Intellectual, journalist-author (B. 1865, Kabil village
/ Çambar region/ Penza / Kazan / Russia- D. September 6th, 1923, Istanbul).
He began his primary school education by learning religion and Tatar language
in a Tatar Madrasah in Maçah. He graduated from Russian
School and Penza High School.
Then he applied to Moscow and Kazan Universities;
however he was not accepted to these universities since Muslim Turks were not
accepted to these schools, except the children of noble families and the
families serving for the Russian Government. For a while, he worked in a
journal named Tercüman which was published
by Gaspiralı İsmail. He went to Istanbul
for university education by the encouragements of Gaspiralı and he graduated
from Mekteb-i Mülkiye (T.N. the Faculty of Political Sciences) (1891). The
following year, he began to give Russian and Economics courses at Mekteb-i
Harbiye (T.N. the Military
School) (1892). At the
same time, he worked as inspection officer in initially at Galata Customs
Administration and then at Sirkeci Customs Administration.
Akyiğitzade, who was among the founders of
Turkish Association, founded in Istanbul
under the leadership of Yusuf Akçura in 1908, began to publish a newspaper
named Metin short after the
declaration of Constitutional Monarchy. He wrote articles about commercial
principles implemented in Ottoman Empire in
which he defended different views on economics from the Unionists (ittihatçı).
He closely witnessed when he worked in Customs Administration for a long time
that the country slowly became a free market and he mentioned that domestic
industry and commerce should be protected. He expressed that the Ottoman Empire, which was a cultivation country, could be
turned to an industrial country only if the commerce was protected by the
government and existing free market practices would be no help for the country.
In 1910, the newspaper Metin was also closed like many other newspapers. Then, newspapers named Feyz-i Hürriyet and Tasvir-i Hayal were united and began to be published under the name
of Üç Kardeş; however, it also was
closed by the Unionists. Akyiğitzade was discharged from its position at the Military School
due to the fact that he was a civil and appointed as governor in several districts
of Anatolia. He had to turn back to Istanbul since he
suffered from typhus in 1916. Once he recovered, he worked as a manager in Katanof
Şarkiyat Kütüphanesi (T.N. Katanof Oriental Library) and retired from there. In
some sources, it is stated that he was appointed to Süleymaniye Library in 1923
and he died during his position there.
Akyiğitzade,
one of the most important intellectuals of Constitutionalism years, published
his first articles under the title of “İlm-i Servet” as serial in Servet-i
Fünûn (T.N. name of magazine) when Sultan Abdülhamit was the ruler. Some of
his articles were published in magazines named Türk Dünyası and Türk Yurdu.
Hüsameddin Molla, the first novel written in Tatar Language, has a significant
place in Tatar Literature. The novel, which aroused a great attention among
Tatars in Russia, was also translated
to Turkey Turkish and published in Istanbul.
Akyiğitzade, who knew Greek, Arabic, Persian, Latin, German and French, made some
translations from these languages. His book named İlm-i Servet ve yahut İlm-i İktisat was used as a course book in the
Military School.
MAIN WORKS:
NOVEL: Hüsameddin Molla (1885, Kazan;
1901).
RESEARCH- REVIEW: İktisat yahut İlm-i Servet (1st
volume, 1889; and in the following years 2nd volume), Avrupa
Medeniyetinin Esasına Bir Nazar (1889).
REFERENCE: Hilmi Ziya
Ülken / Çağdaş Düşünce Tarihi (1966), Mücellidoğlu Ali Çankaya / Yeni Mülkiye
Tarihi ve Mülkiyeliler (c. III, 1968), Nadir Devlet / Rusya Türklerinin Milli
Mücadele Tarihi: 1905-1971 (s. 151, 1985), Abdullah Battal Taymas / Kazan
Türkleri (s. 118-134-136, 1988), Tevfik Çavdar / Türkiye'de Liberalizm: 1860-1990 (s. 127-140,
1992), Yusuf Sarınay / Türk
Milliyetçiliğinin Tarihî Gelişimi ve Türk Ocakları: 1912-1931 (1994), İhsan Işık / Türkiye
Yazarlar Ansiklopedisi (2001, 2004) – Encyclopedia of Turkish Authors (2005) -
Resimli ve Metin Örnekli Türkiye Edebiyatçılar ve Kültür Adamları Ansiklopedisi
(2006, gen. 2. bas. 2007) - Ünlü Fikir ve Kültür Adamları (Türkiye Ünlüleri
Ansiklopedisi, C. 3, 2013) - Encyclopedia of Turkey’s Famous People (2013).