27 April 2009

Book Review: Hatirladiklarim


I've read a few books of Zekeriya Sertel, and I've read about him in many other books.For those who have never heard of him: he was a well-known and succesfull journalist who was educated in Paris[he was a student of Durkheim at Sorbonne univ.] but starting of WWI made him go home. In 1919 he went to US and studied journalism at Columbia.
He was the co-founder of Cumhuriyet newspaper with Yunus Nadi, published the famous 'Hayat Ansiklopedisi' and several other publications.
In 1945, his newspaper Tan was destoyed by right-wing protestors. Together with this event and Sabahattin Ali's murder, Nazim Hikmet's escape due to attempts to destroy him he felt unsafe in the country and went on a voluntary exile.

This book was part of a two volume memorirs series but the second volume was never written,the first volume is about his life between 1905-1951. His first days in Thessaloniki,WWI,meeting with Ataturk, journalism days,Tan events and his life in exile, his friendship with Nazim, experiences in Soviet Union.

It is a very valuable resouce for history of journalism ,and political history in general, of the early Turkish Republic. I recomment this book to everyone.

No comments: