Mustafa Satı Bey (Satı El Husrî)

Educationist, writer (B. 1884, San / Yemen – D. 23^rd December 1968, Baghdad). His full name was Mustafa Sâtı b. Muhammed Hilâl b. Seyyid Mustafâ el-Husrî but he was known as Sâtı. He was the brother of Bedii Nuri el Husrî, who was murdered on board on Basra when he was appointed to lieutenant governor of Müntefik Tennant in 1913. He graduated from Mülkiye İdadisi (Civil School of Secondary and Higher Education, 1900). He showed interest in mathematics while he was in secondary school. He was known with the nickname “Archimedes” among his friends.

As from September 1900, he was a teacher at Yanya İdadisi (High School) for five years and he completed his internship of district governorship there. He resigned from the teaching profession because he was uncomfortable with the pressure of Abdülhamid’s government. As from 1905, he was the district governor of Radoviš (Kosova) and Florina (Manastır). Two of his speeches on constitutional monarchy were published in Neyyir-i Hakikat. Upon the proclamation of the Second Constitutional Monarchy, he resigned from his office in district governorship and went to Istanbul (1908). He worked at Dârülmuallimîn-i İbtidaiyye (Boy’s Primary Teacher Training School), Darülmuallimîn-i Âliye (Boy’s Higher School of Teacher Training), Mekteb-i Mülkiye (School of Political Sciences) and at Dârü’l-Hilâfeti’l-Aliyye (Higher School of Theology) as a teacher. In 1912, he became the principal of Darüşşafaka High School. He established Dârü’l-Mürebbiyat (Nursery) in 1915. He replaced most of the teachers, who were not able to keep up with the modern education system and one of whom was İsmail Hakkı Baltacıoğlu, when he was the principal of the Higher School of Teacher Training. After the Armistice of Montrose, he ceased to be a citizen of the Ottoman Empire and took Syria’s citizenship. After the French occupation in Syria, he crossed to Iraq. He worked there at various Ministries and taught at schools. He left Iraq in 1941 and stayed in Beirut until 1944. He resigned from his official duties in 1953 and spent his last years on scientific studies.

He published articles in the magazine Yeni Mekteb issued by Sabri Cemil in Üsküp during the first years of constitutional monarchy. He got into arguments with Mustafa Şekip on the capabilities of the students. While he was still a student, he published various articles in magazines İkdam and Tarik. He wrote articles regularly for the magazines Ulum-i İktisadiye ve İçtimaiye, Tedrisat-ı İptidaiye, Terbiye Encümeni, Harp, İçtihad, Düşünce, Envar-ı Ulû, Ulûm-ı İçtimaâiye. He issued magazines Terbiye and Aşiyân. In the Terbiye, he always got into arguments with Ziya Gökalp and Sadretin Celâl about education. He was one of the first persons to get through traditional styles called “Tariz” and “Hiciv” and to use western style, which was a critical and objective way in his discussions.

WORKS:

Lâyihalarım (1910), Etnografya (İlm-i Akvam, 1911), Dürûs-ı Eşya (Eşya Dersleri, 1911-14), Mebâdî-i Ulûm-ı Tabîiyeden Tarîh-i Tabiî ve Tatbikatı (1912), Vatan İçin (five lectures he gave during the Balkan Wars, 1913), Büyük Milletlerden Japonlar, Almanlar (chapter of Japanese, 1913), Ümit ve Azim (8 Conference, 1913), Dirâsât an Mukaddimeti İbn Haldûn (Translated by Süleyman Uludağ, 2002).

He also had works on animal husbandry, biology, physics and chemistry.

REFERENCE: Hilmi Ziya Ülken / Çağdaş Düşünce Tarihi (1966), Mücellidoğlu Ali Çankaya / Yeni Mülkiye Tarihi ve Mülkiyeliler (c. III, 1968), CDT Ansiklopedisi (c. 3, s. 608, 1983), TCDT Ansiklopedisi (c. 2, s. 482, 1985),  Büyük Larousse (c. 16, s. 10204, 1986), Ana Britannica (c. 19, s. 115, 1987), İhsan Işık / Yazarlar Sözlüğü (1990, 1998) - Türkiye Yazarlar Ansiklopedisi (2001, 2004) - Resimli ve Metin Örnekli Türkiye Edebiyatçılar ve Kültür Adamları Ansiklopedisi (2006, gen. 2. bas. 2007) - Ünlü Fikir ve Kültür Adamları (Türkiye Ünlüleri Ansiklopedisi, C. 3, 2013) - Encyclopedia of Turkey’s Famous People (2013), Mustafa Ergün / İkinci Meşrutiyet Devrinde Eğitim Hareketleri: 1908-1914 (1996), Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu vd. / Osmanlı Tabii ve Tat­biki Bilimler Literatürü Tarihi (2006), Ali Şakir Ergin / Bir Mektup Bin Hatıra (Yozgat Gün­dem, sy. 20, s. 4-5, 2007), Şit Tufan Buzpınar / TDV İslam Ansiklopedisi (c. 36, s. 176-178, 2009).