The author of such significant, historically-themed Turkish novels of the 1950s and '60s as Devlet Ana and Esir Sehrin Insanlari, he also published pulp fiction works under a variety of pen names.
After dropping out of high school, he began his journalism career with the Istanbul-based newspapers Son Posta and Vakit, Haber.
A political activist as well as a writer, he was imprisoned for twelve years on charges of sedition.
His first marriage, to Fatma Irfan, began in 1937. Following his release from prison, he married Semiha Sidika.
In the late 1930s, he and fellow Turkish author Nazim Hikmet were both charged with sedition.
