Editing Mehmet Akif Ersoy

{{Short description|Turkish poet, author and teacher (1873–1936)}}
{{Distinguish|Mehmet Ersoy}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2024}}
{{Infobox writer
| name             = Mehmet Akif Ersoy
| image            = Mehmet akif.jpg
| image_size       =
| caption          = Ersoy in the 1930s
| birth_name       = Mehmed Ragîf
| birth_date       = {{birth date|df=yes|1873|12|20}}
| birth_place      = [[Istanbul]], [[Ottoman Empire]]<ref>Finkel, Caroline, ''Osman's Dream'', (Basic Books, 2005), 57; "'''Istanbul was only adopted as the city's official name in 1930..'''".
</ref>
| death_date       = {{death date and age|df=yes|1936|12|27|1873|12|20}}
| death_place      = [[Istanbul]], [[Turkey]]
| occupation       = Poet, author and politician
| nationality      = Turkish
| movement         = The republican era
| notableworks     = ''[[Safahat]]'', ''[[İstiklâl Marşı]]''
| awards           =
| website          =
| influences       =
| signature        = Mehmet Akif Ersoy imzası.png
}}
'''Mehmet Akif Ersoy ''' (20 December 1873 – 27 December 1936) was a [[Turkish people|Turkish]] poet, writer, academic, politician, and the author of the [[İstiklâl Marşı|Turkish National Anthem]]. Widely regarded as one of the premiere literary minds of his time, Ersoy is noted for his command of the Turkish language, as well as his patriotism and role in the [[Turkish War of Independence]].

A framed version of the national anthem by Ersoy typically occupies the wall above the blackboard in the classrooms of every public as well as most private schools around Turkey, along with a Turkish flag, a photograph of the country's founding father [[Atatürk]], and a copy of Atatürk's speech to the nation's youth.

==Biography==
[[File:Funeral of Mehmet Akif Ersoy.jpg|thumb|210px|Funeral of Mehmet Akif Ersoy, 28 December 1936]]
[[File:MehmetAkifErsoy.jpg|thumb|upright|Grave of Mehmet Akif Ersoy at [[Edirnekapı Martyr's Cemetery|Edirnekapı Cemetery]], [[Istanbul]].]]
Mehmet Akif Ersoy was born Mehmed Ragîf in [[Constantinople]], [[Ottoman Empire]] in 1873 to İpekli Tahir Efendi (1826–1888), an [[Albanians|Albanian]] from  the village Shushica near [[Istog]], [[nahiyah]] of [[Peja|Ipek]] and Emine Şerife Hanım with [[Turkish people|Turkish]] and [[Uzbek people|Uzbek]] origins from [[Bukhara]] (modern-day [[Uzbekistan]]).<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Hammond|first=Andrew|date=2021-11-02|title=Muslim Modernism in Turkish: Assessing the Thought of Late Ottoman Intellectual Mehmed Akif|url=https://brill.com/view/journals/wdi/aop/article-10.1163-15700607-61040012/article-10.1163-15700607-61040012.xml|journal=Die Welt des Islams|publisher=[[Brill publishers]]|volume=-1|issue=aop|pages=188–219|doi=10.1163/15700607-61040012|s2cid=243810353|issn=1570-0607|doi-access=free}}</ref> His father was a tutor at the Fatih Madrasah, at a time when all institutions of the state were in terminal decline, and major crises and regime changes were underway.<ref>{{cite book|last=Çantay|first=Hasan Basri|year=1966|title=Akifname|language=Turkish|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qZJrAAAAIAAJ&q=%22mehmet+akif%22| accessdate=2009-07-09|page=14}}</ref> He grew up in the [[Fatih]] district of [[Istanbul|Constantinople]] and learned [[Arabic]] and memorized the [[Quran]] under the mentorship of his father.<ref name=":0" /> As he was about to complete his education at the Fatih Merkez Rüştiyesi, his father's death and a fire that destroyed his home forced Ersoy to discontinue his education and to start working to support his family. He wanted to start a professional career as soon as possible, and he entered the Mülkiye Baytar Mektebi (Veterinary School), and graduated in 1893.<ref name=":0" />

In the same year, Mehmet Akif Ersoy joined the civil service and conducted research on contagious diseases in various locations in [[Anatolia]]. During these assignments, in line with his religious inclination, he gave sermons in mosques, and tried to educate the people and to raise their awareness. Following its success in the [[Young Turk Revolution|Young Turk revolution]], he joined the [[Committee of Union and Progress|Committee for Union and Progress]] in 1908.<ref name=":0" /> Along with fellow men-of-letters Recaizade Mahmud Ekrem, [[Abdülhak Hâmid Tarhan]] and Cenap Şahabettin, which he had met in 1913, he worked for the publication branch of the Müdafaa-i Milliye Heyeti. In his sermons in the mosque, he urged for the union of the different ethnicities in the Ottoman Empire.<ref name=":0" />  He was dismissed from his post at the [[Darulfunun|Darülfünün]] in Constantinople in late 1913 due to his criticism on how the Ottoman Government acted during the [[Balkan Wars|Balkan wars]].<ref name=":0" /> He soon resigned from his government position and other occupations, and wrote poems and articles for the publication Sırat-ı Müstakim.

During the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, Mehmet Akif Ersoy was a fervent patriot. He made important contributions to the struggle for the declaration of the Turkish Republic, and advocated patriotism through speeches that he delivered in many mosques in [[Anatolia]]. On 19 November 1920, during a famous speech he gave in [[Kastamonu]]'s [[Nasrullah Mosque]], he condemned the [[Treaty of Sèvres]], and invited the people to use their faith and guns to fight and wage [[jihad]] (''holy war'') against the Western colonialists. When the publication Sebilürreşat, which was then operating out of [[Ankara]], published this speech, it spread all over the country and was even made into a pamphlet distributed to Turkish soldiers.

