Yaşar Nuri Öztürk

Yaşar Nuri Öztürk (February 5, 1951 – June 22, 2016) was a Turkish university professor of Islamic theology, lawyer, columnist and a former member of Turkish parliament.

He was born in Bayburt on February 5, 1951, but grew up in the village of of Sürmene, Trabzon in Turkey’s Black Sea Region.

He has served as both faculty member and dean at the Istanbul University for over 26 years. He taught Islamic thought at the Theological Seminary of Barrytown in New York for one year as a guest professor, during which time he also made major contributions to the Islamic section of the anthology, “The World Scripture.”

He has given many conferences on Islamic thought, humanity and human rights in Turkey, the USA, Europe, the Middle East and the Balkans. Yaşar Nuri Öztürk represents an interpretation of Islam which is secular and social democratic.

Öztürk died in his home at age of 65 in the afternoon of June 22, 2016. Diagnosed with stomach cancer, he underwent a surgery on November 12, 2011, and was treated then three and half months long. He was hospitalized couple of days prior to his death in Yeditepe University's hospital, was discharged back home after treatment. On June 24, he was interred at Kanlıca Cemetery following the religious funeral service held at Şakirin Mosque in Istanbul.

Öztürk; elected to the Turkish Parliament in 2002 as Istanbul deputy, started People's Ascent Movement and in his leadership this movement turned into a political party (2005) named People's Ascent Party (HYP). However, he resigned from active politics in October 2009, and turned his efforts to writing and propagation of roots of Islam through understanding of Qur'an. Since then, he has appeared on many regularly scheduled TV shows, some of which he was a constant guest. A notable format of these shows is the reading and explanation of the Qur'an in Turkish. In these shows, a host would read the Qur'an in Turkish, and Prof. Öztürk would explain the meanings and significance.