Mehmet Emin Yurdakul

Poet and writer (b. 1869, İstanbul – d. 14 January 1944). He graduated from Beşiktaş Military Elementary School after having attended Beşiktaş Primary School. He discontinued his study at the School of Politics and started to work as a civil servant at the Sublime Porte Office. He was appointed to Directorate of Customs Documents when Grand Vizier Cevat Paşa liked his work Fazilet ve Adalet (The Virtue and The Justice). He became a manager and worked until 1907. He was exiled to Erzurum and Tripoli for he entered into the Union and Progress Party and supported the thoughts of this party. He was governor of Hejaz (1909), Sivas (1910) and Erzurum (1911) after Second Constitutional Monarchy. He was elected Mousul deputy to the Ottoman Parliament in 1913. After the occupation of İstanbul, he went to Ankara and supported the National Struggle. He was in Turkish Grand National Assembly as a deputy of Şarki Karahisar, Şanlıurfa and İstanbul. He was buried in Zincirlikuyu Cemetery.

He was one of the founders of Turkish Guild (3 July 1911) and one of the members of Commission of Culture and Science with Halide Edip, Ziya Gökâlp, Hamdullah Suphi, Fuad Köprülü. Mehmet Emin who was one of the founders of National Turkish Party with Dr. Adnan Adıvar, Yusuf Akçura etc. and one of the speakers cursing the occupiers in Sultanahmet Meeting was called Turkish Poet and National Poet for his poetry expressing national feelings. He became famous with his poem Cenge Giderken (While Going to the War) that he wrote for the victory of Turks in 1897 Greco-Turkish war. His early poetry was published in the reviews Servet-i Fünûn and Çocuk Bahçesi. He found the review Türk Yurdu (18 August 1911) with famous Turkists of the time such as Ahmet Hikmet Müftüoğlu, Ahmet Ağaoğlu and Yusuf Akçura and was the pioneer of the National Literature Movement. He wrote his all poems in syllabic meter.

WORKS:

Fazilet ve Adalet (1890), Türkçe Şiirler (1889), Türk Sazı (Turkish Instrument, 1914), Ey Türk Uyan (O Turk Wake Up, 1914), Tan Sesleri (Voices of the Dawn, 1915), Ordunun Destanı (The Legend of the Army, 1915), Dicle Önünde (In Front of Tigris, 1916), İsyan ve Dua (The Uprising and the Prayers, 1918), Zafer Yolunda (On the Way of Victory, 1918), Turan'a Doğru (Towards Turan, 1918), Aydın Kızları (Girls of Aydın, 1919), Türk'ün Hukuku (The Law of Turk, 1919), Dante'ye (To Dante, 1928), Kıral Corc'a (To King George, 1928), Mustafa Kemal (Mustafa Kemal, 1928), Ankara (Ankara, 1939)