Mustafa Yazgan

Poet and writer (b. 16 November 1940, Gaziantep). His full name is Mustafa Güner. His father and grandfather were from Şanlıurfa's Halfetî region. He attended Gaziantep Dayı Ahmet Ağa Primary School (1951), Gaziantep Secondary School for Boys (1955) and the Department of Literature at Gaziantep High School (1958). He graduated from Ankara University, Faculty of Political Sciences, Administration Branch. (1963). He received his doctorate degree at the same faculty (1963-64). He worked as assistant in the State Management Institute of Turkey and the Middle East (1963-66), as a principal clerk in the Department of Religious Affairs and interpreter of western languages (1966-67), as a specialist at the National Productivity Center (1967-68), as a specialist at the Union of Turkish Transport Employers (1968-69) and as an English teacher at Şanlıurfa Secondary School (1970-71). He engaged in publishing for a while (1971-76). After working as a consultant at the Ministry of Industry (1977-80), he returned to publishing (1979). In 1980 when he was working as an advisor at the Ministry of Culture, he was arrested by the administration of the September 12 period and imprisoned in the Language School and Mamak for nine and a half months. He continued publishing books on morality for children in 1981. He left Ankara and settled in Karamürsel in 1982.

As well as being a journalist and writer, he has given many lectures in Turkey and abroad. He published weekly articles in the newspaper Zaman since 1992. He served on the Central Committee Executive Council of the last period of National Welfare Party. Then he left politics and concentrated on his writing and publishing activities. He is one of the famous names in the area of Islamic Thought.

He wrote his first poem about the Korean War when he was 10 years old and published it in a local newspaper in Gaziantep Demokrat Ülkü. In the following years, he had his works published in Yeni Ülkü (Gaziantep, 1957), Düşünen Adam (İstanbul, 1961), Adalet (Ankara, 1964), various local newspapers (1965-66), Yeni İstiklal, Büyük Doğu, Yeni İstanbul in 1967, Bugün 1968; Yeni Devir, Sebil and Vesika in 1976, and Tebliğ (publication of the National Turkish Students Union) in 1977; in the reviews İslâm and Kadın ve Aile between 1988-92 and in the newspaper Zaman since 1992. He won the Children’s Literature Award given by Writers Union of Turkey in 1981. He has been given many awards and plaques by newspapers, foundations and municipalities for his literary activities.

WORKS:

ESSAY-STUDY-CONFERENCE-COMMUNIQUÉ: Mücadelemizin Diyalektiği İçinde Türkiye ve Dertlerimiz (Turkey and Our Problems in the Dialect of Our Struggle, 1966), İlim ve Ahlâk (Science and Morality, 1968), İslâm ve Kâinat (Islam and the Universe, 1969), Çağımızın Ana Meseleleri (Basic Matters of Our Age, 1972), Ahenk / Yazılar (Harmony / Articles, 1974), Tuğra I (Signature of the Sultan 1, 1975), Tuğra 2 (Signature of the Sultan 2, 1976), Fetihname (Book of the Conquest, conference, 1976), Kurtuluş Hasreti İslâm Gençliğine Tebliğ (Longing for Liberation, communiqué to the youth of Islam 1976), Semavi Dinlerde Ahlâk (Morality in Celestial Religions, 1976), Allah... Ölümsüz Gerçek (Allah... the Immortal Truth, 1977), Mukaddes Dâvâ (Holy Struggle, 1978), Buhran 78 (Chaos 78, 1978), Hicrî 1400 Hitabesi (The Hegira 1400 Speeches, 1979), Gökdevlet'ten Bugüne (From Gövdelet to the Today, 1980), Hicri 1408 Hitabesi (The Hegira 1408 Speeches, 1987), Mehmet Akif Ersoy (Mehmet Akif Ersoy, conference, 1988), Ümit, Sevgi ve Zafer (Hope, Endearment and Victory, 1991), Elveda Karanlık (Goodbye Darkness, 1991).

UTOPIA: Monark (Monarch).

NOVEL: Sessiz Çığlık (The Quiet Scream 1972).

PLAY: Sertavul Geçidi (Sertavul Passage, 1975), Zincirler Kırılırken (When the Chains are being Broken, 1985).

MEMOIR: Ömrümün Devr-i Saadeti (Happy Times of My Life, 1977), Hacc Seyahati Notları (Notes of the Pilgrimage Visit, 1978).

POETRY: Şiirler (Poems, 1986).

He has also written children’s books.