Nihal Atsiz
| Nihal Atsız | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | Mehmet Nail oğlu Hüseyin Nihâl January 12, 1905 Kadıköy, Istanbul, Ottoman Empire |
| Died | December 11, 1975 (aged 70) İçerenköy, Istanbul, Turkey |
| Resting place | Karacaahmet Cemetery, Istanbul |
| Occupation | Writer, novelist, poet and philosopher |
| Nationality | Turkish |
| Ethnicity | Turkish |
| Citizenship |
 Turkey
|
| Education | History of literature |
| Notable works | Bozkurtların Ölümü (Death of the Grey Wolves) |
| Spouse | Bedriye Atsız (second wife) |
| Children | Yağmur (son), Prof. Dr. Buğra (son), Kaniye (daughter) |
| Relatives | Mehmet Nail Bey (father), Fatma Zehra (mother) |
Hüseyin Nihâl Atsız (Ottoman Turkish: حسين نيهال أتسز) (January 12, 1905 – December 11, 1975) was a prominent Turkish nationalist writer, novelist, poet and philosopher. Nihâl Atsız was a fervent supporter of the pan-Turkist or Turanist 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. He was accused of plotting to overthrow the government.
Nihâl Atsız was an important ideologue who lived during the early years of the Republic of Turkey. His circle attacked Atatürk's leadership, condemned Turkey’s foreign policy, and particularly the appeasement policy vis-a-vis the Soviet Union. Most importantly, his supporters ridiculed Kemalist attempts at building a civic nation model in the Early Republican Era. However, he also praised Atatürk.
He was foremost known for his nationalist views, his active campaign against Turkish communists, and his embracing of Tengriistic ancient Turkic traditions. He was among the authors that influenced a type of Turkish nationalism known as Ülkücü movement (translated as "idealist"), a nationalist movement later associated to Alparslan Türkeş (and which was a break with Atsız's previous ideology of Pan-Turkism, on the grounds that it reconciles with Islam instead of denouncing it as "Arab religion", which Atsız previously stated).
Kemalism, which had been condemned so harshly in his novel "Dalkavuklar Gecesi" (The Night of The Sycophants) is the founding ideology of the Republic of Turkey. The nature and the type of Kemalist nationalism during the Early Republican Period (1923–50) had since 1923 have interpreted Turkish identity under the guiding light of constitutional principles which equated ‘Turkishness’ with being a Turkish citizen. Identifying all Turkish citizens as Turks proper, the three constitutions of the Republican Era were completely and positively blind to ethnic, religious and linguistic differences between Turkish citizens and disassociated ‘Turkishness’ from its popular meaning: that is, the name of an ethnic group. Supporters of this view argue that Republican statesmen rejected the German model of ethnic nationalism and emulated the French model of civic nationalism by reducing ‘Turkishness’ to a legal category only. In other words, citizens of Turkey who happened to be of Kurdish, Greek, Armenian, Jewish or Assyrian descent had only to accept a plebiscite, according to this view, to take advantage of the opportunity of Turkification, as far as their citizenship status was concerned, and gaining full equality with ethnic Turks, provided that they remained faithful to their side of the bargain.
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Wikipedia