Aziz Nesin

Aziz Nesin ( born December 20, 1915 in Istanbul, † July 6, 1995 in İzmir; actually Mehmet Nusret ) was a prominent Turkish writer who wrote primarily satires.

Life and work

Aziz Nesin was born on the island of Heybeliada Prince in Istanbul and went to school there. His father, Abdulaziz, came from the province of Giresun and worked as a gardener in Istanbul. According to Aziz Nesin his father was very religious and a strict proponent of Abdulhamid II, as well as an opponent of Ataturk. He grew up in a conservative environment and got as a child Koran lessons from a friend of his father. In 1935, he graduated from the Kuleli Military School in Istanbul. After graduating in 1937 from the Military Academy in Ankara, he became an officer in the army, from which he was dismissed in 1944 for abuse of office. 1945 Nesin employees of the leftist newspaper Tan, whose rooms were set by state loyal students on fire in the same year. From 1946 he was with Sabahattin Ali out the satirical magazine Markopaşa in which they attacked the political situation amongst others. Both were arrested after the third issue, but set free again after 20 days of detention without charge. To escape the censorship, they called the newspaper to several times; Nesin went to Bursa in 1947, Ali was on the border with Bulgaria, presumably by government bodies, murdered in 1948. Aziz Nesin operation after the newspaper until 1951 on.

In the following years Nesin worked at various newspapers and published a number of books. His works have been censored again and again; he himself sat in total over five years in custody, but was acquitted again. 1962, there was an arson attack on his publishing.

In 1972 he founded at Çatalca near Istanbul the Nesin Foundation for children whose families can not afford them access to education. The approximately 45 children and young people (as of 2006) either attend public schools or universities. In a loving environment for children to be educated to creative and critical people. Director of the Foundation is Aziz Nesins son, Ali Nesin. He also founded a private university; With this step, he turned against the authoritarian structures in the Turkish education system.

Aziz Nesin is a very popular Turkish writer; He wrote over 100 books, some of which have been translated into 40 languages. Due to his critical stance, he had to appear in over 200 political processes in court.

When he published the Turkish translation of excerpts from Salman Rushdie's " Satanic Verses ", he became the object of hatred of Islamic fundamentalists, who declared it in a fatwa for apostates of Islam. On 2 July 1993, Islamic fundamentalists gathered after Friday prayers in front of the conference hotel, which was eventually set on fire. Nesin survived slightly injured, but 33 people were killed (see arson attack of Sivas ). On July 6, 1995, he died after a reading in İzmir to a heart attack. As an atheist, he had in his will decreed that for him no Islamic funeral service was to be held. He was buried anonymously in the grounds of the orphanage.

Awards

In Kreuzberg the European elementary school was named in the Urban street after him.

Trivia

In 1949, Aziz Nesin of today's Queen Elizabeth II, the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and the Egyptian King Farouk accused of lese majeste and went to prison for six months.

Works ( German -language selection)

  • The Unholy Hodja. Turkish Humoresken, Vienna 1961
  • The night with the crazies and other Turkish stories, Berlin 1964
  • The scandalous stories from the Turkish Erzgauner Zübük. A satirical novel, Berlin 1965
  • The football König, Berlin 1968
  • Between the Bosphorus and Anatolia. Tales from Turkey, Berlin 1975
  • A ship called democracy. Political satire and a piece from Turkey, Berlin 1978, ISBN 3-88677-917-3.
  • How to prepare a coup? Political satires from Turkey, Berlin 1979, ISBN 3-921347 -05- X.
  • The only way to novel, Berlin 1981, ISBN 3-293-20053-2.
  • We live in the 20th century, Berlin 1983
  • Like elephants - Hamdi was arrested, stories about the police, Berlin 1984, ISBN 3-88677-918-1.
  • So can not go on, autobiography, two volumes, Berlin 1986/89
  • Home movie, Berlin, 1987, ISBN 3-88677-937-8.
  • Surname. Man asks to be hanged, novel, Dusseldorf in 1988 and Zurich 1996, ISBN 3-293-20066-4.
  • The diversion, Berlin 1989, ISBN 3-88677-940-8.
  • The houses in the Nightingale Grove, Pullenreuth 1995
  • A madman on the roof. Master satires of fifty years, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-406-41243-2.
  • Five stories from ' A madman on the roof '. A Turkish reading book with German explanations for advanced readers, Engelschoff 2005, ISBN 978-3-933847-08-9.
Sivas massacre Atheism Palme d'Or Integrated Authority File
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