Hüseyin Vasıf Çınar

Vasıf Çınar

Hüseyin Vasif Çınar (* 1896 in Heraklion on Crete , † 2. June 1935 in Moscow ) was a Kurdish origin Turkish teacher, journalist, politician and diplomat. Before the naming law was passed in 1934 , his name was Hüseyin Vasıf Bey .

He played an important role during the Turkish War of Liberation . Çınar was twice minister of education and implemented the law of Tevhid-i Tedrisat Kanunu , the "law for the standardization of teaching", with which all traditionally Islamic teaching institutions and the ministries for Islamic law and foundations were abolished. Among other things, he was the Turkish consul in Prague , Paris and Moscow. He was also one of the founders of the Altay İzmir sports club .

Life

Hüseyin Vasıf Çınar was born in 1896 in the city of Kandiye (now Heraklion) in Crete. According to other sources, he is said to have been born in Izmir . He comes from the family of the Kurdish prince of Botan Bedirxan Beg and was the son of Kaymakam Abdullah Hulusi Bey. After a failed uprising by Bedirxan Beg in 1847, he and his family were exiled to Crete.

Çınar finished high school in Izmir in 1910. After that he went to Istanbul and studied at the Darülfünun law . Because of the First World War he had to interrupt his studies and was only able to complete it in 1916.

Together with Mustafa Necati Bey, he worked from 1915 for three years at the newly founded Özel Şark Mektebi İdadisi ( Private Eastern University) in Izmir as an administrator and history teacher. Then he did the preparatory work with some sports students to found the Altay Izmir association. He was an active member of the İzmir branch of the Türk Ocağı (Turkish Association) .

When the Greek army occupied Izmir after the end of the First World War, Çınar tried to organize resistance against the occupation with Mustafa Necati Bey. He was a founder of the İzmir Redd-i İlhak Cemiyeti ( Association against the annexation of Izmir ). He later went to Balıkesir with his brother Mehmet Esat and joined the Kuvayı Milliye there. He took part in the Balıkesir Congresses as a delegate of İzmir Türk Ocağı.

İzmir'e Dogru Gazetesi

His most important contribution to the Turkish liberation war was the publication of the newspaper İzmir'e Doğru ( direction Izmir ). This was printed in Balıkesir and contained fiery articles for the Turkish Liberation War. The newspaper's subtitle was Hareket-i Milliyenin hadim ve mürevvici ( servant and activist of the national liberation movement ). His brother Mehmet Esat was editor-in-chief and his friend Mustafa Necati was the chief journalist. The newspaper appeared twice a week from October 16, 1919, and three times a week from January 1920. It reached 74 editions by the time Balıkesir was also occupied.

Çınar left the city and became an employee of the Ministry of Education. When the Greek occupation of Izmir ended, Çınar was appointed head of the Ministry of Education in Izmir in 1922.

Years as a politician

When Çınar was head of the Ministry of Education in Izmir, he stood for election in 1923 and became a member of the Turkish National Assembly from Saruhan (now Manisa ) . He was an influential speaker in the discussions about the proclamation of the republic and the abolition of the sultanate. He later worked as a public prosecutor in the İstiklal Mahkemeleri ( special courts , literally: Independence Court ).

The Tevhid-i Tedrisat Law

Çınar and 50 other members of parliament drew up a draft law that provided for a standardization of the school system. This Tevhid-i Tedrisat Kanunu ( Law to Unify Teaching ) was passed in Parliament on March 3, 1924. Three days later, Çınar was appointed Minister of Education. During his eight month tenure, he put the law into practice; the Islamic madāris were closed, the schools secularized, the training of teachers increased and foreign experts consulted. Among other things, he invited the world-famous teacher John Dewey to Turkey and was supported by him. Due to protests from conservative circles against his radical reforms, Çınar resigned from his ministerial office on October 21, 1924.

Years as a diplomat

After his resignation as education minister, Çınar became ambassador. On June 16, 1925, he was appointed ambassador to Prague, making him the first ambassador of the Turkish Republic to Czechoslovakia . After two years of service in Prague, he was transferred to Budapest on December 11, 1927 , where he worked for a year.

On October 3, 1928, he was appointed ambassador for Moscow, but could only stay there for three months. When his companion and then Minister of Education Mustafa Necati Bey suddenly died, Çınar became Minister of Education for the second time.

Çınar left this office again in 1931 and worked again for the Foreign Ministry. From May 28, 1931, he was ambassador to Rome and then moved back to Moscow on September 10, 1934. He was also the envoy from Lithuania .

With the enactment of the naming law in Turkey in 1934, President Ataturk personally gave him his new surname Çınar ( plane tree ), because, according to Ataturk, he was a member of a family whose roots and branches were as strong as a plane tree. After a sudden illness, Çınar died on June 2, 1935 in Moscow. His body was buried in Ankara.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Milli Mücadele'de İzmir'e Doğru Gazetesi, Erol Kaya (PDF; 453 kB) Published in the journal Turkish Studies , Volume 3, No. 7, 2008
2. ↑ Kart Kurt Sesleri, Mahmut Çetin  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 1.5 MB)  
3. ↑ Cumhuriyet Dönemi Devlet Adamlarından Vasıf Çınar, Doç. Dr. Tülay Alim Baran , published in Ataturk Araştırma Merkezi Dergisi , Volume 17, No. 49, March 2001
4. ↑ Büyük Sır, Taha Kıvanç , Yeni Şafak Gazetesi, December 23, 1999

Web links

• www.biyografi.net
• www.kimkimdir.gen.tr