Ömer Seyfettin was a renowned Turkish writer, born in 1884 in Gönen, Balikesir Province, to a military official family. His early life was marked by traveling around the Marmara Sea coast and a military career, graduating from the Military Academy in 1903. As a Lieutenant, he served in the Western Border units of the Ottoman Empire Army, including Kusadasi, where he discovered his passion for writing. He co-founded the literary and cultural magazine Genç Kalemler with Ziya Gökalp and Ali Canip in Salonica, pioneering the use of colloquial Turkish in his works.
Seyfettin's military career was interrupted by the Balkan War, during which he was taken prisoner by the Greeks and spent 12 months in captivity. After his release, he returned to Constantinople and became the executive editor of Türk Sözü. He left the army for the second time in 1914 and became a literature teacher in an Istanbul high school. That year, he also assumed the role of chief author for the magazine Türk Yurdu.
Between 1914 and 1917, Seyfettin wrote primarily Turanist poems, published in various outlets. In 1917, he published the majority of his literary work, including short stories. From 1919 to 1920, he contributed articles to Büyük Mecmua, a publication supporting the Turkish independence war. Tragically, Ömer Seyfettin passed away in 1920 at the age of 36 due to diabetes.
