Özdemir Asaf: A gentle poet

Turkey on Jan. 28 commemorated Özdemir Asaf, a unique poet of contemporary Turkish literature, on the 39th anniversary of his death.

Born in Ankara, the Turkish capital, on June 11, 1923, Asaf was known to be a man with gentle characteristics and love for life.

After completing his primary education in Ankara, Asaf had moved to Istanbul with his family. He graduated from Kabataş High School in 1942.

Asaf met his first wife Selma Tezakın when he was a law student at Istanbul University in the 1940s.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency about his father, Seda Arun said she first discovered that his father was writing poems during the frequents visits of renowned poets of the era, including Fazıl Hüsnü Dağlarca, Sait Faik Abasıyanık, Peyami Safa and Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu back in 1954.

"During these conversations at home, I learned that my father also wrote something," Arun said.

"I didn't know if he was writing proses or poetry. He was reading a poem. Moreover, he insistently read the same poem. I asked my dad who wrote it, and he said that it was him."

In 1951, Asaf established the Art Printing House and started to work as a printer. In 1955, he founded a new publishing company, Round Table Press, and started to publish his poetry books.

"In 1955, he published his first poetry book called 'Dünya Kaçtı Gözüme' ['The World Caught My Eye' in English], and he prepared the cover of the book himself with his manual cutting machine," Arun said.

"There was no crew fault in the book. Because he was the crew. The first evening he brought his book, I never forgot his enthusiasm at home," she added.

Asaf participated in the Belgian International Poetry Biennial in 1959, representing the Turkish Literary Union, and in...