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

dramaturge A dramaturge or dramaturg (from Ancient Greek δραματουργός – dramatourgós) is a literary adviser or editor in a theatre, opera, or film company who researches, selects, adapts, edits, and interprets scripts, libretti, texts, and pr ...

and a writer.

Life

He was born in

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 1930. In 1952 he graduated from the law school of

Ankara University Ankara University () is a public university, public research university in Ankara, the capital of Turkey. It was the first higher education institution founded in Turkey after the History of the Republic of Turkey, formation of the Turkish republ ...

and served as a lawyer. After studying drama in the

University of Cologne The University of Cologne () is a university in Cologne, Germany. It was established in 1388. It closed in 1798 before being re-established in 1919. It is now one of the largest universities in Germany with around 45,187 students. The Universit ...

, he was appointed as a

in state theatre of Ankara (). Later he also served in the

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

(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 (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 , 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 ...

(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 The Karşıyaka Cemetery () is a modern burial ground located at Karşıyaka neighborhood in Yenimahalle district of Ankara Province, Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West ...

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 821 315 (Odunpazari + Tebebasi), with a metropolitan population of 921 630. The city is l ...

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

Middle East Technical University Middle East Technical University (commonly referred to as METU; in Turkish language, Turkish, ''Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi'', ODTÜ) is a prestigious public university, public Institute of technology, technical university located in Ankara, ...

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

and

Marmara University Marmara University (Turkish language, Turkish: ''Marmara Üniversitesi'') is a Public university, public research university in Istanbul, Turkey. The university, named after the Sea of Marmara, was founded as a university in 1982. However, its ...

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