Mehmet Akif İnan

Poet and writer (b. 12 July 1940, Şanlıurfa - d. 6 January 2000, Şanlıurfa). He was educated at primary and elementary school in Urfa, and at high school in Maraş. He graduated from Ankara University, Faculty of Language, History and Geography, Department of Turkish Language and Literature (1972). During his years at the university, he managed the Hilal review and publications (1962-64) and worked at the General Directorate of the Turkish Guild (1964-69). He carried out duties at the Turkish Trade Union of Transport Employers (1969-72). He worked as a teacher of Turkish and Literature at the Gazi Institute of Education (1977-80). He went on to be the General Director of the Union of Allied Educationalists and Confederation of the Unions of Civil Servants, which he also founded (1993-2000). In June of 1999, he was diagnosed with cancer and stayed in hospital in Ankara. As all hope for him to be cured faded, he was taken to Urfa, at his own request, and passed away there at the beginning of 2000, during Ramadan.

His first poems and articles were published in local newspapers, beginning in 1957. He published a newspaper with the title Derya in 1959. In 1969, he established the review Edebiyat together with Nuri Pakdil, Rasim Özdenören and Erdem Bayazıt and in 1976; he published another newspaper named Manevra, together with a group including Cahit Zarifoğlu, Rasim Özdenören, Erdem Bayazıt, Alaeddin Özdenören and Ersin Gürdoğan. He was quite popular for his articles in Edebiyat and columns under the name of Akif Reha and sometimes with his real name in the newspaper Yeni Devir in 1977. In 1998, he broadcast a program on culture and arts on the TV channel, Channel 7. Some of his works were published in newspapers and reviews such as Türk Ruhu, Türk Yurdu, Filiz, Yeni İstiklal, and Hilal. He was regarded as one of the masters among the poets of his generation thanks to his poems in the tradition of Divan* and folk poetry. In 1982, he collected the Kayseri Artists’ Association Essay Award. In 1995, at the Third International Exhibition of Turkish poetry, held in Ashgabat in Turkmenistan, he collected the Mahdum Kulu Poetry Award, named after the famous poet of Turkmenistan. After his death, the Municipality of Urfa held a poetry contest in his name.

WORKS:

POETRY: Hicret (Hegira, 1974), Tenha Sözler (Deserted Words, 1991).

ESSAY-RESEARCH: Edebiyat ve Medeniyet Üzerine (On Literature and Civilization, 1972), Din ve Uygarlık (Religion and Civilization, 1985), Türk Edebiyatı (Turkish Literature, text book).

REFERENCE: 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 (2007, 2009) -  Ünlü Edebiyatçılar (Türkiye Ünlüleri Ansiklopedisi, C. 4, 2013) - Encyclopedia of Turkey’s Fomous People (2013), Nuri Pakdil / Akif İnan’a Mektup (Yedi İklim, sayı: 120, Ocak 2000), Alaeddin Özdenören / Şiirin Geçitleri (1996), Nazif Gürdoğan / Hicret’in Kutlu Olsun (Yeni Şafak, 7.1.2000), Mehmet Akif İnan Kitabı (2000), Rasim Özdenören / Akif İnan (Kaşgar, 37-38, 2004), Medeniyetin Burçları - M. Akif İnan’ın Hatırasına (yay. haz. Turan Koç, A. Dursun, M. Sungur, M. Akdeniz, İ. Hatunoğlu, 2004), Mehmet Nuri Yardım / Yazar Olacak Çocuklar (2004), Mehmet Akif İnan'ın Hatırasına (2004),  Ali Haydar Haksal / Bir Medeniyet Şairi: M. Akif İnan (2015).