Cengiz Dağcı (9 March 1919 – 22 September 2011) was a Crimean Tatar novelist and poet. He wrote his works in Turkish, despite having never been 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 ...

. He wrote about twenty novels about his life and his Motherland — Crimea. He was born in

Gurzuf Gurzuf or Hurzuf (, , , ) is a resort town (urban-type settlement) in Yalta Municipality of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, a territory recognized by a majority of countries as part of Ukraine but incorporated by Russia as the Republic of Cri ...

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

, but grew up in Qızıltaş village (now Krasnokamianka). His first two poems were published in the Crimean newspaper in 1936. He entered Simferopol Pedagogical Institute in 1937. However, he did not graduate from it because of mobilizing to the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

in 1940. He was taken hostage by the Nazis in 1941 and survived Nazi labour camps. In 1946, Dağcı and Regina, his wife, settled in London, where he would live until his death. He began to write novels in Turkish in 1958. His novel "Letters to my mother" was named "the best novel" by the Turkish Writers' Union in 1988. The Turkish Society of Scientists and Writers awarded him for outstanding contributions to Turkic literature in 1993. Cengiz Dağcı died on 22 September 2011 at his home. In accordance of his last will, he was buried in Qızıltaş, Crimea. The funeral service in Simferopol was attended by a large delegation of Turkish officials, as well as by the Foreign Minister of Turkey,

Ahmet Davutoğlu Ahmet Davutoğlu (; born 26 February 1959) is a Turkish academic, politician and former diplomat who served as the List of Prime Ministers of Turkey, 26th Prime Minister of Turkey and Leader of the Justice and Development Party (Turkey), Justice ...

External links

Biography
''Ötüken Publishing''
"Türk edebiyatının acı kaybı"
''Anadolu Ajansı''
Cengiz Dağcı
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dagci, Cengiz 1919 births 2011 deaths British people of Crimean Tatar descent Crimean Tatar writers Writers from London People from Yalta Soviet emigrants to the United Kingdom British male poets British male novelists 20th-century British poets 20th-century British novelists 20th-century English male writers