Educationist, politician and civil servant (b. 1885, İstanbul - d. June 1966). He was the son of the Education Minister A. Suphi
Paşa; he was the grandson of the first education minister A. Sami Paşa. After
he finished Galatasaray High School (1904), he worked as a French, Turkish
Literature and Pedagogy course teacher at Ayasofya
Military High
School (1908-1910), Teacher
Training School (1910-1913) and at İstanbul University. He established the Chair of
Turkish Islamic Fine Arts, where he lectured (1913-1920).
Being a founder of the Turkish Society, he was president from 1913 to
1931. He was elected as the representative of Antalya in the last Ottoman Parliament
(1920). He was parliamentary deputy for Saruhan in the first parliament of the Turkish Republic. He was Minister of National
Education twice, 1920-21 and again in 1925 on the foundation of The Turkish
National Assembly (1920). Upon the closure of the Turkish Society, he was sent
to Bucharest as ambassador. He worked as the Ambassador to Bucharest
for a long time (1931-44). During this time, he was interested in the Gagauz
Turkish people living in Dobruca and Basarabya villages. He provided the means
to open schools, to each Turkish, to equip the schools and gave the opportunity
for students to go to Turkey
for education. He contributed to the establishment of a Turkish
Cemetery in Bucharest
for the Turkish fighters who died in World War I. After he returned
to Turkey,
he worked at the Turkish National Assembly as an İstanbul deputy. Between 1946
and 1950 he was again a parliamentary deputy. He lost the 1957 elections, in
which he participated having left the Democrat Party and was a candidate of the
Independence Party. After some time he left political life. He is buried in
Merkez Efendi Graveyard.
His first poems were published in the newspaper Şurâyı Ümmet that was
published in Paris.
He published humorous articles and satires in the journal Davul (1908-1909) of which he was the
head writer. He participated in the “Dawn
of New Age Movement” and then in the “National
Literature Contemporary Movement”. He was known for his speeches he made
when he was working for the Turkish Society.
WORKS:
Dağyolu (Mountain Road, conference and
speeches, 2 books, 1928-31), Günebakan (Sunflower,
articles, 1929).
Selections from his books, which were made by Mustafa Necati
Sepetçioğlu, were published by Ministry of National Education (1971).
