1915
Born on 20 December.
1915–1995
A life in dates
Aziz Nesin’s life in dates.
Source: Gömüyü Arayan Adam (Turkish) - Nesin Yayınevi.
1915–1929
1920
Meets Uncle Galip and learns to read and write from him. That year and later, Uncle Galip also teaches him calligraphy, Arabic, French and mathematics.
1921
Attends a neighbourhood school for a while and memorises Quranic suras. He probably attends for no more than a year. After leaving, he takes lessons from Uncle Galip.
1923
Becomes a hafiz, having memorised the Quran. A neighbour takes him to an improvisational theatre performance. At home, he writes a play imitating what he has seen.
1925
Passes the entrance examination for the third grade of Kanuni Sultan Süleyman Primary School in Süleymaniye, İstanbul. (It is later renamed İstanbul Primary School No. 7.)
1926-27
Enters the fourth primary grade at Darüşşafaka and advances to the fifth. His mother dies on 15 September. Expelled from the fifth grade for absence, he runs away from home, goes to İzmit and earns a diploma by examination at Akçakoca Primary School.
1928
Enters the sixth year at Vefa Middle School in Cağaloğlu but has to repeat the year because of absences.
1929
In the sixth grade at Davutpaşa Middle School, he is top of his class. From then on he will always be among the best pupils. Writes his first novel. Every Friday he goes to either Millet or Ferah Theatre in Şehzadebaşı. Admires Naşit and enters a playwriting competition organised by Millet Theatre.
1930–1939
1930
Enters Çengelköy Military School in the seventh year.
1932
Graduates from military middle school on 28 June, with excellent marks in every subject except foreign language, in which he receives a good mark. Enters Kuleli Military High School in September.
1935
Graduates from Kuleli Military High School in May. Goes to Kepsut, Balıkesir, for basic military training on 30 June. Enters the Military Academy in Ankara in September, where he will study military engineering for two years.
1937
Graduates from the Military Academy on 30 August and becomes a junior officer. In September he attends the Military Technical Training School in Maçka, Beyoğlu. From the start he often receives disciplinary punishments and leaves school without permission. Also studies in the Eastern Decorative Arts Department of İstanbul’s Fine Arts Academy, taking miniature painting, illumination, calligraphy, tilework and bookbinding. Practises painting and begins writing stories and poems. Meets his first wife, Vedia, either that year or the next.
1938
Becomes a lieutenant on 28 February. Buys two engagement rings on credit in Kuyumcular Street on 9 December. (On 24 May 1939 the creditor will seek seizure of his property.) Becomes engaged to his first wife, Vedia, on 17 December.
1939
Completes technical training in June and goes to Muratlı. His stories and poems appear in Millet and Yedigün magazines. Marries his first wife, Vedia, on 31 December.
1940–1949
1940
Begins an excavator course at the Maçka Technical Training School on 24 February; it ends on 5 April. His battalion comes under Kırklareli Fortifications Command on 23 May. Assigned to Erzurum on 20 June and sent to the Erzincan ammunition depot on 28 July to empty the army arsenal destroyed by the earthquake. Injured in an ammunition accident. Returns to Erzurum on 23 September, then is assigned to Kars on 28 September. His first child, Oya, is born on 16 December.
1941
Becomes a first lieutenant in Kars on 30 August.
1942
His second child, Ateş, is born on 21 December.
1943
Works as a writer and editor at 7 Gün; his poems are published. (This may have been in 1942.) Becomes a company commander in Safranbolu on 20 August.
1944
From 1 January his stories appear in Millet under the pen name Aziz Nesin. Despite wartime restrictions, he grants two soldiers leave out of compassion. When they return late, he punishes them despite their threats. On 23 June Corporal Günenli and Mustafa Karakaş report him. Arrested on 4 July, he does not defend himself in court. On 18 July he is sentenced to four months and ten days and expelled from the army because the absent soldiers’ rations remained accounted for in his name. He does not appeal; the ruling becomes final on 24 July. Enters Üsküdar Paşakapı Prison on 23 September and is released on 11 November. Refuses the pension to which he is entitled.
1945
Runs a grocery shop in Nuruosmaniye and works as an editor and writer for Karagöz and Yedigün. Begins writing professionally and writes columns for Tan. Publishes his first independent work, the sixteen-page pamphlet Parti Kurmak Parti Vurmak. Launches the weekly magazine Cumartesi (eight issues). Tan is destroyed on 4 December and he loses his job. Sedat Simavi also dismisses him from Yedigün out of fear. At night he takes telephone reports from Vatan’s Ankara correspondents for 60 lira a month. In his words, these are “very difficult days.”
