Author Alev Alatlı laid to rest
Author Alev Alatlı (79) was laid to rest following a funeral prayer held at Istanbul's Eyüp Sultan Mosque. President Erdoğan also attended the funeral ceremony. The author, who was awarded the Presidential Culture and Arts Grand Prize in 2014, had been receiving treatment at a hospital for some time.
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Author Alev Alatlı was laid to rest following a funeral prayer held at Eyüp Sultan Mosque after the noon prayer.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan attended the funeral ceremony at Eyüp Sultan Mosque for the author and thinker Alev Alatlı, who passed away at the hospital where she was being treated for multiple organ failure.
'SHE WOULD EXPRESS BEING MOTHER EARTH'
President Erdoğan delivered a speech after the funeral prayer. Erdoğan stated the following:
"She would constantly express to us the importance of being Mother Earth. May the Lord be our helper and supporter. The fact that Eyüp Sultan Hazretleri is right here in this cemetery will, God willing, grant us the opportunity to be with her much more in this world. We have come, we are going, and of course, may the Lord gather us together in eternity with our mother and sister Alev, whom we are now sending off to eternity."
The news of Alatlı's death was announced by Minister of Health Fahrettin Koca. Sharing a post on his social media account, Koca used the following expressions:
"Alev Alatlı, who had been receiving treatment for some time, has passed away. When I went to visit her, she said, 'We must make people love these lands more.' I understood this statement as a testament directed at our intellectuals, administrators, and everyone who has the power to influence the present and future of our country.
Alev Alatlı was one of the great names of our intellectual and artistic life. She was honored with many awards, most notably the Presidential Culture and Arts Grand Prize in the field of literature in 2014. May we all have our condolences."
WHO IS ALEV ALATLI?
Born in İzmir in 1944, Alev Alatlı attended high school in Tokyo, Japan. She received her bachelor's degree in Economics & Statistics from METU and her master's degree in Economics & Econometrics from Vanderbilt University (Nashville, Tennessee) in the USA, where she went on a Fulbright scholarship.
Subsequently, Alatlı began her philosophy studies and continued her doctoral work at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. She focused on theology, thought, and the history of civilization.
She returned to Turkey in 1974 and worked as a lecturer at Istanbul University Faculty of Economics and as a senior economist at the State Planning Organization in Ankara. She conducted joint psycho-linguistics studies with the University of California (Berkeley).
Alatlı, who published a magazine called "Bizim English" in collaboration with Cumhuriyet Newspaper, later served as the vice president of the Turkish Writers Cooperative (YAZKO).
In 1985 and 1986, Edward Said's "Covering Islam" and "The Question of Palestine" were published. Her work to raise awareness for the Palestinian cause was honored with the "Freedom Medal" by Yasser Arafat, who was in exile in Tunisia, in 1986.
In 2006, she received the Mikhail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov 100th Anniversary Literature Prize in Russia.
In 2014, she was the recipient of the Presidential Culture and Arts Grand Prize in the field of literature.
She was honored with honorary doctorate titles by Bülent Ecevit University in 2012 and Süleyman Demirel University in 2017.
She served as the chair of the board of trustees of Cappadocia Vocational School between 2005 and 2017.
Alev Alatlı passed away in Istanbul on February 2, 2024.