Falih Rıfkı Atay (1894 – 20 March 1971) was a Turkish journalist, writer and politician between 1923 and 1950.

Biography

Falih Rıfkı was the son of Halil Hilmi Efendi, an

imam Imam (; , '; : , ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Islam, Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a prayer leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Salah, Islamic prayers, serve as community leaders, ...

. He was educated in

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

. Falih began his career as a journalist in the '' Tanin'', a

CUP A cup is an open-top vessel (container) used to hold liquids for drinking, typically with a flattened hemispherical shape, and often with a capacity of about . Cups may be made of pottery (including porcelain), glass, metal, wood, stone, pol ...

newspaper. He later became the private secretary of Talat Pasha, and during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

accompanied

Cemal Pasha Ahmed Djemal (; ; 6 May 1872 – 21 July 1922), also known as Djemal Pasha or Cemâl Pasha, was an Ottoman military leader and one of the Three Pashas that ruled the Ottoman Empire during World War I. As an officer of the II Corps, he was ...

in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign. After the war, he, with three other friends, founded the newspaper '' Akşam'' supporting the

Turkish War of Independence , strength1 = May 1919: 35,000November 1920: 86,000Turkish General Staff, ''Türk İstiklal Harbinde Batı Cephesi'', Edition II, Part 2, Ankara 1999, p. 225August 1922: 271,000Celâl Erikan, Rıdvan Akın: ''Kurtuluş Savaşı tarih ...

. From 1919 to 1920 Falih Rıfkı was one of the contributors of '' Büyük Mecmua'' magazine which also supported the war of independence. On September 9, 1922, he travelled to the liberated

İzmir İzmir is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara. It is on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, and is the capital of İzmir Province. In 2024, the city of İzmir had ...

to visit

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Mustafa Kemal Atatürk ( 1881 – 10 November 1938) was a Turkish field marshal and revolutionary statesman who was the founding father of the Republic of Turkey, serving as its first President of Turkey, president from 1923 until Death an ...

with Yakup Kadri and arrived on the 13th of September just before the fire. Later, he became an

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held accoun ...

in the '' Hakimiyet-i Milliye''. He entered politics in 1923, and served as deputy of

Bolu Bolu is a city in northern Turkey, and administrative center of the Bolu Province and of Bolu District,Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

in the

parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

until the

1950 Turkish general election General elections were held in Turkey on 14 May 1950, using the multiple non-transferable vote electoral system.Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) ''Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume I'', p238 The result was a land ...

. In the early 1950s Atay contributed to the history magazine '' Tarih Dünyası''. He was the author of more than 30 works. Falih Rıfkı Atay died on 20 March 1971 in Istanbul. He was interred there at Zincirlikuyu Cemetery.

Legacy

nature park A nature park, or sometimes natural park, is a designation for a protected area by means of long-term land planning, sustainable resource management and limitation of agricultural and real estate developments. These valuable landscapes are pres ...

inside the

Belgrad Forest Belgrad Forest () is a mixed deciduous forest lying adjacent to Istanbul, Turkey. It is named after the village next to the forest, settled by thousands of Serbs who were deported to the capital Constantinople from the city of Belgrade in 1521, w ...

Sarıyer Sarıyer () is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of Istanbul Province, Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 177 km2 and its population is 350,454 (2022). It is on the northeastern part of Istanbul's European side. Sarıyer al ...

district of

Istanbul Province Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

was named in his honor in 2011.

Selected works

* ''Ateş ve Güneş'', (Fire and Sun), 1918, Memories of World War I in Syria and Palestine * ''Zeytindağı'' (Mount of Olives), 1932, Memories of World War I in Syria and Palestine * ''Yeni Rusya'' (New Russia), 1931, Travelbook * ''Çankaya'' (See Çankaya Mansion), 1952 and 1962, Memories of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk * Babanız Atatürk, 1955, Memories of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk

Joint works

* ''İzmir'den Bursa’ya,'' (From İzmir to Bursa), 1922, Greek Atrocities during the Greek Occupation of Western Anatolia, co-authors:

Halide Edip In chemistry, a halide (rarely halogenide) is a binary chemical compound, of which one part is a halogen atom and the other part is an element or radical that is less electronegative (or more electropositive) than the halogen, to make a fl ...

, Yakup Kadri, Ruşen Eşref and Asım Us.

Notes

External links

1894 births 1971 deaths 20th-century Turkish journalists 20th-century writers from the Ottoman Empire Burials at Zincirlikuyu Cemetery Deputies of Ankara Deputies of Bolu 20th-century journalists from the Ottoman Empire Members of the 2nd Parliament of Turkey Members of the 3rd Parliament of Turkey Members of the 4th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 5th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 6th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 7th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 8th Parliament of Turkey Politicians from Istanbul Republican People's Party (Turkey) politicians People of the Burning of Smyrna Ottoman people of World War I Turkish people of the Turkish War of Independence {{Turkey-journalist-stub