Turkish poet Sezai Karakoc passes away at 88

By Hilal Ustuk and Rabia Iclal Turan

ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkey's prominent poet, writer and intellectual Sezai Karakoc passed away on Tuesday, the country's presidential spokesperson announced on social media. He was 88.

"Ustad Sezai Karakoc has reached Allah's mercy, leaving behind an exemplary life, a strong fabric of ideas and a great literary legacy," Ibrahim Kalin said. "May Allah make his resting place heaven, his rank high, and his soul happy."

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he learned about the death of the 'Poet of Resurrection' with "deep sadness," and called him a great thinker in the world of literature and thought "who guided generations with his ideas."

"I offer my condolences to his family, fans and our nation," he wrote on Twitter.

Born on Jan. 22, 1933 in Turkey's southeastern province of Diyarbakir, his father was a merchant captured by the Russians while fighting on the Caucasian front in World War I.

Spending his childhood in Diyarbakir, he went to secondary school in southern Turkish province of Kahramanmaras, and studied high school in Gaziantep province.

With a keen interest in literature, Karakoc started reading western classics during high school years. He read Western and Eastern classic literature before joining the Ankara University to study political science.

Awaiting result for the entrance exam, Karakoc met Necip Fazil Kisakurek, another prominent Turkish poet and thinker who had a huge influence on him.

Besides higher education in the 1950s, Karakoc worked at the Buyuk Dogu magazine, a conservative political publication founded by Necip Fazil Kisakurek, and shaped the thinking of many generations.

He graduated from the university in 1955, and started working at Turkey's Finance Ministry.

Starting December 1963, he wrote daily articles for national newspapers, including Yeni İstiklal, Yeni İstanbul and Sabah newspaper in Babiali, the capital of Turkish media at the time.

Karakoc later resigned from the ministry to devote more time to literary studies. He wrote Mona Rosa, which became one of the most famous poems about love in Turkish literature.

In 1990, he founded the Dirilis Party (Resurrection) to realize the world he revealed in his poetry and writings.

He was awarded Turkey's Presidential Culture and Arts Award in 2011.