Mehmet Akif Ersoy

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Mehmet Akif Ersoy

Mehmet Akif Ersoy (1873, Istanbul - December 27, 1936, Istanbul) was a Turkish poet, author, member of parliament, and the writer of the lyrics of Turkish National Anthem.

[edit] Biography

He was born in Istanbul, Ottoman Empire in 1873. He is noted for writing the lyrics of Turkish National Anthem, İstiklâl Marşı (The March of Independence in English) – which was adopted in 1921, and is accepted by many Turks as their "National Poet". The lyrics were originally written as a poem in a collection of his writings. Paradoxically, one of his most famous works, a book called Safahat, was not widely read or published until recently. He studied veterinary science at the university.

He is also said to have written a commentary upon the Qur'an which he later burned on discovering that it was to be published by the new secular government in Turkish instead of the original Arabic, and used in secular education.

He is held as a nationalist figure in Turkey. In fact, his real allegiance was somewhere in between Turkish and Islamic identities, and he was something of the Namık Kemal of his time. Deeply upset by the strongly secular nature the republic took soon after the sultanate was abolished in 1923, he left Turkey for Cairo to teach Turkish language, and returned only shortly before his death in 1936.

He was interred in the Edirnekapı Cemetery in Istanbul.