Namık KEMAL 1840 - 1888

He was a journalist, statesman, famous writer and poet, one of the pioneers of Turkish nationalism and a member of the Young Ottoman Movement who lived in the Tanzimat period. He lived with his grandfather Abdüllâtif Pasha until the age of 18 in various cities of Rumelia and Anatolia. He learned Arabic and Persian. At the age of 18, he came to Istanbul and started to work as a clerk in the Translation Office of Bab-i Âli. He fled to Paris as he criticized the government through his writings on Tasvir-i Efkar newspaper. He then moved to London and started to write for Muhbir and Hürriyet newspapers. He returned to İstanbul upon the call of the Minister of Police Hüsnü Pasha. He was appointed as the governor of Gallipoli in order to be expelled from İstanbul due to his article in İbret newspaper. The play “Fatherland or Silistria”, which he started to write there, caused excitement within the public when it was staged at Gedikpaşa Theater. He returned to İstanbul and was deported to Magosa with his friends due to his article in İbret newspaper. After the proclamation of the First Constitutional Monarchy, he returned to İstanbul. He became a member of the State Council. He took part in the committee preparing the Kanun-i Esasi (Constitution). He was arrested after Abdulhamid closed the Parliament during the 1877 Ottoman-Russian War. After five months of imprisonment, he was sent to Lesbos, Rhodes, and Chios as a governor and died in exile. Namık Kemal adopted the idea of “Art for Society” and used art as a tool for the Westernization of society. He aimed to write his works in a plain language that the public could understand. Namik Kemal who wrote novels, theater works, poems, criticism and historical books, is especially known for his novel "Renaissance" and "Fatherland or Silistria".