Rasim Özdenören, who was being treated in Turkey's capital Ankara for some time due to health problems, passed away at the age of 82.
The master man of letters was born in Maraş in 1940. During his high school years, Özdenören became friends with Erdem Bayazıt, Hasan Seyithanoğlu and brothers Sait and Cahit Zarifoğlu, who were closely involved in literature. At that time, he was following Turkey's leading literary magazines and editing art pages in local newspapers. He and his friends went on to republish the Maraş High School's "Hamle Magazine," which was suspended at the time.
The first story of the master writer, "Akarsu" ("Stream"), was published in the "Varlık" magazine, which was a famous Turkish art and literature magazine at the time.
Özdenören then had to move to Istanbul to commence his university studies. He studied journalism and law at Istanbul University. There, he met with Sezai Karakoç, who was a versatile poet, writer and politician.
Adopting the idea of locality in the Turkish story, Özdenören was among the founders of the "Literature" magazine in 1969 with Nuri Pakdil, Mehmet Akif Inan, Erdem Bayazıt and Alaeddin Özdenören.
He was also dubbed one of "seven beautiful men" who left their mark on Turkish literature with Cahit Zarifoğlu, Erdem Bayazıt, Nuri Pakdil, Mehmet Akif Inan, Alaeddin Özdenören and Ali Kutlay.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also published a message of condolence for the literary man Rasim Özdenören.
In his message shared on his social media account, President Erdoğan said: "I learned with sadness the death of Rasim Özdenören, one of the great masters of our literature, winner of the Presidential Culture and Arts Grand Award. I wish God's mercy on Özdenören, and I offer my deepest condolences to his family, and the literary community."