1946
Joins a political party for the first and last time: the Türkiye Socialist Party founded by his close friend Esat Adil Müstecaplı. Resigns after two months. Esat Adil launches Gerçek, where Nesin is secretary and columnist; it is closed after 25 issues. Works at Yeni Dünya, which fascists will destroy on 4 December. In Yusuf Ahıskalı’s Ses magazine he calls for Turkish socialists to unite. With Sabahattin Ali, Rıfat Ilgaz and cartoonist Mim Uykusuz he launches the weekly humour newspaper Markopaşa; its first issue appears on 25 December. Circulation will reach 70,000, unmatched at the time. They struggle to find printers, paper, distributors and newsagents, receiving frequent threats from police and fascist youths. The newspaper is repeatedly closed, continues under different names until 1950 and attracts imitators (Alay, Lalapaşa, Mazete, Bekri Mustafa, Salamon…). The “Great Arrest” begins on 16 December: forty to fifty people, including Dr Şefik Hüsnü, Esat Adil Müstecaplıoğlu, Aziz Nesin, Sabahattin Ali, Yusuf Ahıskalı and painter Faris Erkman, are arrested within days; many are tortured. Two socialist parties and many periodicals, newspapers and printing houses are closed, including Markopaşa.
1947
Released at New Year. In this and subsequent years, Sabahattin Ali, Rıfat Ilgaz and Mustafa Uykusuz repeatedly stand trial and receive sentences for taking responsibility for Nesin’s writings. Markopaşa reappears on 6 January. Arrested under martial law on 30 April for his pamphlet Nereye Gidiyoruz, opposing American imperialism and the Truman Doctrine newly applied to Türkiye. The pamphlet is seized while being printed. A military court sentences him to ten months’ rigorous imprisonment and four and a half months’ exile for “acting against national interests through publication.” He will be released on 20 February 1948 and sent to Bursa. Defying unlawful bans, he smuggles writings out of prison. Malumpaşa replaces the banned Markopaşa in September. In October Orhan Erkip unlawfully takes over both papers and turns them to right-wing publishing. Meanwhile the Markopaşa team members outside prison publish Geveze, Merhumpaşa and Ali Baba.
1948
Released on 20 February and exiled to Bursa, facing severe financial hardship. Exile ends on 20 May. Separates from his first wife, Vedia. Publishes his second book, Azizname, which leads to prosecution at İstanbul’s Second High Criminal Court. Acquitted after four months in detention. Writes for Mehmet Ali Aybar’s Zincirli Hürriyet; “Ey Türk Faşisti” provokes a strong reaction from the right-wing press. Launches the political weekly Başdan in July. Less successful than the humour newspapers, it continually loses money and is supported by Markopaşa. Repression continues, with frequent closures and confiscations.
1949
Sabahattin Ali’s murder becomes known in January. Hür Markopaşa, Yedi-Sekiz Paşa, Bizim Paşa and Öküz Mehmet Paşa appear in place of Markopaşa; Başdan continues. Princess Elizabeth of Britain, Shah Reza Pahlavi of Iran and King Farouk of Egypt sue him. He is sentenced to seven months and serves the term with Mehmet Ali Aybar, convicted over Zincirli Hürriyet, in Üsküdar Paşakapısı Prison.
1950–1959
1950
Sentenced to sixteen months in prison and sixteen months under police supervision for an article he allegedly translated from French—the preface to Politzer’s Felsefe Dersleri—although he did not know French. Since he keeps writing in prison and smuggling texts out, he is moved to Nevşehir Prison forty days before his sentence ends. Medet appears, and Başdan becomes Yeni Baştan. Caught while attempting to flee abroad.
1951
Serves time in Sultanahmet, Üsküdar and Nevşehir prisons. Writes Biraz Gelir misiniz in Üsküdar, to be revised in 1963 and published in December 1969. After release, opens Oluş Bookshop in Levent with his friend Sabahattin Erdem and delivers newspapers to local homes in the mornings. “Looking back over all those years, apart from childhood, I can remember only one person who helped and was kind to me without expecting anything in return: Captain Sabahattin Erdem… The most heartfelt, passionate and sensitive person I have known.”
1953
With a partner, establishes Paradi Photography Studio in a newly built commercial building on Bursa Street in Beyoğlu. Continues writing poetry.
1954
Writes for Akbaba under pseudonyms.
1955
Founds Düşün Yayınevi with Kemal Tahir. Publishes 3,000 copies of his first poetry book, On Dakika. Feeling influenced by Yahya Kemal and Faruk Nafiz and imitative of Nâzım, burns the books in the publisher’s garden before distribution. Arrested during the events of 6–7 September. Becomes engaged to Meral Çelen in Harbiye Military Prison. Released six months later without questioning.
1956
Marries Meral Çelen. Writes columns for Halil Lütfi Dördüncü’s Yeni Gazete. Wins the Golden Palm with Kazan Töreni in a humorous story competition in Bordighera, Italy, involving twenty-two nations. His third child and second son, Ali Nesin, is born in İstanbul.
1957
Wins the Golden Palm international humorous story competition for a second time, with Fil Hamdi. Eleven of his books will be published that year. His fourth and last child, Ahmet Nesin, is born in İstanbul.
1958
Writes columns for Akşam, Ulus and Yeni Gazete, and “İstanbul’dan Ne Haber” articles for Demokrat İzmir. İstanbul’s First Examining Magistrate decides to prosecute five stories in Mahallenin Kısmeti.
1959
Makes a long journey around the country. Wins first prize for columns from the Journalists’ Association.
