Biography

Husnu Sayhan Bilbasar was born on September 7, 1915 in Sariyer, Istanbul, Turkey. He started his education in Buyukdere Elementary School where his father Burhanettin Bilbasar, a writer himself, was working as a school teacher. Due to his father’s appointment, he completed his primary education in 13. Tasmektep Primary School in Fatih, Istanbul. He pursued his secondary and high school education in Galatasaray Lisesi, a renowned Istanbul high school with tuition in French, from where he graduated in 1950. Before venturing into working life, in the 1952-1953 period, he accomplished his military service as an artillery second lieutenant in Selimiye Kislasi in Istanbul. Returning back to civilian life, he started working as editor in Hurriyet, an Istanbul based national newspaper. He worked as the chief assistant to Erol Simavi, the owner of the newspaper, until he founded the Altin Kitaplar (Golden Books) Publishing House.
In December 1955, he married Suheyla Koksal.
He went to USA in 1955 to broaden his knowledge and experience in the field of printing techniques. Over the following years, he worked in several newspapers in the USA and decided to return home in 1966. Soon after returning to Istanbul, he started working as the Commercial Affairs Manager in Apa Ofset Printing House. He had to retire in 1989 due to health reasons. After a protracted illness, he died on September 10, 1999, in Istanbul.
Sayhan Bilbasar has written a novel Basladigi Gibi (As It Had Begun) and translated several books; Suez Canal (Suveys Kanali), Spartacus (Spartakus), Russian Revolution (Rus Ihtilali), Tzar (Car), Blue Nile (Mavi Nil) and The Collapse of the Roman Empire (Roma Imparatorlugunun Cokusu, incomplete).
He had started working on his major work Canakkale 1915 while he was living in the USA. As a result of a meticulous research on the literature published on WW1’s Gallipoli Campaign, Canakkale 1915, is a righteous interpretation of western historical resources from a Turkish perspective. The work was published in 1971 in Turkish.

Books by Sayhan Bilbaşar

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