Falih Rıfkı Atay

Falih Rıfkı Atay
File:Falih Rıfkı Bey.jpg
Born	1894 Istanbul, Ottoman Empire
Died	Istanbul, Turkey
Nationality	Turkish
Occupation	Journalist, writer and politician
Political party	Republican People's Party (CHP)
Children	1

Falih Rıfkı Atay (1894, Istanbul – 20 March 1971, Istanbul) was a Turkish journalist, writer and politician between 1923 and 1950.

He was the son of Halil Hilmi Efendi, an imam. He was educated in Istanbul, then Ottoman Empire. Falih began his career as a journalist in the Tanin, a CUP newspaper. He later became the private secretary of Talat Pasha, and during World War I accompanied Jamal Pasha in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign. After the war, he, with three other friends, founded the newspaper Akşam supporting the Turkish War of Independence. In 1922, he travelled to the recaptured Izmir to visit Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Later, he became an editor-in-chief in the Hakimiyet-i Milliye. He entered politics in 1923, and served as deputy of Bolu and later Ankara in the parliament until the Turkish general election, 1950.

He is the author of more than 30 works.

Falih Rıfkı Atay died on 20 March 1971 in Istanbul. He was interred at Zincirlikuyu Cemetery in Istanbul.

Legacy

A nature park inside the Belgrad Forest in Sarıyer district of Istanbul Province was named in his honor in 2011.

Selected works

• Ateş ve Güneş, (Fire and Sun), 1918, Memories of World War I in Syria and Palestine
• Zeytindağı (Mount of Olives), 1932, Memories of World War I in Syria and Palestine
• Yeni Rusya (New Russia), 1931, Travelbook