Rıza Tevfik Bölükbaşı

Rıza Tevfik Bey (Rıza Tevfik Bölükbaşı after the Turkish Surname Law of 1934; 1869 – 31 December 1949) was an Ottoman and later Turkish philosopher, poet, politician of liberal signature and a community leader (for some members among the Bektashi community) of the late-19th-century and early-20th-century. A polyglot, he is most remembered in Turkey for being one of the four Ottoman signatories of Treaty of Sèvres, for which reason he was included in 1923 among the 150 of Turkey, and he spent 20 years in exile until he was given amnesty by Turkey in 1938, and returned in 1943. He is the author of the Gallipoli Diaries.

Early life and career

Rıza Tevfik was born in 1869 in Mustafapaşa, today Svilengrad in Bulgaria, to an Albanian father and Circassian mother, who died when he was young. Placed in a Jewish school in Constantinople by his father, who was a prefect, Rıza Tevfik learned Spanish and French at an early age. He was remarked as a restless personality during his student years, first in the famed Galatasaray High School, and then in the Imperial School of Medicine , and he was arrested and incarcerated several times, not falling short of inciting fellow inmates to revolt during his prison months. He graduated in 1897 and became a doctor. In 1907, he joined the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), and was one of that party's deputies for Edirne and that "European civilization will cleanse Anatolia of this harmful pest", referring to Turkish Nationalists.

Since he was one of the signatories of the abortive treaty, he was included in the 150 persona non grata of Turkey after the Turkish victory in the Turkish War of Independence, and he had to leave Turkey in late 1922. He adopted the last name Bölükbaşı after the 1934 Surname Law. In the meantime, he had had his collection of poetry published in Nicosia.

He resumed work as a university professor in Istanbul until his death on 31 December 1949. Aside from his poetry and his articles on philosophy, he is also notable for his translations into Turkish for most of the poems of Omar Khayyam.