Urkiye Mine Balman (January 29, 1927 - April 28, 2018) was a Turkish Cypriot

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

and

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

who graduated from the Cyprus Turkish Teachers' Training College in 1946 and worked as a teacher in

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

. Balman wrote in a wide variety of genres. She is considered one of the pioneers of Cypriot women's poetry.

Life

Balman was born in Lefke in 1927. She wrote her first poems in 1940. She graduated from the Cyprus Turkish Teachers' Training College in 1946 and worked in Cyprus as a primary school teacher. Balman is considered one of the pioneers of Cypriot women's poetry. She wrote on a wide variety of genres, but her works are mostly romantic poems describing sometimes a lonesome village girl or country life and long-distance romances. Balman wrote in both rhyming and free verse, and was a member of the “Syllabic-Romantic” contemporary movement. Balman published her works in Yeşilada, Türk Dili, and Türk'e Doğru literary magazines in

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. Some of her poems have also been set to music by

Turkish Cypriot Turkish Cypriots or Cypriot Turks ( or ; ) are so called ethnic Turks originating from Cyprus. Turkish Cypriots are mainly Sunni Muslims. Following the Ottoman conquest of the island in 1571, about 30,000 Turkish settlers were given land onc ...

musicians. Balman’s only published poetry collection, "Yurduma Giden Yollar" The Roads that Lead to My Home" was published in 1952. She won the Leading Poet Award at the Ali Nesim Literature Awards in 2017. Balman died on 28 April 2018 in Lefkosa, at the age of 91. She was buried next to her husband, a school inspector, who had predeceased her.

Legacy

A bronze bust of Balman was added to the Cyprus Turkish Writers Bust Collection at the Walled City Museum in 2021. In April 2022, four years after her death, the Near East University held a panel to commemorate her, during which a song composed by Kamran Aziz from Balman’s poem “Violin” was played on the piano.

Works

"Urkiye Mine Balman", ''Sevgisiir''"Köy Düğünü" (Village Wedding) Gulum.net
* '' Yurduma Giden Yollar'' ("The Roads that Lead to My Home") 1952 * '' Kibris Turk Yazininin Ilk Kadin Sairlerinden URKIYE MINE BALMAN'' 2003

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Balman, Urkiye 1927 births 2018 deaths People from Nicosia District Turkish Cypriot poets Turkish Cypriot women