Writer (b. 10 April 1927,
Konya - d. 8 April 2008, İzmir). His father was from Karlıova in Bingöl, and
his mother from Başkale in Van. He is the brother of the poet Feyzi Halıcı. He
used the pen name Cemşid Bender in some of his works. He attended the Konya 19
Mayıs Primary School (1938), the Konya High School (1946), and graduated from
İstanbul University, Faculty of Law (1950). He completed his doctorate studies
at University of Caen in France, with the thesis “Osmanlı Devleti Maliye
Teşkilatı” (Financial Organization in the Ottoman State, 1956). He
specialized on cooperatives (1959) in Oslo (Norway). He worked as a legal
practitioner in Konya (1974). After Feyzi Halıcı became a deputy, he continued
to publish the review Çağrı. He moved to İzmir after his retirement in
1979. He was a member of the Konya Society of Journalists (1960-61) and the
Turkish Language Association (1959-80). He opposed the colonialist war waged by
France against Algeria, and participated in the resistance of the Algerians. He
wrote columns in the newspapers Yeni Konya, Yeni Meram and Gündem.
His first essay was published
in the review Arkadaş of Cemal Nadir (25 April 1941). He published the
arts and culture review Babalık in Konya, together with Muammer
Yüzbaşıoğlu, when he was a student at the third grade of high school. Then, he
published the weekly newspaper Bizim Şehir in 1951, together with Lütfi
Hodoğlu; and the newspaper Haftalık Görüş in 1987, together with Mehmet
Köse. In the succeeding years, his short stories and other works were
published in the reviews İstanbul (1957), Varlık (both in the
review and in the annals), 1958-68), Türk Dili (1968), Çağrı
(1957-88), Sesler (Yugoslavia, 1985-88), Yaba, Berfin Bahar,
Çevren (Yugoslavia), and in some reviews in Norway and Denmark. He
edited the special issue on Turkish story-writing of the review Sesler (1988).
Mehdi Halıcı continues his
studies also on painting and poetry, besides writing. He has lived on his oil
paintings, during his years in Norway.
WORKS:
SHORT STORY: Gülen İnek
(The Smiling Cow, 1959), Karides Durağı (The Station of Shrimp, 1967).
SURVEY: Türk Halk Şiirinin
Altın Kitabı (The Golden Book of Turkish Poetry, 1970), Skandinavya’da
Turizm (Tourism in Scandinavia, 1983), Konya Sazı ve Türküleri (The
Baglama and Songs of Konya, 1985), Türk Hikâyeciliğinin Dünü ve Bugünü
(Past and Present of the Turkish Story-writing, 1988).
WORKS PUBLISHED WITH THE PEN
NAME CEMŞİD BENDER:
SHORT STORY: Kürt Kızı
Zenge (Zenge the Kurdish Girl, with his stories published in European
countries and the ones in his first story book, 1992).
NOVEL: Çatıdaki İsa
(Jesus on the Roof, 1995).
RESEARCH: Kürt Tarihi ve Uygarlığı
(Kurdish History and Civilization, 1991), Kürt Uygarlığında Alevilik
(Alevism in Kurdish Civilization, 1991), Kürt Mutfak Kültürü ve Kürt
Yemekleri (Kurdish Culture of Cooking and Kurdish Dishes, 1992), On İki
İmam ve Alevilik (The Twelve Imams and the Alawism, 1993), Kürt
Mitolojisi (Kurdish Mythology, 1999), Kürt Mitolojisi - 2 (Kurdish
Mythology -2, 2000).
His
thesis, completed in the year 1956, titled Osmanlı İmparatorluğu Mali
Teşkilatı (Financial Organization in the Ottoman State) was not published.
