Ortaç, Yusuf Ziya

Born 1895 in Istanbul; died there Mar. 11, 1967. Turkish poet and playwright.

Ortaç studied at the University of Istanbul. From 1915 to 1945 he taught literature. In 1946 he was elected a deputy to the Turkish parliament.

Ortaç began to publish in 1914. He gained recognition as one of the hece poets (advocates of syllabic meter), who played an important role in the reform of Turkish poetics. The hece poets brought the Turkish literary language closer to popular speech.

Ortaç was the author of the lyric poetry collections The Horizons of Battle (1917), The Way of Those in Love (1919), and Volcano (1928). He also published satirical verse under the pseudonym Çimcik (Pinch). His historical play Binnaz (1919) was the first dramatic work in Turkish literature written in syllabic verse. Ortaç also wrote short stories, novels, travel essays, and critiques.