Nihal Atsız

Nihal Atsız
Born	Hüseyin Nihal January 12, 1905 Kasımpaşa, Istanbul, Turkey
Died	December 11, 1975(1975-12-11) (aged 70) Istanbul
Resting place	Karacaahmet Cemetery, Istanbul
Occupation	Writer, novelist, poet and philosopher
Nationality	Turkish
Education	History of literature
Literary movement	Pan-Turkism
Notable work(s)	Bozkurtların Ölümü (Death of the Gray Wolves)
Spouse(s)	Bedriye Atsız (second wife)
Children	Yağmur (son), Prof. Dr. Buğra (son), Kaniye (daughter)
Relative(s)	Mehmet Nail Bey (father), Fatma Zehra (mother)
Influenced Turkish nationalist movement

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Hüseyin Nihâl Atsız (January 12, 1905 in Istanbul,^[1][2] Ottoman Empire —December 11, 1975 in Istanbul, Turkey) was a prominent Turkish nationalist writer, novelist, poet and philosopher. Nihâl Atsız was a fervent supporter of the pan-Turkist or Turanism ideology. He is author of over 30 books and numerous articles. He was in strong opposition to the government of İsmet İnönü, which he criticized for co-operating with the communists.^[3] He was accused of plotting to overthrow the government.^[4]

Politics

Nihâl Atsız is firstly known for his nationalist views and his active campaign against Turkish communists and his embracing of shamanistic, ancient Turkic traditions.^{[citation needed]} He is among the authors that influenced the Turkish nationalist movement, which is called Ülkücü movement, (translated as "idealist"), a nationalist movement of Alparslan Türkeş, which breaks with his ideology of Turkism on the grounds that it reconciles with Islam instead of denouncing it as "Arab religion".^{[5][citation needed]} Atsız worked on Turkism as an ideologue and activist but never joined any party or political group because he considered politics to be a way to corruption^{[citation needed]}. He and his comrades published several Turkist magazines such as Otuken, Yeni Hayat and Orkun. He wrote strong articles which criticized the oppressive^{[citation needed]} government of İsmet İnönü and his alleged tolerance of communism in the country.

Literary work

Atsız majored in History of Literature and published several academic essays about Ottoman literature and history. His essays about history are gathered and published as a book under the name of Türk Tarihinde Meseleler (Several Issues in Turkish History). He served as a literature teacher for a number of years.

Atsız is also an important novelist and poet. His historical epic novel Bozkurtların Ölümü (Death of the Gray Wolves) is one of the most popular historical novels in Turkish literature. The book is concerns the last days of first Gök Türk Empire and the impossible rebellion of Prince Kür-Şad and his forty warriors against the Chinese invaders.

Its sequel Bozkurtlar Diriliyor (Revival of the Gray Wolves) tells the story of Urungu, the unknown son of Kür-Şad and the beginning of the second Gök Türk Empire.

His third novel Deli Kurt (Mad Wolf) is about the mystic romance between a Sipahi warrior and a mysterious shamanist nomad woman in the early Ottoman Empire.

His last novel Ruh Adam (Soul Man) is considered to be one of the best psychological novels. The book has a spiritual and mystical atmosphere, full with surrealistic, allegorical figures such as Yek (who symbolizes Satan) and Lieutenant Şeref (who symbolizes Honour). It has a complex story, which is generally about the forbidden platonic love affair between an alcoholic ex-army officer and a diabolical, mysterious young high school student. The story developed on the reincarnation of two lovers, which was a warrior banned from the army because of his love to the girl was greater than his love to his country in ancient nomad times.

Atsız wrote one satirical political comedy about İnönü government in the 1940s. Z Vitamini (Vitamin Z) is about a fictional special vitamin, which gives immortality to the dictator and his government. Dalkavuklar Gecesi (Night of The Sycophants) is a historical allegory, which tells the story of political corruption, allegedly during the Hittite era but actually referring to the injustices and arbitrariness of Atatürk's rule during early 1930s.

Atsız is also a famous poet. His poems are in the style of Pre-Islamic literature and his common themes are idealism, honour, forbidden love, war and history. His complete poetic works have been published under the name of Yolların Sonu ("End of Roads")

Personal life

Nihal Atsız was born on January 12, 1905 at Kasımpaşa, Istanbul. His father was navy commander Mehmet Nail Bey, from Çiftçioğlu family of Torul, Gümüşhane; his mother was Fatma Zehra, daughter of navy commander Osman Fevzi Bey, from Kadıoğlu family of Trabzon.

Nihal Atsız had two sons from his second wife Bedriye Atsız: Yağmur Atsız, a left-wing journalist and writer, and Prof. Dr. Buğra Atsız, academician and nationalist writer, and daughter Kaniye Atsız. He also had a younger brother Nejdet Sançar, also a notable writer and publicist.

Atsız dedicated his entire life to his children and especially to his most beloved grand daughter Maviş Atsiz, the daughter of Kaniye Atsiz. Nihâl Atsiz is remembered by his grand daughter as a kind and gentle person with children, his free time he would always dedicate reading and educating his grand children.

References

1. ^ The Encyclopædia Britannica, Vol.7, Edited by Hugh Chisholm, (1911), 3; Constantinople, the capital of the Turkish Empire...
2. ^ Britannica, Istanbul:When the Republic of Turkey was founded in 1923, the capital was moved to Ankara, and Constantinople was officially renamed Istanbul in 1930.
3. ^ Biography of Nihâl Atsız (Turkish)
4. ^ Özkırımlı, Umut (2008). Tormented by history: nationalism in Greece and Turkey. New York: Columbia University Press. pp. 138. ISBN 0-231-70052-0. 
5. ^ Cenk Saraçoğlu, "Nihal Atsız's World-View and Its Influences on the Shared Symbols, Rituals, Myths and Practices of the Ülkücü Movement"

External links

• nihalatsiz.org (Turkish)
• atsizcilar.com (Turkish)

Persondata
Name	Atsiz, Huseyin Nihal
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1905
Place of birth	Kasımpaşa, Istanbul, Turkey
Date of death	1975
Place of death	Istanbul