Writer (b. 1853, Huraki / Tiflis /
Dagestan / Caspian Sea - d. 1917, İstanbul). He graduated from Istowropol High
School. He came to Turkey after finishing his higher education in Russia
(1874). He worked in İstanbul as a history teacher and director at the School
of Teacher Training, 1880), and as a history teacher at the School for Civil
Servants, (1884). He published a weekly journal called Mizan (1885). He published Mizan
in French in Paris during the era of Abdülhamit II (1894). When he returned
to İstanbul upon the announcement of the Constitutional Monarchy, he was
appointed as a member of the State Council.
However, he was exiled to Rhodes with the charge that he was involved in
the events of March 31 (13 April 1908). He returned to İstanbul with a pardon
announced before the Balkan War (1912-13). He is buried in Anadoluhisarı
Cemetery.
Mehmed Murad, remembered as “Mizancı
Murad” (Murad the Balancer) because of the journal he published and as “Tarihçi
Murat” (Murat the Historian) because of the book Tarih-i Umumi (The General History) which he wrote when he was a
teacher at the School of Civil Servants, became famous for his novel Turfanda mı Yoksa Turfa mı? (Is it New or Nonsense) in which he criticized the
administration of the period he lived in.
WORKS:
Tarih-i
Umumî (General
History, 6 volumes, 1889), Muhtasar
Tarih-i İslâm (The Concise History of Islam, Bahçesaray, 1890), Turfanda mı Turfa mı? (Is it New or
Nonsense?, 1891, simplified by M.
Ertuğrul Düzdağ with the name Mansur Bey, 1972), Devr-i Hamîdî Âsârı (The Legends of the Period of the Hamid, 1891),
Le Palais de Yıldız et
REFERENCE: İsmail Habib / Edebi Yeniliğimiz (1932), Selim Nüzhet Gerçek / Türk Gazeteciliği 1831-1931 (1931), Ahmet Bedevi Kuran / İnkılâb Tarihimiz ve İttihad ve Terakki (1948), Şerif Mardin / Jön Türklerin Siyâsi Fikirleri (1964), Mücellidoğlu Ali Çankaya / Yeni Mülkiye Tarihi ve Mülkiyeliler (c. II, 1968), Kenan Akyüz / Modern Türk Edebiyatının Ana Çizgileri (1969), Hilmi Ziya Ülken / Türkiye’de Çağdaş Düşünce Tarihi (1979), Birol Emil / Mizancı Murad Bey - Hayatı ve Eserleri (1979), Arslan Tekin / Edebiyatımızda İsimler ve Terimler (2. bas. 1999), Behçet Necatigil / Edebiyatımızda İsimler Sözlüğü (18. bas. 1999), Şükran Kurdakul / Şairler ve Yazarlar Sözlüğü (gen. 6. bas. 1999), İsmail Parlatır / Büyük Türk Klâsikleri (c. 9, 2004), İhsan Işık / Yazarlar Sözlüğü (1990, 1998) - 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 Edebiyatçılar (Türkiye Ünlüleri Ansiklopedisi, C. 4, 2013) - Encyclopedia of Turkey’s Famous People (2013).