Poet (b. 1917, Bakırköy /
İstanbul - d. 20 January 2004). After he graduated from Erdek (Bandırma) High School
(1928), he continued his education at Robert College 1929-32), Gaziantep,
Yozgat (1937-38) and İstanbul Kabataş High School for Boys (1939). He dropped
out of İstanbul University, Faculty of Economics and began to work as a tax
assessor at the Galata Finance and Tax Office (1940). Between 1940 and 1945 he
served as a soldier in Bursa. Later, he became clerk at Ankara Gazi High School
(1945) and worked at the Ministry of Tourism and Ankara Radio (1945-50). He was
a reporter, chief and assistant director at the General Directorate of Social
Security Foundation, Department of Insurance of Senior Citizens (1950-73).
After 1994, he was a member of the İstanbul Turkish Art Music Repertoire.
His first poem, “Gözlerin” (Your Eyes) was published in the
youth page of the newspaper Vakit. He was well known for his poems and
articles published in the reviews and newspapers Dergâh and Yedigün (1938-50), Çınaraltı (1942-52), İstanbul
(1942-44), Hisar (1950-81), Türk Dili (1950-69), Varlık (1952-75), Türk Edebiyatı (1972), Millî
Kültür (1979), Vakit,
Tercüman, Son Havadis, Millet and Türkiye. He won the first prize in the
1937 Yarım Ay Newspaper Poetry
Competition, the third prize of the Ankara Community Center in 1946 with the
poem, Özlediğim Şehir (The City that I Miss), the first prize of the
newspaper Son Havadis in 1971 with Mavi İkindiler (Blue
Afternoons), the fourth prize in the lyric contest of the newspaper Hürriyet
in 1975 and the second prize of Eskişehir Association of Culture in 1986 with Yunus'a
Selam (Salutations for Yunus). He traveled to Germany in 1955 and Macedonia
(Struga) in 1984. He married Ruhan Yeşiltaş in 1987; they had no children. He
was a member of the Professional Association of Scientific and Literary Work
Owners of Turkey, the Turkish Literature Foundation, the Kadıköy Culture
Association and the Turkish Authors Association.
WORKS:
POETRY: Büyüyen Eller (Growing Hands, 1954), Belki (Maybe, 1960), Bir Bulut Geçti (A Cloud Passed By,
1973), Yeşil Çağ (The Green Age,
1976), Hüzzam Beste (The Hüzzam
Composition, 1986).
BIOGRAPHY: Cahit Sıtkı Tarancı (Cahit Sıtkı Tarancı, 1977), Ömer Bedrettin Uşaklı (Ömer Bedrettin
Uşaklı, 1986).
ANTHOLOGY: Cumhuriyet Dönemi Türk Şiiri (Turkish Poetry in the Republican Era, 1987).