Besim Atalay

Educator, author, politician (B. 1882, Uşak – D. 1965, Ankara). He received madrasah education in Istanbul and taught by Çarsambali Hacı Ahmed Efendi. After he completed the Vocational School for Teachers (1912), he served as a teacher and principal in schools at Konya, Trabzon and Ankara. Then, he worked as Director of national Education in Maraş, Içel, Uşak and Niğde. He established the branch of Countrywide Resistance Organization in Silifke and participated in the national struggles at Silifke and Uşak. He was the deputy of Uşak in parliament in the 1^st and 7^th terms.

Atalay knew Arabic and Persian very well and he taught Persian at Ankara University Faculty of Language History and Geography between 1937 and 1942. He published some important works about Turkish language. Although he participated in the studies of Turkish Linguistic Society for long years, he then objected the language policies of this institution. Atalay has written poems and some literature works, and he is also known with his review works as a Turkist and as a Turkish supporter.

WORKS:

Bektaşilik ve Edebiyatı (1921), Türk Zaferine Armağan / Hilafet Saltanat ve Cumhuriyet Hakkında (1923), Maraş Tarihi ve Coğrafyası (1923), Müslümanlara Öğütler (1923), Baş Belaları (play, three act 1927), Türk Dil Kuralları (1931), Onuncu Yıl Destanı (1933), Suna ile Çoban Hikâyesi (1939), Türkçemizde Men / Man (1940), Türk Dilinde Ekler ve Kökler Üzerinde Bir Deneme (1942), Divan-ı Lügat’it Türk (facsimile translation, 5 volumes, 1939-43), Et Tuhfetü’z-Zekiye fi’l Lugati’t Türkiye (facsimile translation, 1946), Türkçe’de Kelime Yapma Yolları (1946), Müyessiretü’l-Ulûm (facsimile translation, 1946), Eş-Şuzûrü’z-Zehebiye ve’l Kitabü’l Ahmediye fi’l Lügat’it Türkiye Çevirmesi (1949), Senglah Lugat-ı Nevaî (facsimile, 1950), Arapça ile Türkçe’nin Karşılaştırılması (1954), Türk Dili ve İbadet (1961), Kur’an Tercümesi Tanrı Kitabı (1962), Hayvan Hikâyeleri ya da Hayvanlardan Öğütler (1962), Türk Dilinde Ana Kelimeler veya Türkçe’de Türetme Sözlüğü (1967), Abuşka Sözlüğü (1970).

REFERENCE: Yurt Ansiklopedisi (vol. X, 1984), Nuri Yüce / TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (vol. 4, 1991), Mehmet Behçet Yazar / Edebiyatçılar Alemi – Edebiyatımızın Unutulan Simaları (edit. Mustafa Everdi, 1999), Şükran Kurdakul / Şairler ve Yazarlar Sözlüğü (exp. ed. 6. 1999), TBE Ansiklopedisi (2001), Birsen Pekçolak – Zeki Büyüktanır / Homeros’tan Günümüze Anadolu Destanları (2002).