Özker Yaşın, the national poet of Turkish Cypriot literature and also a member of the Constituent Assembly, will be commemorated with a panel to be held at Near East University on Thursday, February 17, 2022, at 11.30 am.

The commemoration panel, which will be broadcast live on the official youtube channel of Near East University, will be chaired by Near East University Atatürk Education Faculty Lecturer Assoc. Prof. Dr. Burak Gökbulut. In the panel, Assist. Prof. Dr. Mihrican Aylanç, researcher-writer Metin Turan from Cyprus Balkans Eurasian Turkish Literatures Institution, KIBATEK, Near East University Atatürk Education Faculty Lecturer Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mustafa Yeniasır and Head of Cyprus Studies Center (YDU-KAM) Prof. Dr. Şevket Öznur will take place as a speaker.

Özker Yaşın at the Walled City Museum with his bronze bust…
The bronze bust of Özker Yaşın, which is also included in the “Cypriot Turkish Writers Bust Collection” consisting of the Turkish Cypriot writers who contributed to Turkish Cypriot literature, history and culture, was opened to the public on the 10th anniversary of his death last year. Yaşın, who has produced many works as a novelist and journalist in addition to his identity as a poet, was also a member of the TRNC Constituent Assembly.

A versatile writer and human being, Özker Yaşın was born in 1932 in Nicosia. Having spent his early youth in Istanbul, Yaşın returned to Cyprus in 1950 and started to work as a journalist and radio-television programmer. Later, he founded a bookstore, then a printing house, and published the newspaper “Savaş”. He participated in the founding of the Republican Turkish Party. He was a member of parliament between 1970-1976. He made a name for himself in almost all newspapers and magazines in Cyprus, and especially in the “Varlık” magazine in Turkey. He became the leading poet of “Free Poetry” and “Nationalist Poetry”. He brought real innovation to Turkish Cypriot Poetry with his Turkish, poetic aesthetics, sources, theme and style. For a long time, he was known and followed as the “master poet” of the island. Creating an epic atmosphere in his poems, Özker Yaşın made a great contribution to Turkish Cypriot Literature with his plays and novels. He settled in Istanbul in 1986. He lived there until his death. Özker Yaşın was not only a well-known poet but also a master writer who wrote works in many fields of Turkish Cypriot Literature. In this context, he is one of the authors who produced the most works in the novel genre and gained the quality of a novelist. The master pen of the Turkish Cypriot literature died on February 6, 2011, in Istanbul. Yaşın’s body was brought to Cyprus and he was sent off his last journey with a state ceremony.