Namık Kemal

An Ottoman subject, Namık Kemal was born in Tekirdağ (present-day Turkey, then part of the Ottoman Empire) on 21 December 1840, to mother Fatma Zehra Hanım and father Mustafa Asım Bey, the chief astrologer in the Sultan's Palace. Kemal's father was of Turkish descent, his family originally being from Yenişehir in Bursa Province. Since surnames or family names were not in use during the Ottoman Empire, "Kemal" was not his surname, but part of his first name. During his youth, Kemal traveled throughout the Ottoman Empire, staying in Istanbul, Kars, and Sofia, and studied a number of subjects, including poetry. However, as a result of the political nature of his writings, Kemal was forced to leave this job by Grand Vizier Mehmed Emin Âli Pasha and so joined his friend and fellow Young Ottoman, İbrahim Şinasi, on his newspaper '' (Herald of Ideas). Kemal worked as the editor of '' until his exile and flight to Paris in 1867. ==Political career==

Young Ottomans The Young Ottomans were a group of political activists whose members came principally from the young elite of Ottoman society. In 1864, Kemal took over the pro-reform newspaper '''' after its previous owner and Kemal's friend İbrahim Şinasi was forced into exile. ==Ideology and exile==

Namık Kemal was heavily influenced by Western conceptions of the relationship between the government and the people. As a result of his criticism of the government, Namık Kemal was exiled from the Ottoman Empire in 1867 and fled to Paris where many other exiled Young Ottomans had found refuge. In 1869 or 1870, Kemal was allowed to return to Constantinople and proceeded to write for a number of Young Ottoman-run newspapers, and eventually published one of his own, İbret ("Admonition"), in which he addressed more intellectual, social, and national subjects. The play tells the story of an Ottoman soldier whose loyalty to his nation, and not his religion or allegiance to the Sultan, motivates him to defend the town of Silistra, Bulgaria from the Russians during the Crimean War. The impact these nationalist sentiments, unheard of in the Ottoman Empire prior to Kemal, had on the Turkish people was so profound that Kemal's newspaper, İbret, was shut down, and Kemal himself was banished from the Empire for the second time. Later career Like many Young Ottomans, Namık Kemal supported Murad V’s ascension to the throne after the abdication of Abdülaziz in 1876. However, their hope that Murad would institute the reforms they desired was dashed, for it rapidly became apparent that he was not suited for rule; his weak nerves and alcoholism leading to his abdication after only three months. Namık Kemal protested against Murad’s deposition, and continued to support Murad's Western political perspectives, but ultimately, his pleas failed to have any effect and Murad V stepped down in 1876. However, while, at first, Abdul Hamid II, the sultan who succeeded Murad V, was willing to allow Parliament to function, he quickly decided that it was easier for him to enact reform by seizing autocratic powers instead of waiting for the approval of elected officials.{{cite book|author1=Stanford J. Shaw|author-link1=Stanford J. Shaw|author2=Ezel Kural Shaw|author-link2=Ezel Kural Shaw|title=History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey ==Legacy==

Namık Kemal had an enormous influence on the formation of a Turkish national identity. The founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, often remarked that he had been influenced by Kemal's writing as a young man, and that they had subsequently been a source of inspiration for his goals in the formation of the Turkish government and state. == Bibliography ==