Aziz Nesin (December 20, 1915—July 6, 1995) was a popular Turkish humorist and author of more than 100 books. His birth name was Mehmet Nusret. December 20 is the 354th day of the year (355th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1915 (MCMXV) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... July 6 is the 187th day of the year (188th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 178 days remaining. ... 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A humorist is an author who specializes in short, humorous articles or essays. ...

After serving as a career officer for several years, he became the editor of a series of satirical periodicals with a socialist slant. He was jailed several times for his political views. Nesin provided a strong indictment of the oppression and brutalization of the common man. He satirized bureaucracy and exposed economic inequities in stories that effectively combine local color and universal truths. Aziz Nesin has been presented with numerous awards in Turkey, Italy, Bulgaria and the former Soviet Union. His works have been translated into over thirty languages. The World According To Ronald Reagan - a Finnish satirical poster from 1984 Satire is a literary technique of writing or art which exposes the follies of its subject (for example, individuals, organizations, or states) to ridicule, often as an intended means of provoking or preventing change. ... This article is about the magazine as a published medium. ... Socialism is a social and economic system (or the political philosophy advocating such a system) in which the economic means of production are owned and controlled collectively by the people. ... Oppression is the negative outcome experienced by people targeted by the arbitrary and cruel exercise of power in a society or social group. ... Bureaucracy is a concept in sociology and political science. ... Local color is a type of writing that was popular in the late 19th century, particularly among authors in the U. S. South. ...

In 1972, he founded the Nesin Foundation. The purpose of the Nesin Foundation is to take, each year, four poor and destitute children into the Foundation's home and provide every necessity - shelter, education and training, starting from elementary school - until they complete high school, a trade school, or until they acquire a vocation. Aziz Nesin has donated, gratis, to the Nesin Foundation his copyrights in their entirety for all his works in Turkey or other countries, including: all of his published books, all plays to be staged, all copyrights for films, and all his works performed or used in radio or television.

Aziz Nesin was a political activist. After the military coup led by Kenan Evren in 1980, the entire country, including intellectuals, were under strong oppression. Aziz Nesin led a number of intellectuals to an oppositionary action against the military government, known as "Aydınlar Dilekçesi" (Petition of Intellectuals). In the last years of his life, he devoted himself to fight against ignorance and religious fundamentalism. Kenan Evren, born in AlaÅŸehir, Manisa in 1918, was a Turkish general and the 7th president of Turkey. ...

He championed free speech, especially the right to criticize Islam without compromise. In early 1990's he started a translation of Salman Rushdie's controversial novel, Satanic Verses. This made him a target for radical Islamist organizations who were gaining popularity throughout Turkey. On July 2nd, 1993 while attending a cultural festival in the eastern Anatolian city of Sivas a big mob organized by radical Islamists gathered around the Madimak Hotel at which he was staying, calling for the Islamic Law and death to infidels. After hours of siege to the hotel, the mob set the hotel on fire. After flames took over several of the lower levels of the hotel, the firefighter trucks managed to get close to the Hotel and Aziz Nesin and many guests of the hotel escaped. However not everyone was so lucky and 37 people staying at the Madimak Hotel lost their lives in the fire that day. This event was one of the most tragic assault on free speech and human rights in recent Turkish history and it deepened the rift between religious and secular minded people in Turkey. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Salman Rushdie Salman Rushdie (born Ahmed Salman Rushdie, Urdu: , Hindi: on June 19, 1947, in Bombay, India) is an Indian-born, ethnically Kashmiri, British essayist and author of fiction, most of which is set on the Indian subcontinent. ... The term Satanic Verses was coined by the historian Sir William Muir to refer to several verses alleged to have been part of an early version of the Quran and later expunged. ... July 2 is the 183rd day of the year (184th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 182 days remaining. ... 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ... Sivas is the provincial capital of Sivas Province in Turkey. ...

After his death, his body was buried into an unknown location in the land of Nesin Foundation without any ceremony, as suggested by his will.

External links

• Nesin Foundation. In Turkish
• Autobiography by Center for Middle Eastern Studies, University of Texas at Austin
• Poems of Aziz Nesin Poems of Aziz Nesin, translated into English