Hüseyin Cahit Yalçın – an introduction to his life and works

Abstract

Hüseyin Cahit Yalçın (1875 − 1957) was a prominent and prolific writer who, in 1908, was also the first journalist elected to the Ottoman Chamber of Deputies. He was a member of the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) which was in the forefront of Ottoman politics for a period of over 10 years before and during the First World War, and was among the politicians exiled by the British to Malta in 1919 for a couple of years. As a journalist, he witnessed, participated in and wrote about the history and politics of Turkey in several newspapers (including the paper, Tanin, which he part owned and managed) from the time when it was a Sultanate till well after Turkey became a Republic in 1923. He also achieved success with his novels, essays and translations from several European languages. He has been called a perennial dissident because over his long journalistic (and political) career he was not afraid of argument and debate, and rarely changed his stance.