AYDEMİR, Şevket Süreyya

Writer (b. 1897, Edirne – d. 25 April 1976, Ankara). He also used the pen names Demir, Kadri Osman, Süreyya and Şaziye Osman. He graduated from high school and Teacher Training School in Edirne. He worked as a teacher in Azerbaijan during the national conflict in Türkiye (1919-20). In Moscow he completed his higher education by attending the Eastern University, School of Economics and Social Sciences (1923). He was arrested on his return to Türkiye because of his political activities (1925). He started working for the government when he was released. After working as the manager of the Commercial High School in Ankara for a while (1928-37), then he worked as an administrator in several state institutions.

In his political inclination at first he leaned towards Turanism (1915) then Marxism and finally a synthesis of Marxism and Kemalist ideas. He featured with other Kemalist theorists with his books and articles in the famous Kadro review that he published with Vedat Nedim Tör, Yakup Kadri, Burhan Belge and others. He is known for his biographies in which he wrote about the political developments during the lives of Atatürk and İsmet İnönü.

WORKS:

BIOGRAPHIC-NOVEL: Suyu Arayan Adam (The Man Looking for Water, his own life, 1961) Tek Adam (The First Man, the Life of Atatürk, 3 volumes, 1963-65), İkinci Adam (The Second Man, the Life of İsmet İnönü, 3 volumes, 1966-68), Toprak Uyanırsa (If the Land Wakes Up, novel, 1963), Menderes’in Dramı (The Drama of Menderes, 1969), Makedonya’dan Ortaasya’ya Enver Paşa, (Enver Paşa from Macedonia to Middle Asia, 3 volumes, 1970-72)

ESSAY-RESEARCH: Lenin ve Leninizm, (Lenin and Leninism, 1924), Grev Nedir (What is a Strike, 1924), Cihan İktisadiyatında Türkiye (Türkiye in World Economics, 1931), Halk İçin Ekonomi Bilgisi (Economic Knowledge for the People, 1932), İnkılap ve Kadro (Revolution and Cadre, 1932), İhtilalin Mantığı ve 27 Mayıs İhtilali (Logic of the Revolution and the 27 May Revolution, 1973), Kahramanlar Doğmalıydı (Heroes Must Have Been Born, 1974), Kırmızı Mektuplar ve Son Yazıları (The Red Letters and the Last Article, 1979).