Abdulhak Hamid Tarhan

Abdülhak Hâmid Tarhan was born on January 2, 1852, in Bebek, a neighborhood of Constantinople (now Istanbul). He came from a family of famous scholars and diplomats. His grandfather, Abdulhak Molla, was a poet and physician at the court of Sultan Abdul Hamid II. His father, Hayrullah Efendi, was a historian and ambassador. His mother, Münteha Hanım, was Circassian. He received private lessons from various tutors while attending secondary school. He also learned French, Persian, Arabic, and Ottoman Turkish languages and literatures. In 1863, he went to Paris with his brother Nasuhi, where his father was working at the Ottoman Embassy. He continued his education there for one and a half years. After he returned to Istanbul, he enrolled in a French school and worked in a translation office to improve his French. A year later, he followed his father, who was appointed to the Ottoman Embassy in Tehran, Iran. He studied the Persian language and poetry for more than a year. Following his father's death in 1867, he returned to Istanbul and entered civil service. He began his literary career by writing his first prose, Macera-yı Aşk (Love Affair), which depicted his memoirs in Tehran. In 1871, he married Fatma Hanım, who was his cousin. He entered the service of foreign affairs and was appointed to the Ottoman Embassy in Paris in 1876, where he had the opportunity to learn the French literature. In 1878, he published his first play, Nesteren, in Paris. It depicted a rebellion against a tyrannical ruler, and the actual ruler of Turkey at that time, Sultan Abdul Hamid II, was so upset by it that he had the playwright fired from his government job. He was appointed to various diplomatic posts in Poti, Georgia (1881), Volos, Greece (1882), and Bombay, India (1883). Due to the illness of his wife, he left India in 1885. On their way to Istanbul, his wife Fatma died in Beirut and was buried there. This inspired him to write his poem Makber (The Grave), which later became very popular. He returned to Istanbul and resumed his diplomatic career. He also wrote several plays and poems that reflected his Romantic style and Western influences. In 1890, he married Nelly Hanım, a British woman who converted to Islam. He was appointed to the Ottoman Embassy in London, where he stayed for 12 years. He wrote some of his most famous works there, such as Zeynep, Tarık, and İlhan. He also met with some prominent British writers, such as Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw. He was suspended from service in 1902 because of his play Zeynep, which was considered controversial by the Ottoman authorities. He returned to Istanbul after promising not to write anymore. He resumed his diplomatic career and was appointed to The Hague, Netherlands, in 1904. He stayed there for two years and then returned to London. He retired from diplomacy in 1912 and devoted himself to literature. He wrote more plays and poems, such as Ölü, Süleyman, and Sahra. He also became involved in the Turkish War of Independence and supported the nationalist movement led by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. He was elected as a member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey in 1923 and served until 1934. He lost his second wife Nelly in 1936 and was deeply affected by her death. He wrote his last poem, Nesteren, in her memory. He died on April 12, 1937, in Istanbul and was buried in Zincirlikuyu Cemetery. He was honored as the Grand Poet and the Grand Genius of Turkish literature. He is regarded as one of the pioneers of the Turkish Romantic period and one of the most influential figures in the modernization of Turkish poetry and drama. He introduced Western themes, forms, and techniques into Turkish literature and enriched it with his original style and imagination.