AY, Behzat

Writer (b. 2 May 1936, Arslanköy / Mersin - d. 12 July 1999, İstanbul). He also used the pen name Mehmet Gezer. He attended Düziçi Village Institute (1954) and graduated from Gazi Institute of Education, Department of Education (1970). He worked as a teacher at primary and elementary schools in the Eastern Anatolia region. He was one of the founders of the Teachers Union of Türkiye and a member of the first executive committee. He retired from teaching in 1980.

His poems, short stories and other articles were published in the reviews and newspapers such as Varlık, İmece, Öncü, Sosyal Adalet, Yön, Vatan, Akşam, Türk Solu and Yansıma after 1954. He reflected characters from the countryside longing for urban life, but suffering from difficulties in adapting to the urban lifestyle. He won an award from the newspaper Barış in 1973, with his article titled Atatürkçülüğün Yorumu (Interpretation of Kemalism). He also received an honorary mention at the Abdi İpekçi Friendship and Peace Award in 1982. He was a member of the Writers Syndicate of Türkiye.

WORKS:

ESSAY-JOURNAL: Köyden Geliyorum (I’m Coming from a Village, notes from villages, 1961), Başkanın Ankara Dönüşü (The President’s Return to Ankara, notes from villages, 1961), Atatürk’ten Sonra Kir, Kin, Yalan (Filth, Malice and Lie after Atatürk, 1994), Çırılçıplak Yüreğimde (In My Naked Heart, 1994).

NOVEL: Dor Ali (Dor Ali, 1966), Sis İçinde (In the Mist, 1973), Sürgün (Exile, 1975), O Uzun Yalnızlık (That Long Loneliness, 1993).

TRAVEL LITERATURE: Gündoğusu (Easterly Wind, 1970).

SHORT STORY: Kuşku ve Korku (Doubt and Fear, 1992).

RESEARCH: Çanakkale’den Laik Cumhuriyet’e (From the Dardanelles to a Secular Republic, 1992), Tarihimizde Önemli Günler ve Atatürk (Important Days in our History and Atatürk, 1992).