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(modern Turkish refi̇k hali̇t karay ), Turkish essayist, humorist and novelist (d. 1888/1965). He was born in Beylerbeyi on the Bosphorus, Istanbul. His father, Meḥmed K̲h̲ālid of the Karakayi̊s̲h̲ Oğullari̊ (later shortened to Karay by Refīḳ K̲h̲ālid), was chief treasurer at the Ministry of Finance. Trained at the Galatasaray lycée (1900-6), which he left before graduating, Karay became a clerk in a department of the Ministry of Finance and at the same time attended the school of law ( Mekteb-i Ḥuḳūḳ ) until the restoration of the Constitution in 1908;…

Turkish folk poet of the 11th/17th century. Hardly anything is known about his life. He seems to have belonged to the Janissary corps and to have flourished during the reigns of ʿOt̲h̲mān II, Muṣṭafā I, Murād IV and Ibrāhīm, and to have found particular favour at the court of Murād IV. A contemporary of Ḳul Muṣṭafā and Kātibī, he was at his best in lyric and epic poems, the best known of which is his elegy for Murād IV. His poems, scattered in most of the 17th and 18th century allthologies of folk poets ( d̲j̲önks ), have been collected and published by Sadettin Nüzhet Ergun. (Fahi̇ İz) Bibliography Sa…

, in modern Turkish Mehmet Emin Yurdakul (1869-1944), Turkish poet and patriot, the pioneer of modern Turkish poetry in spoken Turkish and syllabic metre. He was born in the Bes̲h̲iktas̲h̲ district of Istanbul on 13 May 1869. The family originated from Zekeriyyā Köyü, a village near Lake Terkos, in Eastern Thrace, some 30 miles north-west of Istanbul. His grandfather Ḥalīm Ag̲h̲a was a trawler owner. His father Ṣāliḥ Ag̲h̲a, later called Ṣāliḥ Reʾīs (Captain) when he owned a large trawler rowed …

i, ii. — See Vol. II, s.v. iii. In Ottoman Turkish literature. After their conversion to Islam, the Turks adopted and assimilated Arabo-Persian cultural institutions, but in literature they tended to follow the Persian type. Thus it was the Persian g̲h̲azal rather than the Arabic one which became a model both in Eastern (Čag̲h̲atay) and Western (Ottoman) Turkish literature. ¶ The Turkish g̲h̲azal , which became the most popular poetical form after the mat̲h̲nawī [ q.v.], is very similar to the Persian g̲h̲azal from the point of view of technique [see g̲h̲azal. ii. In Persian literature]. …

, Memdūḥ S̲h̲ewket , modern Turkish Memduh Şevket Esendal , Turkish short story writer and politician (1883-1952). He was born in Corlu in Eastern Thrace, the son of Kahyabeyog̲h̲lu S̲h̲ewket, a modest farmer of an immigrant ( göčmen ) Turkish family from the Balkans. He did not have any regular schooling but was self-taught; then when his father died in 1907, he looked after the family until 1912 when the Balkan War broke out and the family moved to Istanbul. He had joined the Committee of Union and Progress (…

, modern Turkish Çaylak Tevfi̇k , Turkish writer and journalist (1843-92). A self-taught man, he was born in Istanbul and became a civil servant. He started his career in Bursa and continued in Istanbul where he published the papers ʿAṣi̊r (“Century”, later renamed Leṭāʾif-i āt̲h̲ār ) and Teraḳḳi̊ (“Progress”). In February 1876 he published his best-known paper, the humorous Čaylaḳ (“The Kite”), which became his nick-name ¶ and which ceased publication in June 1877 after 162 numbers. In 1877 he went, with a delegation, to Hungary for a month and on his return …

, Meḥmed , modern Turkish Mehmet Eşref , Turkish satirical poet (1846-1912). He was born in Gelenbe, near Manisa, in Western Anatolia the son of Ḥāfiẓ Muṣṭafā, of the Usuog̲h̲ullari̊ family. He attended for a while a madrasa in Manisa, where he learnt Arabic and Persian, and after serving as a government official in neighbouring provinces, went to Istanbul (1878), where he passed the required examination to become a Ḳāyi̊m-maḳām and served as such in various parts of Anatolia, including in distant ḳaḍās in the East and Eastern Black Sea region. By this time, his virulent satir…

, abāḥ al-Dīn Raḥmī , modern Turkish, until 1934 Sabahatti̇n Rahmi̇ , afterwards Sabahattin Eyuboğlu , Turkish essayist, writer and translator (1908-73). Born in Akçaabat (Polathane) near Trabzon, the son of Raḥmī Eyyūbog̲h̲lu, a civil servant, he was educated in Trabzon. He then went to France on a government scholarship and studied French literature and aesthetics in Dijon, Lyon and Paris universities (1928-32). Becoming lecturer ( doçent ) in French literature in the University of Istanbul (1933-9), he was invited, together with some of…

, res̲h̲īd raḥmetī , up to 1934 G.R. rachmati , modern Turkish reşi̇d rahmeti̇ arat , Turkish scholar and philologist (1900-64). Born at Eski Üd̲j̲üm, to the south-west of Kazan, he was the son of ʿAbd al-Res̲h̲īd ʿIṣmet Allāh, of a family of mudarrisūn who emigrated from Kazan and set up a “hereditary” madrasa there. He attended various schools in his home town, and later in Ḳi̊zi̊lyar (Petropavlovsk) and in Harbin in Manchuria where ¶ he finished high school (1921). He joined cultural associations of the Kazan Tatars in Harbin and contributed to various papers. In D…

( Celāl Ḥüseyin Çelebi ), Turkish poet. He was born in Monastir, the son of a sipāhī (?-978/1571?). As a young man he went to Istanbul to study, later wandered in Syria where he found protectors through whose help he entered the court of prince Selīm, who liked his easy manner and gaiety and who kept him at his court when he ascended the throne as Selīm II. Ḏj̲alāl remained a boon-companion of the Sultan until he became involved in political intrigues and religious controversies; he then had to leave court life and returned to his home-town where he died. His dīwān has not come down to us. Many…

, Modern Turkish Mehmet Rauf (1875-1931), Turkish novelist of the late 19th and early 20th century. Born in Istanbul and trained as a naval officer, he entered the navy in 1893, was sent to Crete for further education, served as liaison officer in the launches of Foreign Embassies on the Bosphorus, retiring from the navy in 1908. Apart from publishing various periodicals for ladies and some attempts to carry on trade, he devoted his life to his writing. Already while a student in the naval college he sent his first literary experiments to Ḵh̲ālid Ḍiyāʾ [ q.v.] in Izmir, who published them …