JEVRI, AHISKALI

 

JEVRI (Cevri), AHISKALI (b. Ahıska, 1805; d. Diyarbakır, 1875), Ottoman poet and translator. His first name was Ahmed (Aḥmad). He was a professional soldier. In 1855 he was transferred to Diyarbakır. In 1867 he became medically unfit for the army. In 1868 he was appointed vice-governor (mutasarrıf, Ar.-Pers. mota-ṣarref) of Mardin and later became governor of Siverek in 1870 and then of Rıdvan in 1871. He soon left the state service and came back to Diyarbakır, where he died in 1875.

Jevri mastered the Persian language and translated about 5,000 couplets from the Šāh-nāma of Ferdowsi into Ottoman Turkish in verse. This translation has never been published. He also wrote some poems in Turkish.

 

Bibliography:

A. B. Alptekin, “Cevrî,” Türk Dünyası Edebiyatçıları Ansiklopedisi II, Ankara, 2002, p. 456.

Sadeddin Nüzhet Ergun, Türk şairleri, 3 vols., Istanbul, 1936-45, vol. III, pp. 1049-51.

Taḥsin Yāziji (Tahsin Yazıcı), Pārsinevisān-e Āsiā-ye Ṣaḡir, Tehran, 1992, p. 30.

Idem, “Cevri,” Türk Dili ve Edebiyatı Ansiklopedisi II, Istanbul, 1977, p. 58.

(Osman G. Özgüdenli)

Originally Published: December 15, 2008

Last Updated: April 17, 2012

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