Yusuf Hikmet Bayur

Diplomat, Historian, Politician

Death
06 March, 1980
Education
Paris University Faculty of Science

Historian and statesman (b. 1891, İstanbul - d. 1980). He was the grandchild of Kamil Paşa, one of the last Ottoman grand viziers. He graduated from Galatasaray High School and Paris University, Faculty of Science. After working as a teacher at Galatasaray High School for a while (1914-20), he went to Anatolia and joined to the National Forces at the Salihli front.

With the foundation of the Republic he became General Director of Political Affairs (1920-22) in the Foreign Affairs Department and advisor to the Turkish committee at the Lausanne Treaty Conference (1922). Later on he worked as the Under Secretary at the Embassy in London (1923-25), at the Belgrade Consulate (1925-27) and the Secretary General of the Presidency (1927-28). In the same year he worked at the Kabul Embassy for a short time and afterwards came back to be the Secretary General of the Presidency (1932). His was the parliamentary deputy of Manisa one year later, a post that continued until 1942. Within this period he became the Minister of Public Education (1933-34). In 1942 he retired as a ordinary professor.

In 1948 he was one of the founders of the Nation Party with Marshal Fevzi Çakmak. In the elections of 1954 and 1957, he was elected as the Manisa parliamentary deputy for the Democrat Party, which he joined in 1952 after leaving the Nation Party. Upon the revolution of 27 May he was put on trial with other members of the Democrat Party and was sentenced to four years and two months imprisonment. Although he regained his freedom with an amnesty in 1963, he did not carry on with his political life but studied in the field of history. For a long time, he published political articles in the newspaper Kudret, which was published by the Nation Party. He is buried in Edirnekapı Graveyard.

WORKS:

Yeni Türkiye Devletinin Harici Siyaseti (External Politics of the New Turkish Republic, 1934), Ahval-i Hazıra (States of a Settled Country, 1940), Türk İnkılabı Tarihi (History of the Turkish Revolution, 10 books, 3 volumes, 1940-67), Hindistan Tarihi (History of India, 3 volumes, 1946-50), Atatürk Hayatı ve Eseri (Life and Works of Atatürk, 1963), XX. Yüzyılda Türklüğün Tarih ve Acun Siyasası Üzerindeki Etkileri (History of Turkism in the 20th Century and Its Effects on World Politics, 1974).

REFERENCE: Mehmet Zeki / Türkiye Teracimi Ahval Ansiklopedisi (c. II, 1929), Afşin Oktay - Kemal Bağlum / Biyografiler Ansiklopedisi (1959), Hilmi Kâmil Bayur / Kaybettiğimiz Değerli Bilim Adamı Hikmet Bayur (Tarih ve Edebiyat Mecmuası, 1981), M. Orhan Bayrak / 1920 -1984 - Türkiye’yi Kimler Yönetti (1984), Ord. Prof. Yusuf Hikmet Bayur’a Armağan (1985), İhsan Işık / Yazarlar Sözlüğü (1990, 1998) - Türkiye Yazarlar Ansiklopedisi (2001, 2004) – Encyclopedia of Turkish Authors (2005) - 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), Mahmut H. Şakiroğlu / TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (c. 5, 1992).

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