Writer (b.
1881, Gelibolu / Çanakkale - d. 1 July 1955, İstanbul). His real name was
Abdülhak Adnan. He attended the School of Medicine until third grade in
İstanbul, where he had completed his primary and secondary education. He
graduated from the Berlin Faculty of Medicine in Germany, to where he had fled
with his friends, and received specialist education in Zurich. After the
Constitutional Monarchy and his return to Turkey he became assistant teacher in
the School of Medicine and worked as the director of that faculty for about two
years. He served in the First World War at the front in Tripoli as a Red
Crescent supervisor.
After the armistice he entered the
Ottoman Assembly as the parliamentary deputy of İstanbul. He was one of the
founders of National Turkish Party along with Mehmet Emin Yurdakul, Yusuf
Akçura and others. Upon the occupation of İstanbul, he moved to Ankara with his
wife Halide Edip. He was appointed as the Minister of Health and Social Aid and
as the Minister of Interior Affairs in the first Turkish Grand National
Assembly. He served in the Assembly as the second chairman. He was the Minister
of Foreign Affairs for some time.
As he was one of the founders of the Progressive Republican Party (1924)
with Rauf Orbay, Kazım Karabekir and Ali Fuat Cebesoy, his relationship with
Mustafa Kemal deteriorated and, fallen out of favor, he went abroad. Although a
decision to arrest him in his absence was taken, he did not return to Turkey,
but lived in the United Kingdom and France for many years (1929-39). His
resentment continued until the death of Mustafa Kemal. He worked as a Turkish
teacher in Paris for about eight years. When he was in the United Kingdom he
wrote the section relating to Turkey for Encyclopedia Britannica. When he
returned to Turkey, he was appointed as the manager of the Clerical Board of İslâm Ansiklopedisi (Islamic
Encyclopedia). He became an independent parliamentary deputy between 1950 and
1954. He published his research articles during his later years in Cumhuriyet newspaper and Yeni Ufuklar review. He translated the
books of western intellectuals such as Bertrand Russell into Turkish.
WORKS:
STUDY-RESEARCH:
Faust, Tahlil Tercümesi (Faust,
Analysis Translation, 1939), Osmanlı
Türkleri'nde İlim (Science in the Ottoman Turks, first edition in French,
1939; 2nd edition, 1943), Tarih Boyunca
İlim ve Din (Science and Religion Throughout History, 2 volumes, 1944), Bilgi Cumhuriyet Haberleri (Information
Republic News, 1945).
BIOGRAPHY: Farabi (Farabi, 10th century
Islamic philosopher, 1947).
ESSAY: Dur, Düşün (Stop and Think, 1950), Bizans'ta Yüksek Mektepler (Schools in Byzantium, 1953), Hakikat Peşindeki Emeklemeler (Crawling in the Pursuit of Truth, 1954).
