Turkey commemorates master author Yaşar Kemal

It has been six years since Turkey lost legendary author Yaşar Kemal, an outspoken intellectual and prolific writer who became the country's first nominee for the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Ayse Semiha Baban Gökçeli, chair of the Istanbul-based Yaşar Kemal Foundation, told Anadolu Agency that a number of events would be held this year to honor the memory of the renowned author, who died on Feb. 28, 2015 at age 92.

The group was established in 2016, a year after the death of the esteemed writer.

Gökçeli said it was founded to promote Kemal's views, values, and stances on freedom, equality, and his love of humanity and nature, as well as respect for cultural differences.

Born in 1923 in Turkey's southern Osmaniye province, the Kurdish-rooted Turkish writer was also known for fighting oppression and defending minority rights.

He won international acclaim for his 1955 novel Memed, My Hawk. The book, translated into some 40 languages worldwide, also earned him a nomination for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1973.

Gökçeli, the widow of the writer, whose real name was Kemal Sadık Gökçeli, quoted Livaneli, also one of the group's founders, as saying it was founded "so that Yaşar Kemal's literature and character could be seen more deeply and passed down to future generations.

"The Yaşar Kemal Foundation is also an homage to both the memory and the work of the great master."

According to Gökçeli, Kemal- who was born in 1923, the dawn of the Turkish Republic- lived through the major milestones of Turkey and was a keen observer and narrator of this momentous time.

"Yaşar Kemal didn't have much of a private archive, probably due to some effects of the circumstances of his life," she added.

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