[[File:Mehmet Akif Ersoy University.jpg|210px|thumb|left|[[Mehmet Akif Ersoy University]]]]
However, Mehmet Akif Ersoy earned himself his significant place in the history of the [[Republic of Turkey]] as the composer of the lyrics of the [[Istiklal Marsi|Turkish National Anthem]]. During the session of 12 March 1921, the [[Turkish Grand National Assembly]] officially designated his ten-quatrain poem as the lyrics of the national anthem.

Ersoy moved to [[Cairo]] in 1925 and taught the [[Turkish language]] at a university there during his 11-year stay. He caught malaria during a visit to [[Lebanon]] and returned to [[Turkey]] shortly before his death in [[Istanbul]] in 1936.

Ersoy was an Islamist and an opponent of [[Kemalism]]. Despite being the poet of the national anthem, when he died, no official funeral ceremony was held by the government. His coffin was met by [[Istanbul University]] students in [[Beyazıt Square]] and carried to the [[Bayezid II Mosque, Istanbul |Beyazıt Mosque]] by the students. During the funeral ceremony, students chanted slogans against the government.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/mehmed-akif-ersoy|author1=M. Orhan OKAY|author2=M. Ertuğrul DÜZDAĞ |title=Mehmed Âkif ERSOY (1873-1936), İstiklâl Marşı ve Safahat şairi, İslâmcı fikir adamı, yazar ve mütercim|language=tr|publisher=[[İslâm Ansiklopedisi]]|access-date=30 March 2025}}</ref> He was interred in the [[Edirnekapı Martyr's Cemetery]] in Istanbul and was the first person in the history of the Republic of Turkey to have the national anthem performed at his funeral ceremony.

==Legacy==
Mehmet Akif Ersoy is an important national figure in the history of modern Turkey and has left an immortal trace in its history. During the republican period, Mehmet Akif Ersoy taught history and literature at various universities. Ersoy agreed to translate the Quran into the Turkish language for the [[Directorate of Religious Affairs]], but eventually didn't deliver his version.<ref name=":0" /> He was worried the Kemalists would further separate Islam from the Arabic language, after they had imposed a Turkish [[Adhan|call to prayer]] instead of the one in Arabic.<ref name=":0" /> A university in Burdur was named after him. Ersoy's portrait was depicted on the [[Obverse and reverse|reverse]] of the Turkish 100 [[Turkish lira|lira]] banknotes of 1983&ndash;1989.<ref>[http://www.tcmb.gov.tr/yeni/eng/ Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090615060512/http://www.tcmb.gov.tr/yeni/eng/ |date=15 June 2009 }}. Banknote Museum: 7. Emission Group - One Hundred Turkish Lira - [http://www.tcmb.gov.tr/yeni/banknote/E7/256.htm I. Series] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090603080558/http://www.tcmb.gov.tr/yeni/banknote/E7/256.htm |date=3 June 2009 }} & [http://www.tcmb.gov.tr/yeni/banknote/E7/258.htm II. Series] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090603083227/http://www.tcmb.gov.tr/yeni/banknote/E7/258.htm |date=3 June 2009 }}. – Retrieved 20 April 2009.</ref>

==Works==
[[File:100 TL reverse.jpg|thumb|250px|Reverse of the 100 lira banknote (1983&ndash;1989)]]
Mehmet Akif Ersoy had abundant knowledge concerning traditional eastern literature.<ref name=":0" /> In addition, he also studied the works of authors such as [[Victor Hugo]], [[Alphonse de Lamartine]], [[Émile Zola]], and [[Alphonse Daudet]].<ref name=":0" />

He is best known for his 1911 work entitled [[Safahat]]. This volume is a collection of 44 poems of various lengths by Mehmet Akif Ersoy. The earliest work that appears in this book is dated 1904, but this is unattested, and it is highly likely that the poet, who was 32 on that particular date, composed poems prior to that date.

He is further noted for writing the lyrics of Turkish National Anthem, [[İstiklâl Marşı]] (''The March of Independence'' in English) &ndash; which was adopted in 1921, and is accepted by many Turks as their "[[National Poet]]". The lyrics were originally written as a poem in a collection of his writings. Paradoxically, one of his most famous works, a book called ''[[Safahat]]'', was not widely read or published until recently. He studied veterinary science at the university.

==See also==
{{Portal|Biography|Turkey}}
* [[Mehmet Akif Literature Museum Library]], Ankara

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{wikisource-author}}
* {{Commons category-inline|Mehmet Âkif Ersoy}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ersoy, Mehmet Akif}}
[[Category:1873 births]]
[[Category:1936 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Fatih]]
[[Category:Turkish Muslims]]
[[Category:Turkish Islamists]]
[[Category:Turkish schoolteachers]]
[[Category:Turkish veterinarians]]
[[Category:Vefa High School alumni]]
[[Category:Turkish people of Albanian descent]]
[[Category:Turkish people of Uzbekistani descent]]
[[Category:19th-century poets from the Ottoman Empire]]
[[Category:Turkish poets]]
[[Category:National anthem writers]]
[[Category:Members of the Special Organization (Ottoman Empire)]]
[[Category:Burials at Edirnekapı Martyr's Cemetery]]
[[Category:Members of the 1st Parliament of Turkey]]
[[Category:Deaths from cirrhosis]]
[[Category:Turkish magazine founders]]