Poet (b. 18 August 1929, Pazar /
Kızılcahamam / Ankara). He attended primary school in Sirkeli town in Çubuklu
province, Ankara Kurtuluş Secondary School and İstanbul Haydarpaşa High School.
He graduated from Ankara University, Faculty of Law (1960). He worked as a
judge in various cities and provinces and then retired (1960-94).
His first poem appeared in the review Çocuk, published by the Institute of
Child Care in 1950. His poems were also published in the reviews Çağrı, Bahçe, Kaynak, Çağdaş, Gülpınar, Türk
Dili and etc. He came third at the poetry competition on Yunus Emre held in
Eskişehir in 1986. Some of his famous poems such as Gülümser (Smiling), Yağmur (Rain)
and Yunus (Yunus) were set to music. His poems were included in textbooks and
assistant books. He translated some poems from Divan* poets into modern
Turkish. Arif Nihat Asya dedicated his quatrain titled Kuşlar (Birds) to Cevdet Aslangül: “Don’t think we have it easy/Come and see us in these grave-like
rooms!/Once they sang, nested on a fringe/But the birds have forgotten us as
well!” (Arif Nihat Asya).
WORKS:
Nisan
Yağmurları / Mustafa Arif Arık’ın Hayatı ve Şiirleri (April Rain/Mustafa Arif Arık, His Life
and Poems, 1964), Perapalas Gönül
Sohbetleri Güldestesi IV (Collection of Conversations at the Pera Palace,
in collaboration with Feyzi Halıcı and Ahmet Özdemir, 2000).