Kadir Mısıroğlu

Mısıroğlu was born in Akçaabat in the Trabzon Province and enrolled in the Istanbul University Faculty of Law in 1954.[6] He was active during his university years where he became the president of the Trabzon Highschool Graduates Association in his sophomore year, and opened seven student dormitories.[6] He became interested in history during his university education and began research as an amateur historian.

Mısıroğlu married Aynur Aydınaslan in 1961 and had three children: Abdullah Sünusi (1963), Fatıma Mehlika (1965), and Mehmed Selman (1973).[6]

He founded the publishing house Sebil in 1964 and the eponymous magazine in 1976.[7] He has published more than 60 books in his career.[8] His 1974 book decrying the historical legacy of the 1923 Lausanne Treaty brought him widespread recognition among conservatives.[9]

Although Mısıroğlu was a prolific writer, his works came under criticism by historian İlber Ortaylı for lacking scientific approach, knowledge and distorting the facts.[10]

He was awarded the silver medal by the Free Hungarian Writers Union for his book The Hungarian Revolution. He was awarded the Jury Special Award of the National Culture Foundation of Turkey (Turkish: Türkiye Milli Kültür Vakfı) during the presidency of Turgut Özal, the eighth president of the Republic of Turkey.[11]

In 1977, Mısıroğlu became a Trabzon candidate of the National Salvation Party for the Grand National Assembly of Turkey but failed to be elected.[12] He became a member of the Central Committee of the party in 1978 but after the 1980 Turkish coup d'état, he sought asylum in Germany and settled in Frankfurt.[12] Initially only he was given permission to stay in Germany so he moved to the United Kingdom with his family. Following some time he returned to Germany.[6]

Mısıroğlu returned to Turkey in 1991. He founded the Osmanlılar İlim ve İrfan Vakfı (English: Ottomans Education and Insight Foundation), an Ottoman monarchist NGO in 1994 and led it until at least 2014.[13]

Following multiple stays for a year and a half at Acıbadem Altunizade Hospital for diabetes, he passed away on 5 May 2019 due to multiple-organ failure.[14] His funeral was held at Çamlıca Mosque where a huge crowd of tens of thousands was in attendance.[15][16][17] Amongst the attendees were government ministers, which caused an uproar among some secularists in the country.[18] Condolence messages came in from high profile government officials including President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Presidential Spokesperson İbrahim Kalın, Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey Mustafa Şentop, and others.[19] He was buried in the cemetery of the Nasuhi Dergahı at Üsküdar, Istanbul.

He "penned over 50 books, which include research, nonfiction and poems."[20]

• Official website of Kadir Mısıroğlu
• Official website of the Sebil Publishing House