People like Hüseyin Nihal Atsız

Hüseyin Nihâl Atsız (Ottoman Turkish: حسين نيهال آتسز; January 12, 1905 – December 11, 1975) was a prominent Turkish ultranationalist writer, novelist, and poet. Nihâl Atsız self-identified as a racist, Pan-Turkist and Turanist. He was a criticizer of Islam in his later life, defining it as “a religion created by the Arabs, for Arabs”. He was the author of over 30 books and numerous articles and was in strong opposition to the government of İsmet İnönü, which he criticized for co-operating with the communists. He was accused of being a sympathizer of the Nazi government and plotting to overthrow the Turkish government.

Nihâl Atsız was born on January 12, 1905 at Kasımpaşa, Istanbul. His father was navy commander Mehmet Nail Bey, from the Çiftçioğlu family of Torul, Gümüşhane; and his mother was Fatma Zehra, daughter of navy commander Osman Fevzi Bey, from the Kadıoğlu family of Trabzon. Nihâl Atsız had two sons from his second wife Bedriye Atsız: Yağmur Atsız, a left-wing journalist and writer, and Dr. Buğra Atsız, academician and nationalist writer; he also had an adopted daughter: Kaniye Atsız. Atsız had a younger brother, Nejdet Sançar, also a prominent personality of the Pan-Turkist ideology. The surname he adopted following the enforcement of Surname Law by Atatürk means 'nameless' or 'one who has not yet made himself a name', which is regarded as a part of his Anti-Kemalist stance. It was also the name of at least two Seljuk emirs, Atsiz (1098 – 1156) and Atsiz ibn Uwaq (died 1078 or 1079).