İskender Pala

Who is İskender Pala?

İskender Pala is a Turkish Divan Poetry Professor and author of best seller novels. He also writes a column in the Turkish daily newspaper Zaman.

İskender Pala graduated from Istanbul University Faculty of Letters Turkish Language and Literature Department in 1979. He entered Turkish Navy as a lieutenant in 1982 and taught Turkish Literature in Naval Schools and Boğaziçi University. In 1987 he established Turkish Navy Museum Archives. He oversaw classification and restoration of many historic documents dated from the times of the Ottoman Empire. He published Encyclopedic Dictionary of Divan Poetry and received Writers Union of Turkey Award in 1989. He was discharged from the Navy without any conviction during the what is called now "Postmodern coup". Later, he wrote a book about his life in Navy and his discharge, called Between Two Coups referring to military coup in 1980 and 1997 military memorandum in Turkey. He said that the reason for his discharge was his practicing İslam in his private life.