Tarık Minkari

Physician and author (B. 14^th March 1925, Bartın - D. 5^th October 2010, Teşvikiye / Istanbul). His full name was Erol Tarık Minkari. He was one of the most famous surgeons of Turkey. He attended primary and secondary school in Ayvalık, and he studied in İstanbul Vefa High School. In 1948, he finished studying at Istanbul University Medical Faculty in which he entered in one of the most hectic years of the World War I (1942). After graduation, he became a surgery assistant at the same faculty. Minkari became a specialist in 1952, an associate professor in 1957 and a full professor in 1964. As of 1987, he assumed the editorship in the journal ‘Çağdaş Cerrahi’ and wrote weekly articles in the newspaper ‘Posta’ and sometimes participated in TV programs… He worked as a faculty member at Istanbul University, Medical Faculty, General Surgery Department for a long time and developed unique methods in surgery.

Tarık Minkari; with his own expression; started primary school when he was 6 years old and when he finished the university, he became a medical doctor at the age of 23. Minkari got married to Ayseli Minkari in 1955 when he was 30 years old and became a father for the first time when he was 31 years old. He became a surgery assistant professor and then professor when he was 32 and 39 years old respectively. In 1992, he retired from his faculty membership at Istanbul University, Medical Faculty, General Surgery Department.

Prof. Dr. Tarık Minkari sometimes visited places like Paris, Boston, London and the United States and he observed modern surgery applied in hospitals in these places. Then, he returned to Turkey saying ‘paddle your own canoe’. Minkari put his signature under 10 books about the surgeries of stomach, alimentary canal, pancreas, liver and bile ducts, 2000 pages of writing and scientific articles more than 250, with a co-author or on his own. He was the person, who carried out an artificial stomach operation for the first time in Turkey on 23^rd February, 1967. He completed the removal of a cancerous stomach and replaced it with an artificial one. Due to this operation, the patient, whom he performed the surgery on, lived for a longer time. Minkari was entitled as the ‘Gastroenterological Surgeon’ by the ministry of health of Turkey in 1985.

The famous surgeon Tarık Minkari, known as ‘Virtuoso Surgeon’, died of respiratory failure in 2010 when he was 85 years old and he was buried in Zincirlikuyu Cemetery. In his funeral ceremony, his friend, from Istanbul University, Medical Faculty academician Dr. Oktay Duran stated that Prof. Minkari had solved all the problems with his smiling face and wit, which showed his greatness by adding that he had been one of the important people this society had raised. He provided the medical world with an outstanding service and he was in the leading position amongst the people who would guide the society. Duran, who also wrote the book “Efsane Cerrah” (T.N. the legendary surgeon) about Prof. Dr. Minkari, stated that he compiled the favors Prof. Minkari in his book and said: “I am the person who called Prof. Minkari as the ‘Legendary Surgeon.”

Minkari had 254 articles and 10 books related to medicine. He travelled to many places in the world and he was one of the founders of Gezginler Kulübü (T.N. Travelers Club). After retirement, he compiled literature, travel, humor contents and his memories into 25 books and got them published. Minkari, who regarded operations as ‘poems’, used his pencil as greatly as he used his ‘lancet’. He was the only person or one of the rare people who were alive when a lecture hall was formed on their names in Cerrahpaşa Medical Faculty.

MAIN WORKS:

MEMOIR, TRAVELOG, HUMOUR: Keyfimin Sepeti (1992), Bir Cerrahın Anıları 1 (1993), Bir Cerrahın Anıları 2 (1993), Anılar Portreler Tören 1 (1994), Anılar Portreler Tören 2 (1994), Bir Cerrahın Anıları 3: Şaştım Kaldım (1994), Hoş ya da Boş (1995), Neler Gördüm Neler? (1995), Bir Cerrahın Anıları 4 (1995), Yetmişin Baharında (1996), Coştum Koştum (1996), Koç Tıp Bayramı (1996), Alaska Kıyıları ve Kanada (1997), Norveç Kıyıları ve Cerrah Çelebinin Anıları (1997), İçim İçime Sığmıyor (1998), Seviyorum Geziyorum (1998), İskoçya Gezisi ve Çeşitlemeler (1998), Süveyş Kanalı Malta Adası Çelebinin Bonbonları (1999), İnsan Dünyanın Mikrobudur (2000), Binbir Surat Binbir Anı (2001), Yılların Ardından (2002), Çelebi Hem Geziyor Hem Gülüyor (2002), Meraklının Anıları (2002), Cerrah Çelebinin Boncukları (2002), İsrail ve Amerika Gezileri (2002), Dalmaçya Normandiya Fas ve Cebelitarık Gezileri (2002), Çin ve Japon Gezileri (2003), Anılar Sevildikçe Coşar (2004), Avustralya Yeni Zelanda Gezileri (2004), Moskova’dan St. Petersburg’a Su Yolu İle (2005), Önce Bayılt Sonra Ayılt (2006), Mizah Zekanın Zekatıdır: Tarık Minkari Kitabı (2007), Antarktik Yarım Adası Amazon Nehri Key West Gezileri (2007).