Poet and writer (b. 1870, Diyarbakır
- d. 4 January 1927, İstanbul). He was the son of the historian and Governor of
a Sanak (sub-division of a province), Muhammed Sait Paşa. He grew up taking
private education; he learned Arabian, Persian and French. After his father
died, he worked at the Diyarbakır City Assembly as a clerk. He worked as the
Provincial Press Director and Head Writer at the provincial newspaper. Like
many intellectuals living at that time, he escaped to Paris in 1897. In Paris,
he wrote against Turkey’s
administration in Ahmet Rıza’s Meşveret
newspaper. Within the same year, when he returned to İstanbul, he was given a
post as provincial correspondent and he was forced to live in Bursa (1897-1908). On the declaration of the
Constitutional Monarchy, he came to İstanbul and published the Tasvir-i Efkâr newspaper with Ebüzziya
Tevfik in 1908. Later on, he became the Governor of Basra
(1909), Kastamonu (1910), Trabzon (1911), Mousul
(1913) and Baghdad
(1914). In the year 1915, he retired from state duty and devoted all his time
to writing.
He became our first intellectual who fearlessly protested the occupation
with his article named Kara Bir Gün
(A Dark Day), which he published in the Hadisat newspaper on the day
after İstanbul’s occupation by the Allies (23 November 1918). Two months later,
on 23 January 1919, he didn’t hesitate to use harsh criticism against the
occupying forces in a speech he made at the commemorative meeting for Pierre
Loti, which was held at the university conference hall. He was exiled to the island of Malta by the commanders of the English
occupying forces who couldn’t tolerate his article and his speech. He stayed
there for twenty months. On his return, he continued his writing for a while
longer and then he died of pneumonia. He is buried in Edirnekapı Graveyard.
In his first poems which he published under the pen name İbrahim Cehdi
in Servet-i Fünûn, we see the
influence of Namık Kemal. Süleyman Nazif, although he gave a little too much
room to Arabic and Persian words in his works, is accepted as a great stylist
in prose by many men of literature of his era (Ahmed Haşim, Mehmet Akif etc.)
and his prose was held in higher esteem than his poetry. Nazif reviewed Ziya
Gökâlp’s comprehension of Pan-Turkism.
WORKS:
Mâlumu İlâm (The Known Verdict, under the name of Abdulahrar Tahir, 1897), Namık Kemal (Namık Kemal, 1897, a conference of his
with the same name about Namık Kemal, 1922), Bahriyelilere Mektup (Letter to the Naval Officers, 1897), Gizli Figanlar (Secret Groans, poetry,
1906), El-Cezire Mektupları (The
Al-Jazira Letters, five letters, 1897), Viktor
Hugo’nun Bir Mektubu (A Letter of Victor Hugo, translation, 1908), Boş Herif (Empty Man, about Şerif Paşa,
1910), İki İttifakın Tarihçesi (The
Short History of Two Alliances, 1912), Süleyman
Paşa (Süleyman Paşa, 1910), Batarya
ile Ateş (Battery and Fire, poetry-prose, 1917), Âsitân-ı Tarihte (The History of Asitan, 1919), Firak-ı Irak (Departure from Iraq,
poems, Leaving Iraq, poetry and prose, 1918), Hitabe (Speech, his speech on the commemorative day of Pierre Loti,
1920), Çal Çoban Çal (Play Shepherd
Play, articles, 1921), Tarihin Yılan
Hikâyesi (The Unfinished Story of History, his articles, about Sultan
Vahdeddin, 1922), Lütfü Fikri Bey’e Cevap
(Reply to Lütfü Fikri Bey, 1922), Nasırüddin
Şah ve Babiler (Nasırüddin Şah and the Babi’s*, 1923), Malta Geceleri (Malta Nights, poetry in prose, 1924), Hazreti İsa’ya Açık Mektup (Open Letter
to Jesus Christ, 1924), Çalınmış Ülke
(The Stolen Country, about sultans, 1924), Mehmet
Akif (Mehmet Akif, 1924), Külliyat-ı
Ziya Paşa (The Complete Works of Ziya Paşa, 1924), İki Dost (Two Friends, Ziya Paşa and Namık Kemal, 1925), Fuzuli (Needless, with the foreword by
Abdulhak Hamid, 1925), İmana Tasallut –
Şapka Meselesi (Attack on Faith – The Hat Issue, Reply to Sir Atıf of
İskilip, 1925), Kâfir Hakikat (The
Infidel Reality, about Abdülkerim the Islamic fighter of Rif, 1926), Lübnan Kasrının Sahibesi (The Mistress
of the Lebanese Summer Palace, translation from Pierre Benosht, 1926), Yıkılan Müesseseler (Collapsed
Establishments, about the last period of the Ottomans, 1927).
REFERENCE: Kemal Reşid / Abdülhak Hamid -
Süleyman Nazif (1917), Ruşen Eşref Ünaydın / Diyorlar ki (1918), Köprülüzade
Mehmet Fuad / Firak-ı Irak (Bugünkü Edebiyat, 1924), Süleyman Nazif’in Ufulü
(Servet-i Fünûn, c. 61, sayı: 1587, 1927), Cenab Şahabeddin / Nazif’in Aheng-i
Nesri (Güneş, sayı: 3, 1927), İbrahim Alaeddin / Süleyman Nazif (1933), Şükrü
Kurgan / Süleyman Nazif (1955), Hilmi Yücebaş / Süleyman Nazif’ten Hatıralar
(1957), Halit Fahri Ozansoy / Edebiyatçılar Geçiyor (1967), Şevket Beysanoğlu /
Doğumunun 100. Yılında Süleyman Nazif (1970), Hisar (sayı: 80, Ağustos 1970),
Şevket Beysanoğlu / Diyarbakırlı Fikir ve Sanat Adamları (c. 2, s. 189-227),
İbnülemin Mahmud Kemal İnal / Son Asır Türk Şairleri (c. III, 2000), İhsan Işık
/ Resimli ve Metin Örnekli Türkiye Edebiyatçılar ve Kültür Adamları
Ansiklopedisi (2007) – Ünlü Edebiyatçılar (Türkiye Ünlüleri Ansiklopedisi, C. 4,
2013) - Encyclopedia of Turkey’s Fomous People (2013) - Diyarbakır
Ansiklopedisi (2013) – Geçmişten Günümüze Diyarbakırlı İlim Adamları Yazarlar
ve Sanatçılar (2014).