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Necip Fazıl Kısakürek Philosopher

Ahmet Necip Fāzıl Kısakürek (May 26, 1904 – May 25, 1983) was a Turkish poet, novelist, playwright, philosopher, activist and has been described as an anti-semite. He is also known simply by his initials NFK. He was noticed by the French philosopher Henri Bergson, who later became his teacher.In his own words, he was born in "a huge mansion in Çemberlitaş, on one of the streets descending towards Sultanahmet" in 1904. His father was Abdülbaki Fazıl Bey who held several posts including deputy judge in Bursa, public prosecuter in Gebze and finally, judge in Kadıköy. His mother was an emigree from Crete. He was raised at the Çemberlitaş mansion of his paternal grandfather Kısakürekzade Mehmet Hilmi Efendi of Maraş; he was named after his great-grandfather Ahmet Necib, as well as his father, Fazıl.Necib Fazıl learned to read and write from his grandfather at the age of five. He studied in many schools during his primary education, including the French School in Gedikpaşa, Robert College of Istanbul, as well as the Naval School. He received religious courses from Ahmed Hamdi of Akseki and science courses from Yahya Kemal at the Naval School but he was actually influenced by İbrahim Aşkî, whom he defined to have "penetrated into deep and private areas in many inner and outer sciences from literature and philosophy to mathematics and physics". İbrahim Aşkî provided his first contact with Sufism even at a "plan of skin over skin". "After completing candidate and combat classes" of Naval School, Kısakürek entered the Philosophy Department of Darülfünûn and graduated from there (1921–1924). One of his closest friends in philosophy was Hasan Ali Yücel.He studied in Paris for one year with the scholarship provided by the Ministry of National Education (1924–1925), until the scholarship was cancelled. After returning home in 1926, he worked at Holland, Osmanlı and İş Banks (1926–1939), and gave lectures at the Faculty of Linguistics and History and Geography and the State Conservatoire in Ankara and the Academy of Fine Arts in İstanbul (1939–1942). Having established a relation with the press in his youth, Kısakürek quit civil service to earn his living from writing and magazines.Appropriating his anti-semitic ideas from Europe, Kısakürek regarded Jews as the corrupting element within Western civilization, and described them as the originator of Marxism and capitalism. He held them responsible for the early conflicts between Muslims and the decline of the Ottoman Empire, all claims with no historical validity. Kısakürek's publications included the Turkish translation of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and praise for Henry Ford’s The International Jew, as well as a political program in which he wrote: “Chief among these treacherous and insidious elements to be cleansed are the Dönmes and the Jews"Necip Fazıl was awarded the First Prize of C.H.P. Play Contest in 1947 with his play Sabır Taşı (Stone of Patience). Kısakürek was awarded the titles of "Great Cultural Gift" by the Ministry of Culture (25 May 1980) and "Greatest Living Poet of Turkish" by the Foundation of Turkish Literature upon the 75th anniversary of his birth.Necip Fazıl Kısakürek died on 25 May 1983 in his house at Erenköy after an illness that "lasted long but did not impair his intellectual activity and writing" and was buried in the graveyard at the Eyüp Cemetery on the ridge of Eyüp after an eventful funeral.