Yaşar Kemal
| Kemal Sadık Gökçeli | |
|---|---|
| Born |
6 October 1923 Gökçedam, Osmaniye, Turkey |
| Died | 28 February 2015 (aged 91) İstanbul, Turkey |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Period | 1943–2002 |
| Notable works |
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| Notable awards |
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| Spouses |
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Yaşar Kemal (born Kemal Sadık Gökçeli; 6 October 1923 – 28 February 2015) was a Turkish writer and human rights activist of Kurdish origin. He was one of Turkey's leading writers. He received 38 awards during his lifetime and had been a candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature on the strength of Memed, My Hawk.
An outspoken intellectual, he often did not hesitate to speak about sensitive issues, especially those concerning the plight of the Kurdish people. He was tried in 1995 under anti-terror laws for an article he wrote for German magazine Der Spiegel accusing the Turkish army of destroying Kurdish villages. He was released but later received a suspended 20-month jail sentence for an article he wrote criticising racism against minorities in Turkey, especially the Kurds.
Kemal was born to Sadık and his wife Halime on 6 October 1923 in Hemite (now Gökçedam), a hamlet in the province of Osmaniye in southern Turkey. His parents were from Van and came into Çukurova during the First World War. Kemal had a difficult childhood, because he lost his right eye in a knife accident when his father was slaughtering a sheep on Eid al-Adha. Moreover, when he was five years old he witnessed his father being stabbed to death by his adoptive son Yusuf while praying in a mosque. These traumatic experiences left Kemal with a speech impediment, which lasted until he was twelve years old. At nine Kemel began school in a neighboring village, and later he continued his formal education in Kadirli, Osmaniye Province.
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Wikipedia