantine Sea. The province borders Syria to its south and east, the Turkish province of ...

(1950-1954), and

Mardin Mardin ( ku, Mêrdîn; ar, ماردين; syr, ܡܪܕܝܢ, Merdīn; hy, Մարդին) is a city in southeastern Turkey. The capital of Mardin Province, it is known for the Artuqid architecture of its old city, and for its strategic location on ...

(1957-1960). In 1940 he undertook a journey to the provinces of Siirt,

Van A van is a type of road vehicle used for transporting goods or people. Depending on the type of van, it can be bigger or smaller than a pickup truck and SUV, and bigger than a common car. There is some varying in the scope of the word across th ...

and Muş in order to secure the loyalty of the population in the case an eventual participation in the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. He doubted that the Kurdish speaking population would stay loyal to the Turkish Republic in that case.

References

{{Authority control Turkish politicians Turkish nationalists Turkish language 1890s births 1980 deaths Year of birth uncertain