AKYAVAŞ, Ragıp

Researcher and writer (b. 1890, İstanbul – d. 1969). He was the son of Mehmed Emin Paşa who once was the Havran (Syrian) Army commander of the Ottoman Army and the İstanbul Garrison Commander. He attended primary school at Saint Vincent de Paul French School in Damascus, İstanbul Soğukçeşme Military Elementary School and Damascus High School. Afterwards he returned to İstanbul and graduated from Pangaltı War School and joined the army with the title of lieutenant in 1912. He was injured five times in the Balkan wars, Çanakkale, the Suez Canal and Romania. He served as an aide-de-camp to Müşir İzzet Paşa, Tevfik Paşa, Salih Paşa and Ali Rıza Paşa. When he worked at the Grand Vizier’s office, having been educated by teachers such as Ebü’lulâ and Musliddin Âdil, he graduated from İstanbul Faculty of Law and worked for the Turkish justice administration.

He gave Criminal Law and War History courses in his beloved War School; his Civil Law and Criminal Law Notes were published in the publications of this school. He improved his religious knowledge in Beirut, which was one of the most important culture centers of his time and took lessons of hadis* from the famous scholar Şeyh Bedreddin Efendi. He took lessons from Abdullah of Erzurum, the scholars of the Palace and Avni Efendiler of Arapkır. As well as his articles published in various newspapers and reviews such as Halkçı, Zafer, Adalet and Son Havadis, Akyavaş, he also worked as a journalist and prepared radio programs with which he became well-known. After his death, the works and radio conversations of Akyavaş, who was considered a lover of İstanbul and known for his works on Islam and Ottoman history, were published in their entirety by the Turkish Directorate of Religious Affairs and edited by his daughter Prof. Dr. Beynun Akyavaş.

WORKS:

Hazret-i Muhammed'in Hayatı / Kur’an Tarihi ve Dinî-Ahlâkî Musahabeler (The Life of Esteemed Muhammed / The History of the Holy Koran and Interviews on Religious and Moral Issues, 1970), Âsitâne - Evvel Zaman İçinde İstanbul I-II (Âsitâne, the Ottoman name for İstanbul, – İstanbul a Long Time Ago I-II, 2000), Tarih Meşheri I-II (The Exhibition of History I-II, 2002).