Turgut Özakman (1 September 1930 – 28 September 2013) was a Turkish lawyer, a civil servant, a

dramaturge A dramaturge or dramaturg is a literary adviser or editor in a theatre, opera, or film company who researches, selects, adapts, edits, and interprets scripts, libretti, texts, and printed programmes (or helps others with these tasks), consults auth ...

and a writer.

Life

He was born in

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...

in 1930. In 1952 he graduated from the law school of Ankara University and served as a lawyer. After studying drama in the

University of Cologne The University of Cologne (german: Universität zu Köln) is a university in Cologne, Germany. It was established in the year 1388 and is one of the most prestigious and research intensive universities in Germany. It was the sixth university to ...

, he was appointed as a

in state theatre of Ankara ( tr, Ankara Devlet Tiyatrosu). Later he also served in the

Turkish Radio and Television Corporation The Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT; Turkish : ) is the national public broadcaster of Turkey, founded in 1964. TRT was for many years the only television and radio provider in Turkey. Before the introduction of commercial radio ...

(TRT) as a manager. Between 1983 and 1987 he was the general director in State Theatres. Between 1984 and 1994 he was the vice chairman of

Radio and Television Supreme Council Radio and Television Supreme Council ( tr, Radyo ve Televizyon Üst Kurulu), also known in short as RTÜK, is the Turkish state agency for monitoring, regulating, and sanctioning radio and television broadcasts. RTÜK was founded in 1994 and is ...

(RTÜK).

Works

As a writer he produced many plays, novels, scenarios and drama researches. But his most notable works are three novels which are collectively known as ''Türkiye Üçlemesi'' ("Turkey Triplet") *''Şu Çılgın Türkler'' (These Crazy Turks) about

Turkish War of Independence The Turkish War of Independence "War of Liberation", also known figuratively as ''İstiklâl Harbi'' "Independence War" or ''Millî Mücadele'' "National Struggle" (19 May 1919 – 24 July 1923) was a series of military campaigns waged by th ...

(published in 2005) *''Diriliş Çanakkale 1915'' (Resuscitation, Çanakkale 1915) about the Gallipoli Campaign (published in 2008)Turgut Özakman:Diriliş Çanakkale 1915, Bilgi yayınevi, Ankara 2008, * ''Cumhuriyet Türk Mucizesi'' (Republic, a Turkish Miracle) about the foundation of Republican Turkey (published in 2009) These novels (all more than 600 pages) are semi documentaries with sources, maps and archive photos. But, to ease the reading, a story of romance has been added to convert them to novels. Among them ''Şu Çılgın Türkler'' broke the sales records in Turkey in 2005. Up to 2013 there have been 311 impressions.

Death

He died on 28 September 2013 in Ankara Hürriyet newspaper
/ref> He was buried in Karşıyaka Cemetery in Ankara. He was survived by three children.

Legacy

In 1999 he was awarded by the

Presidency A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified b ...

. In 2002

Eskişehir Eskişehir ( , ; from "old" and "city") is a city in northwestern Turkey and the capital of the Eskişehir Province. The urban population of the city is 898,369 with a metropolitan population of 797,708. The city is located on the banks of the ...

municipality named one of the public theaters in Eskişehir "''Turgut Özakman stage''". After 2006, Middle East Technical University,

Süleyman Demirel University Süleyman Demirel University (SDU) ( tr, Süleyman Demirel Üniversitesi) is a public university located in Isparta, Turkey. Established in 1992, the university, with around 70.000 students, is the second largest academic institution in Turkey ...

and

Marmara University Marmara University ( Turkish: ''Marmara Üniversitesi'') is a public university in Istanbul, Turkey. The university is named after the Sea of Marmara and was founded as a university in 1982. However, it was created in 1883 under the name of ''H ...

awarded Özakman.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ozakman, Turgut 1930 births 2013 deaths Turkish writers Turkish secularists Ankara University alumni University of Cologne alumni Dramaturges 20th-century dramatists and playwrights