Sevan Nişanyan

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Stone monument erected by Nişanyan in Şirince

Sevan Nişanyan ( Armenian Սեւան Նշանեան ; born December 21, 1956 in Istanbul , Turkey ) is a Turkish author , linguist and hotelier of Armenian origin.

Life

Nişanyan comes from an Armenian family from Istanbul and attended Ișik Lisesi there before graduating from Robert College . In 1974 he went to the USA and studied history, philosophy and the political systems of South America at Yale University and Columbia University .

After returning to Turkey, Nişanyan was the founder and director of the company that introduced the Commodore 64 home computer to the Turkish market. At the same time he was the founder of the first computer magazine in Turkey, Commodore, and wrote articles in it under the pseudonym Baytan Bitirmez. Since the mid-1990s he has worked for various English-speaking and Far Eastern travel guides and published his first hotel guide for Turkey in 1998.

In 1995 Nişanyan settled in the wine village Şirince near Selçuk in the province of Izmir , where he distinguished himself in the following years for his commitment to the protection and reconstruction of traditional architecture. In 1999 his restored old houses under the name Nişanyan evleri (Nişanyan houses) were ready for occupancy. In 2001, he was sentenced to six months' imprisonment for restoring the buildings without a building permit.

His scientific, etymological dictionary Sözlerin Soyağacı (English: family tree of words), which was printed in 2007, was created while he was in prison . In 2006 he had already published a book called Ankara'nın Doğusundaki Türkiye ( Eng .: Turkey east of Ankara). In 2008 his critical book about the Turkish state founder Ataturk and Kemalism followed . In 2008 and 2009 he wrote articles for the Turkish-Armenian weekly magazine Agos . Under the pseudonym Kelimebaz he wrote linguistic articles in the Turkish-language daily Taraf during this time . In 2010 his book Adını Unutan Ülke on the Turkishization of geographical names was printed in Istanbul, followed by Hayali Coğrafyalar (Imaginary Regions).

In 2008 Nişanyan pelted his wife in a dispute with a bucket full of his own feces and justified this - in his own words - 'symbolic act' with a defamation on the part of the wife. Turkish women's rights activists condemn this action. In his editorial office at the time, Agos , there were subsequent dismissals, but the newspaper refused to dismiss Nişanyan. In 2013 a lecture from Nişanyan was stormed by feminist and LGBT groups.

2010 Nisanyan published a list of 16,000 currently used geographic names in the field of Turkey, over the last hundred years from the languages of Greek, Armenian, Kurdish, Syriakisch etc. türkisiert were. Today (2015) the directory comprises 56,000 names and is available on the Internet as an anatolic index .

In May 2013 Nişanyan was sentenced to thirteen and a half months in prison by an Istanbul court. The reason for this was a post he posted on his blog in September 2012 with the title Crimes committed through hate must be combated . In this post he took a position on the Youtube film Innocence of Muslims , which had led to violent protests in various Muslim countries.

At the beginning of 2014 he was sentenced to several years in prison. The reason for the penalty was that he defied building regulations and continued building despite the official closure of the construction site. He admits this, but sees a politically motivated charge. Several proceedings are still running in parallel. In 2017 he escaped from prison and applied for asylum in Greece .

Publications

  • Vienna & Budapest . Prentice Hall, New York City, USA 1992, ISBN 0-13-032558-9 .
  • Turkey: Mediterranean coast . Hayit, Cologne 1993, ISBN 3-89210-391-7 .
  • Küçük oteller kitabı. (The Book of Small Hotels). 1998.
    • German: Turkey: Guide to the most beautiful small hotels . Reise-Know-How-Verlag, Markgroningen 2004, ISBN 3-89662-360-5 .
  • Meraklısı için Karadeniz . Boyut Yayınları, 2000, ISBN 975-521-378-3 .
  • Elifin ecüzü, ya da, sürprizler kitabi. Drawings by Semih Poroy. Asdan, Beyoğlu, Istanbul 2002, ISBN 975-418-744-4 .
  • Ankara'nın Doğusundaki Türkiye. (Turkey east of Ankara). 2006.
  • Sözlerin Soyağacı: Çağdaş Türkçenin Etimolojik Sözlüğü . (Pedigree of Words: An Etymological Dictionary of Contemporary Turkish). 2007.
  • Yanliş Cumhuriyet: Ataturk ve Kemalizm Üzerine 51 soru . (The false republic: 51 questions about Ataturk and Kemalism). Everest Yayınları, Istanbul 2008, ISBN 978-975-9169-77-0 .
  • Kelimebaz. 2nd volumes. Everest Yayınları, Cağatoğlu, Istanbul,
  • Adını Unutan Ülke: Türkiye'de Adı Değistirilen Yerler Sözlüğü . (The country that forgets its names: Dictionary of Names of Changed Places in Turkey). Everest Yayınları, Istanbul 2010, ISBN 978-975-289-730-4 .
  • Hayali Coğrafyalar: Cumhuriyet Döneminde Türkiye'de Değiştirilen Yeradları. TESEV Demokratikleşme Programı, Istanbul 2011, ISBN 978-605-5832-76-6 . (PDF, 5.36 MB)
  • Aslanlı Yol , autobiography. Liberte Yayınları, 2012, ISBN 978-975-6201701 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ haber.gazetevatan.com , Vatan June 27, 2013.
  2. ↑ radikal.com.tr , Radikal February 17, 2013.
  3. ↑ Arab leader. Turkish author sentenced to prison. In: FAZ . May 24, 2013, p. 36.
  4. ↑ Blasphemous blog entry: Turkish-Armenian author sentenced to over a year in prison. In: German Turkish News , May 22, 2013, accessed on June 16, 2013.
personal data
SURNAME Nişanyan, Sevan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Turkish-Armenian author, linguist and hotelier
DATE OF BIRTH December 21, 1956
PLACE OF BIRTH Istanbul , Turkey