Journalist-writer (b. 13 April 1948, Ormancık village / Niksar / Tokat).
After finishing Trabzon Institute of Education (1970), he worked as Turkish and
literature teacher in different secondary and high schools and İstanbul Atatürk
Institute of Education. He worked in the newspaper Hürriyet. His epic book
which was published in 1979 and in which he told about the Kızıldere event, was
tried first İstanbul High Criminal Court, then in İstanbul Martial Law Court,
after 1980 military coup. Rıza Zelyut who was sentenced to eighteen months and
fourteen days, completed his sentence in prison and in exile for four months.
He was fired from civil service post and began to work for the newspaper Hürriyet. He was fired in 1991. Zelyut, who entered to the newspaper Akşam as columnist in 1994, contiuned writing in the newspaper Güneş.
His articles were published in the reviews and newspapers Yelken, Yansıma, Güney, Köken, Kıyı, Hisar,
Eflatun, Türk Dili, Varlık, Yeni Ortam, Cumhuriyet, Akşam. Zelyut, who works for organizing the Alawi
society in home and abroad, worked as a consultant in the publishing of the
review Nefes and began to the new
publishing of the review Cem in 1996. He received the first
rank in the Turkish Language Association Competition which was organized
because of he 50th Year of the Republic with the subject “The Role of Republic
in the Development of Turkey” in 1973. He received the second rank in Hacı
Bektaş Veli Study Competition in 1976.
WORKS:
CHILDREN’S
SHORT STORY: Yabancılar (Foreigners,
1979), Uzayda Savaş (War in the Space), Geçmişe Yolculuk (Journey to the Past).
POETRY: Sonsuz Yarım Gün (Eternal Half Day,
1980).
STUDY-RESEARCH: Halk Şiirinde
Gerçekçilik (Realism in Folk Poetry, 1982), Osmanlıda Karşı Düşünce ve İdam Edilenler (The Counter Idea in
Ottomans and Hanged Ones, 1986), Aleviler
Ne Yapmalı, Şehirdeki Alevilerin Sorun ve Çözümleri (What Should Alawites
Do, The Problems and Solutions of the Alawites in Urban, 1993), Halk Şiirinde Gerçekçilik (Realism in
Folk Poetry, 1994), Halk Şiirinde
Başkaldırı (Rebellion in Folk Poetry, 1994), Öz
Kaynaklarına Göre Alevilik (Alawism Based on its Own Resources),
Alevilerde Mizah (Humor
in Alawites), Muaviye’den Erbakan’a Din ve Siyaset (Religion and
Politics from Muaviye to Erbakan).