Statesman and writer (b. 1883, Kemaliye
/ Sivas - d. 1961, İstanbul). He
attended the Vefa High School and the High Teacher Training School. He learned
Arabic and Persian on private courses, and studied natural sciences at Lausanne
University. He worked as a teacher of mathematics at high schools in İstanbul
and other cities. He improved himself on history, and became a professor of
Turkish and Islamic history at the Faculty of Literature, during the
reorganization of İstanbul University (1914). He lectured on history of
religions and Islamic philosophy at the Süleymaniye Madrasah. He was elected as
a deputy of the Union and Progress Party from the province Ertuğrul (1915-19).
He served at the İstanbul branch of the Society for the Defense of the Rights
of Anatolia and Thrace (1920).
While serving as the deputy from Sivas
(1923-50) and Erzincan (1950-54), he also continued his duty at the university.
The administration of the İstanbul University dignified him with the degree of
professorship of history and then, professorship in ordinary. He became the
Prime Minister in the government of the Republican People’s Party in 1949
(January 16, 1949 – May 22, 1950). He was not elected in 1954, and then became
the Republican People's Party's president of the province of İstanbul
(1957-60). He was appointed to the membership to the Founding Assembly,
established by the revolutionaries of the May 27th (1960-61), and to the
membership of the Republican Senate. He continued his presidency at the Turkish
Historical Society, which he undertook in 1941, until his death.
WORKS:
Mâziden Âtiye (From the Past to the Future, 1913), Hurafattan Hakikate (From Superstition to the Truth, 1916), Zulmetten Nura (From Darkness to the Light, 1917), Tarih-i Edyan (History of Religions, 1922), İslâm Tarihi (History of Islam, 1922), İslâmda Tarih ve Müverrihler (History and Historians in Islam, 1973), İslâm Dini Tarihi (History of the Religion of Islam, 1924), Mufassal Türk Tarihi (Detailed Turkish History, five volumes, 1928-33), Uzak Şark Tarihi (History of Far East, 1937), Eski Suriye ve İbraniler Tarihi (History of Old Syria and Hebrews, 1937), Yakın Şark Tarihi (History of Near East, four volumes, 1937-51), Türk Tarihinin İlk Devirleri (The First Ages of Turkish History, 1937), İran Tarihi (History of Iran, 1948), Perslerden Romalılara Kadar Selevkoslar, Nebâtiler, Galatalar, Bitinya ve Bergama Krallıkları (The Seleucids, Nabatians, Galats, Kingdoms of Bithinia and Pergamom from Persians to Romans, 1951), Hürriyet Mücadeleleri (Conflicts for Independence, 1958).