1960–1969
1960
Sentenced to exile, but the 27 May coup intervenes. Follows the Yassıada trials and writes his impressions. Wins the Journalists’ Association first prize for columns.
1961
Donates one of his Golden Palms to the state treasury. Writes columns for Tanin and is arrested over them. Acquitted after three months in Balmumcu Prison (31 October). Arrested with Tanin editor-in-chief İhsan Ada. Düşün Yayınevi and his home are searched on the same day; sacks of notes, documents and writings are seized. Put in a sewage-fouled cell in Harbiye and spends the night standing. They will be released on 8 July. Begins writing for Öncü. Faces an attempted lynching in Adana.
1962
Düşün Yayınevi, founded with Kemal Tahir, burns down for an unexplained reason. Launches the weekly humour magazine Zübük. His father Abdulaziz Efendi dies on Sunday, 11 February 1962.
1965
Travels abroad for the first time, spending five months away. Attends the Anti-Fascist Writers’ Meeting in Berlin and Weimar. Visits Germany, Poland, the Soviet Union, Finland, Romania, Bulgaria, Kyiv and Tbilisi.
1966
Receives the Golden Hedgehog in Bulgaria for Vatani Vazife.
1967
On returning from a trip abroad, is detained by political police and unlawfully interrogated for eight hours. Separates from Meral Çelen.
1968
Wins first prize with Üç Karagöz Oyunu in Milliyet’s Karacan competition for Karagöz plays.
1969
Receives the Golden Crocodile in Moscow for İnsanlar Uyanıyor. Writes the Eller Aya Biz Yaya column in Günaydın and prepares its humour supplement Ustura. Reconciles with Meral Çelen in autumn.
1970–1979
1970
Marries Meral Çelen for a second time. Receives the Turkish Language Association playwriting award.
1971
After the 12 March coup, spends four days detained at Maltepe Armoured Brigade barracks. Starts writing Zat-ı Devletleri İbiş Hazretleri while detained and finishes it in October.
1972
Establishes Nesin Vakfı before a notary on 27 April. Begins the second volume of Böyle Gelmiş Böyle Gitmez for serialisation in Yeni Ortam.
1974
Receives the Lotus Prize from the Afro-Asian Writers’ Association. Elected president of the Writers’ Union of Türkiye (TYS), a post he will hold for fifteen years, until 1989.
1977
Receives the international Hitar Petar Award in Bulgaria and an honorary press card.
1980–1989
1982
Questioned in the TYS case. On returning from Southeast Asia, hospitalised in Moscow for heart problems for a month: stenocardia, angina pectoris, an enlarged heart, dilation of a coronary vessel, glaucoma, spinal calcification, pyelonephritis… He has suffered two minor heart attacks without even knowing. Immediately after returning to İstanbul, questioned by the martial-law prosecutor as a founder of the Peace Association.
1983
The TYS trial begins. Suffers a stroke on 26 November 1983 and is taken to Çapa Neurology Clinic. His right side is paralysed and he cannot speak. Two days later starts writing poetry with his left hand. Will recover over time.
1984
Prosecuted for an article written in Öncü twenty-four years earlier; unable to obtain a passport, he cannot travel to the USA for heart surgery. The Intellectuals’ Petition and “Peace 2” trials begin. Publication of his defence in the petition case is banned. There are sixteen children at the foundation but no cook, so he cooks daily for them and the workers—twenty-five people in all.
1986
Ekin-Bilar and TYS cases are opened. Helps initiate the Human Rights Association. The Bread and Rights Declaration is prepared. Receives TÜYAP’s People’s Choice Author of the Year award at İstanbul’s Marmara Etap Hotel.
1987
Files a lawsuit against President Kenan Evren for insult.
1988
Works to organise Ankara’s first film festival and participates in the Turkish-Greek Friendship Association. Takes the first steps towards a planned daily newspaper, Onbinler. Tried in the State Security Court for defending Kurdish cultural independence.
1989
As Writers’ Union president, holds a press conference on human-rights violations against Turks in Bulgaria. Resigns as president at the end of the year.
1990–1995
1990
Is chosen by the public as honorary writer of the year for a second time at the TÜYAP Book Fair. Receives the Tolstoy Gold Award and the Vienna Theatre Award.
1991
Receives a knighthood decoration from the French state.
1992
Receives the Writers’ Association Honorary Award and Gold Medal. Undergoes bypass surgery at Florence Nightingale Hospital. Receives the Abdi İpekçi Peace and Friendship Award and Karşıyaka Municipality’s Human Rights Award. Writes poetry.
1993
Receives the Dionysos Poetry Award and the Carl von Ossietzky Medal.
1994
Is named journalist of the year by the American journalists’ association and receives a human-rights award.
1995
Receives the Orhan Apaydın Democracy and Peace Award and the Hiroshima Foundation Award. On 15 June, on the fifth floor at Nesin Vakfı, wakes with “unbearable heart pain.” Holds a press conference on 30 June for a conference against fundamentalism. Dies around 00:30 on 6 July in Çeşme, where he had gone to give a talk and sign books.