Historian and
diplomat (b. 4 September 1884, İstanbul – d. 2 February 1965). He was the son
of Tosyalı Mustafa Safvet Bey. He attended Kadıköy Saint Joseph Private French
High School (1900) and graduated from Paris University, Faculty of Political
Sciences (1902). He worked as a translator at the Monopoly Administration, as a
writer at the newspaper Levant Herald
and as a first-secretary and undersecretary at the embassies in Bucharest,
Washington, Madrid and Tehran. He served as the Principal Clerk of the Ministry
of Finance (1912), member of the Council of State (1917), general secretary at
the Lausanne Conference (1922) and advisor at the Eastern Countries French Bank
(1928). He was elected as a parliamentary deputy twice between the years 1927
and 1934. In 1923, he established the Turkish Touring Automotive Foundation,
where he was the chairman for forty-one years. He worked as the general
secretary of the Cultural Council of the Turkish Guilds. In 1928, his
suggestion of a reform in Turkish numbers, in parallel to the reform in the
Turkish alphabet, was accepted. In 1931, he participated in the establishment
of the Turkish Historical Society.
Atabinen, who also wrote some of his works in French, published the
review Economiste
d'Orient. He wrote
forty book and a thousand articles in Turkish and French.
MAIN WORKS:
L'Effort
Ottoman (The Efforts
of the Ottomans, Paris 1906), L'Agitation
Bulgare (The Protest of the Bulgarians, Paris 1907), Mélanges Littéraires et Politique (Fusion of Literature and
Politics, 3 volumes, 1906-1911), Les
Turcs de Perse (The Iranian Turks, Bucharest, 1911), Osmanlı Tarih-i Malî Dersleri (Lessons on Ottoman Financial
History, İstanbul, 1913), Siyasî Levhalar
(Political Symbols, Turan and Sabah, İstanbul, 1914-1918), L'Occupation de Smyrne (The Occupation of İzmir, Geneva 1919), Turcs et Arméniens (The Turks and the
Armenians, 2 volumes, Geneva, 1919), Türklük
ve Türkçülük İzleri (Being Turk and Traces of Turks, Ankara, 1930), Avrupa'da Eski Türkler (Ancient Turks in
Europe, Ankara, 1931), Çekeller ve Tuna
Türkleri (Czechs and Turks of the Danube, Ankara, 1934), Hazar Türkleri Avrupa Devleti (Turks of
the Caspian European State, 6th-7th centuries, İstanbul,
1934), Turizmin Harsî, Siyasî ve iktisadî
Faydaları (Cultural, Political and Economical Advantages of Tourism,
İstanbul, 1934), Kaybolan Türkler (Lost
Turks, İstanbul, 1936), Nouvelle
Politique Économique de la Turquie Kémaliste (New Political Economy of
Kemalist Turkey, Paris, 1934), Şarkî
Avrupa'da Türk Kanı ve Medeniyeti İzleri (Turkish Blood and Traces of
Civilization in Eastern Europe, 1946), Türk
Medeniyet Tarihinden Bir Yaprak (A
Page from Turkish Civil History, İstanbul, 1946), La Position des Turcs dans le Monde (The Position of the Turkish in
the World, İstanbul, 1948), Türklerin
Avrupalılarla Müşterek Troya Menşeleri Efsanesi Üzerinde Araştırma (Research
on the Common Epics of Troy by the Turks and Europeans, İstanbul, 1951), Lord Salisbury'ye Kıbrıs Hakkında Açık
Mektup, Kıbrıs Dâvamızın Müdafaası (An Open Letter to Lord Salisbury on the
Cyprus Question, Defense of our Case in Cyprus, İstanbul, 1956), Kıbrıs Sorunu (The Cyprus Question an
open letter to Lord Radcliffe on the Cyprus Question, in English, İstanbul
1957), Esquisse d'une Histoire Rationelle
d'Attila dans les Gatiles (Drawing a Rational History on Attila in the
Gatiles, İstanbul, 1957), L'Attitude de
l'Occident Vis-a-vis des Turcs et de Grecs (The Attitude of the West
towards the Turks and the Greeks, İstanbul, 1964).