Amasya Tarihi ve Tarih-i Osmanî Encümeni mecmuası ve İkdam Gazetesi’ndeki yazıları Türk dili ve tarihi alanındaki çalışmalarıyla dönemin ilgi odağı haline gelen Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsameddîn, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’ün de dikkatini çekmiş ve İstanbul’a geldiğinde kendisiyle görüştüğü gazetelere dahi yansımıştır.⁴⁹
Amasya Tarihi’nin basılmasında Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’ten destek görmüş ve yine 1935 yılında kendisine yazdığı mektubunda şükranları ve sevgisini şu şekilde ifade etmiştir. “Lûtfen takdir buyurduğunuz Amasya Tarihi’nin dördüncü cildi bakıyyesini de yüksek duldanızda bastırabildim. Birinci ve ikinci kısımlarını taşıyan bu dördüncü cildi de ulu barıgâhınıza armağan etmek üzere postaya verdim… Beşinci cildi de yine yüksek teveccühleriniz duldasında bastırabileceğimi ve armağanımın tenezzülen kabulünü umar, derin ve candan saygılarımı sunarım. Binler yaşa Atatürk.”⁵⁰
Bu başarısı ile dikkat çeken Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsameddîn, Atatürk’ün Dil kurultaylarında görmek istediği isimler arasında yer almaktadır. Türk dili ve Türk tarihi ile ilgili yapmış olduğu araştırmaları Güneş-dil teorisine ve Anadolu’daki Türk tarihinin de başlangıcının çok öncelere dayandığını ispat etmeye katkı sağlamaktadır. Zirâ Amasya Tarihi’nin ikinci cildinde de dil ve tarih ilişkisine dikkat çekmiş, Türklerin İslâmiyetten önce kullandıkları On iki Hayvanlı Türk Takvimindeki yılların, ayların ve günlerin Türkçe adlandırmaları, Oğuz geleneği, yirmi dört Oğuz boyunun teşekkülü ve bunların Anadolu’ya gelişlerinin tarihi seyri teferruatıyla anlatılmıştır. Ayrıca Hititlerden itibaren başlatılan tarih, aynı zamanda Anadolu’daki Türk tarihinin de başlangıcı olarak gösterilmiştir. Bu husus Güneş dil teorisi ve Atatürk dönemine has Anadolu’daki Türk varlığının menşei tezi ile yakından ilgilidir.⁵¹ Böylece hem Atatürk tarafından hem de diğer araştırmacılar tarafından Amasya Tarihi adlı eseri takdirle karşılanmıştır. Fuat Köprülü’nün “Hüseyin Hüsameddîn’in Amasya Tarihi Hakkında”, başlıklı 18 Mart 1914 tarihinde İkdam gazetesinde çıkan yazısı Amasya Tarihi’nin gördüğü takdiri göstermesi bakımından mühimdir: “Pek uzun senelerden beri bu kadar esaslı ve mütebahhirâne yazılmış bir esere tesadüf etmediğimizi itiraf edelim. Anadolu’nun en eski merâkiz-i medeniyyesinden olan Amasya’yı bütün tafsilat-ı tarihiyye, coğrafya, lisanîye ve zanaatkâranesi büyük bir ciltte tasvir eden eser laakal rub’ asırlık bir hayat-ı sa’y ve tetebbuun neticesidir. Her mesele hakkında bizzat mahallinde kuyûdât-ı şer’iyyeye müraca’ât ederek, tetkikâtta bulunan müverrih Hüseyin Efendi, bundan başka, mevzu-ı esere ait matbu, gayr-ı matbu bütün Türk, Arap, Acem menbalarına da müraca’ât etmiş ve böylece eserini pek zengin ve şâyân-ı itimad bir mecmua haline getirmiştir. Eğer Amasya Tarihi tamamen intişar edecek olursa öyle modaya tabi kitaplar gibi iki üç senelik bir hayata değil, ebedî bir mevcudiyete kesb-i istihkak eyleyecek ve erbâb-ı ilme daimi bir müracaatgâh olacaktır.”⁵²
Cemal Yasar da babası hakkında yazmış olduğu bir yazısında Atatürk’ün Amasya Tarihi için “Amasya adı altında gerçek Türk tarihidir. Varlığımızın en emin kaynakları Amasya Tarihindedir” dediğinini belirtmiştir.⁵³
In Modern English
Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsameddîn, who became the focus of attention of his day through Amasya Tarihi, his articles in the Tarih-i Osmanî Encümeni Mecmuası and in the İkdam newspaper, and his work in the field of Turkish language and history, also drew the attention of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, and when Atatürk came to Istanbul his meeting with him was even reflected in the newspapers.
He received support from Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in the printing of Amasya Tarihi, and in a letter he wrote to him in 1935 he expressed his thanks and affection in this way: "I was able to have the remainder of the fourth volume of Amasya Tarihi, which you were kind enough to appreciate, printed under your high protection. I have posted this fourth volume, which carries the first and second parts, to present it as a gift to your exalted office… I hope that I may be able to have the fifth volume printed too under your high interest and protection and that my gift will kindly be accepted, and I offer my deep and sincere respects. Long live Atatürk."
Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsameddîn, who drew attention with this achievement, is among the names Atatürk wished to see at the Language Congresses. His researches on the Turkish language and Turkish history contribute to the Sun-Language Theory and to proving that the beginning of Turkish history in Anatolia goes back to very ancient times. For in the second volume of Amasya Tarihi he drew attention to the relationship between language and history; he described in detail the Turkish naming of the years, months and days in the Twelve-Animal Turkish Calendar that the Turks used before Islam, the Oghuz tradition, the formation of the twenty-four Oghuz tribes and the historical course of their coming to Anatolia. In addition, the history begun from the Hittites onward was also presented as the beginning of Turkish history in Anatolia. This point is closely related to the Sun-Language Theory and to the thesis, specific to the Atatürk period, on the origin of the Turkish presence in Anatolia. Thus the work Amasya Tarihi was received with appreciation both by Atatürk and by other researchers. Fuat Köprülü's article "Hüseyin Hüsameddîn'in Amasya Tarihi Hakkında" that appeared in the İkdam newspaper on 18 March 1914 is important for showing the appreciation Amasya Tarihi received: "Let us confess that for very many years we have not come across a work written on such a sound and deeply researched basis. This work, which depicts Amasya, one of the oldest centres of civilization in Anatolia, in all its historical, geographical, linguistic and artistic detail in a large volume, is the result of at least a quarter century of working and research life. The historian Hüseyin Efendi, who for every matter examined the sharia records on the spot himself, in addition consulted all the printed and unprinted Turkish, Arabic and Persian sources on the subject, and thus made his work a very rich and reliable compilation. If Amasya Tarihi is published in full, it will earn not a life of two or three years like books that follow fashion but an eternal existence, and will be a permanent reference source for scholars."
Cemal Yasar, in an article he wrote about his father, noted that Atatürk said of Amasya Tarihi: "Under the name of Amasya it is the true Turkish history. The most reliable sources of our existence are in Amasya Tarihi."
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- bakıyye: the remaining part, a supplement
- dulda: protection, patronage (Old Turkish)
- barıgâh: an exalted office (Old Turkish, in the sense of "palace, repose")
- tenezzülen: graciously, with humility
- mütebahhirâne: with deep learning, in a manner befitting the vastness of knowledge
- kuyûdât-ı şer'iyye: kadı court records
- menba: source
- Acem: Persian, Iran
- müracaat: recourse, consultation
- intişar: being published
- kesb-i istihkak: earning a right
- erbâb-ı ilim: people of learning
- müracaatgâh: a reference source
Atatürk's Support and the Letter
The remainder of the fourth volume mentioned in Hüsameddin's letter of 1935 to Atatürk appears in some library records as printed in 1935 at the Aydınlık Basım Evi in Istanbul (could not be verified). According to one study, however, the supplement to the fourth volume was published in Latin letters in 1939; this difference may arise from the sources taking different editions or dates as their basis. The first four volumes of the work were printed in Arabic letters between 1912 and 1928. The fifth volume mentioned in the letter is lost; volumes 6-12, in manuscript, were deposited in the Süleymaniye Library.
Hüsameddin dedicated his work Paşa Armağanı, which explains the origin of the Turkish word "paşa," to Mustafa Kemal Pasha; its manuscript copy is in the private library of Hüseyin Menç in Amasya. In addition only the first part of his study Temel could be published, in 1926. These studies are a line that coincides with Atatürk's interest in the field of language. From the standpoint of linguistics these undertakings are controversial: the encyclopedia entry notes that on some subjects Hüsameddin resorted to excessive etymological comparisons and that this gave rise to hesitation about the scholarly value of what he wrote.
The Sun-Language Theory
The introduction's reference to the Sun-Language Theory rests on a view supported by Atatürk in the 1930s, which held that Turkish is the first or one of the oldest of the world's languages. According to some sources the theory was not accepted by linguists and soon lost its importance; at the Turkish Language Congresses it was discussed and its investigation was proposed. Hüsameddin's language and history studies' supporting this theory is, according to the introduction's author, one of the reasons Atatürk wished to see him at the Language Congresses. No information could be found in the sources at hand on whether Hüsameddin took part in the congresses.
Köprülü's Assessment
Mehmed Fuad Köprülü began teaching at the dârülfünun from late 1913, and from 1914 his scholarly activities increased. The date of the quoted article, 18 March 1914, therefore corresponds to an assessment Köprülü wrote in his first year as a young teacher. Köprülü was at the same time someone who harshly criticized the Tarih-i Osmanî Encümeni and the method of the Ottoman History; he praised Hüsameddin's work. Since the original text in İkdam could not be reached, the lines above rest only on the introduction's transmission. The statement of Atatürk reported by Cemal Yasar also could not be verified in another source.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, Introductory Volume, p. 30–32. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies
- Turgut Akpınar, "Hüseyin Hüsâmeddin Yasar", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 18, 1998, p. 551-552. (https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/huseyin-husameddin-yasar)
- Mehmet Fatih Köksal, paper on Amasya Tarihi, Uluslararası Amasya Âlimleri Sempozyumu, 2017. (https://isamveri.org/pdfdrg/G00226/2017/2017_KOKSALF.pdf)
- "Amasya Tarihi'nde Ay Adlarının Köken Bilimsel İncelemesi", Kültürk. (https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/kulturk/article/1517267)
- "Mehmed Fuad Köprülü", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi. (https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/mehmed-fuad-koprulu)
Other sources