Biography
(16 December 1897 – 26 February 1961)
Presidential Term: June 1941 – 5 August 1946
Hasan Âli Yücel was born in Istanbul on 16 December 1897. He completed his primary and secondary education in schools located in the Aksaray district and graduated from Vefa High School. While in his final year of high school, he was conscripted into military service in 1915 and was discharged in 1918. In 1921, he graduated from the Faculty of Literature, Department of Philosophy, as a student of the Higher Teacher Training School. During his student years, he worked as a journalist, and his poems and articles were published in various journals.
He served successively as a teacher at the İzmir Male Teacher Training School, as equipment custodian at the historical-geographical laboratories of Istanbul University Faculty of Literature, and later taught at Kuleli Military High School, Istanbul Boys’ High School, and Galatasaray High School. While serving on the Inspection Board of the Ministry of National Education, he was sent to Paris to improve his professional knowledge and experience, and after some time he was assigned as inspector of students in France. He returned to the country in the late 1930s. In 1932, after serving as Director of the Gazi Institute of Education, he became Director General of Secondary Education in 1933. In 1935, he entered the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye as a third-term deputy from İzmir. On 28 December 1938, he became Minister of National Education.
During his ministry, among his major achievements were:
-the translation of five hundred world classics into Turkish,
-enactment of the University Law and establishment of the Faculties of Medicine and Science in Ankara,
-establishment of the Village Institutes, girls’ and boys’ vocational institutes, and opening of secondary teacher schools in Balıkesir and Edirne,
-publication of journals such as Fine Arts Journal, Ministry of Culture Journal, Historical Documents, and Official Bulletins,
-incorporation of theatre and opera into state services, and establishment of the State Museum of Painting and Sculpture,
-strengthening primary education through state funding instead of leaving it to weak provincial budgets,
-convening the National Education Council, participation in the foundation of UNESCO and
- organizing the First Geography Congress.
After remaining outside the cabinet in the new government in 1946, he became the target of criticism. In 1950, he withdrew from politics and turned to writing. He continued to serve as consultant to Türkiye İş Bankası until the end of his life.
Some of his works include: Ruhiyat Elifbası (1924), Mantık ve Metodoloji (1928), Fransa’da Kültür İşleri (1936), Türkiye’de Orta Öğretim (1938), Speeches and Statements on Education (1947), as well as five poetry books and four school textbooks.
Source:
Faik Reşit Unat, Hasan Ali Yücel, Belleten, Vol. 25, Issue 98, Türk Tarih Kurumu Press, Ankara, 1961.
