Tevfik Fikret

Tevfik Fikret was an Ottoman-Turkish poet and educator who is considered the founder of the modern school of Turkish poetry. He was born in Istanbul on December 24, 1867, to a father who was a political exile and a mother who was a Greek Muslim convert. He received his education at the prestigious Galatasaray High School, where he later became the principal. He married his cousin Nazime in 1890 and had a son named Haluk in 1895. He left Galatasaray in 1894 and started teaching at Robert College, where he built a house for his family named Aşiyan, which is now a museum. He was the chief editor of the Servet-i Fünun (The Wealth of Knowledge) magazine, which aimed for the simplification of the Ottoman language and the promotion of Western literature. He wrote poems that expressed his criticism of the Ottoman regime, Islamic conservatism, and nationalism. He also advocated for free speech and constitutional government. He was a supporter of the Young Turk Revolution in 1908, but later became disillusioned with the politics of the Committee of Union and Progress. He resigned from his position at Galatasaray in 1909 and devoted himself to his literary projects. He died in 1915 due to complications from diabetes and was buried in the family plot at Eyüp. His volumes of verse include Rubab-ı Şikeste (Broken Lute) from 1900, and Haluk'un Defteri (Haluk's Notebook) from 1911. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in Turkish literature and culture.