Yaşar Nuri Öztürk

Who is Yaşar Nuri Öztürk?

Yaşar Nuri Öztürk is a Turkish theologian, lawyer, columnist and a former member of Turkish parliament.

He was born on June 22, 1945 in Sürmene, Trabzon and raised in Turkey’s Black Sea region.

He has served as both faculty member and dean at the Istanbul University for over 26 years. He taught Islamic thought at the Theological Seminary of Barrytown in New York for one year as a guest professor, during which time he also made major contributions to the Islamic section of the anthology, “The World Scripture.”

He has given many conferences on Islamic thought, humanity and human rights in Turkey, the USA, Europe, the Middle East and the Balkans. Yasar Nuri Ozturk represents an interpretation of Islam which is secular and social democratic.

He also has a Turkish translation of the Qur'an. This translation, which went into 126 printings between 1993 and 2003, is recognized as the most printed book in the history of the Turkish Republic.

His lengthy articles, such as “Islam and Europe,”; “Islam and Democracy,” [“Desperately Seeking Europe,” London, 2003, pp. 198–210; Europa Leidenschaftlich Gesucht, München-Zürich, 2003, pp. 210–224], “İslam-Batı İlişkileri ve Bunun KEİ Ülkelerindeki Yansımaları”, along with the extensive interviews he has given on the subjects of Islam, the West and secularism [for example, see “al-Ahram”, February 1–7, 2001] have had a deep impact in both the West and the Islamic world.