There is a village far away

Ahmet Kutsi Tecer's visit to Paris opened a new horizon for his understanding of art and literature. However, contrary to custom and expectation, he, like Yahya Kemal, returned to his country longing for his own culture and history. He began to develop a greater admiration for his own culture and literature. He pioneered the promotion of village theater, which holds a significant place within our traditional theater, particularly in his theatrical works.

He completed his philosophy education at Istanbul University Faculty of Letters between 1927-1929.

In 1928, while he was a student, he published the information he found in libraries in Paris in the Public Knowledge Magazine, directed by Ziyaeddin Fahri Fındıkoğlu.

He was appointed to teach Turkish and literature at the Gazi Education Institute and Teacher Training School. He and his brother-in-law's friend Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar began publishing the magazine "Görüş" (View).

However, due to his compulsory service, he was sent to Sivas Boys' High School as a literature teacher.

Ahmet Kutsi Tecer was appointed to the Board of Education in 1942. From that date on, he became closely involved with the Ülkü magazine, published by the People's Houses Headquarters. He remained at the helm of Ülkü until 1945. It could be said that his second art form was theater. In the 1940s, he compiled the results of his research on village plays in a book titled "Village Performances."

Later focusing on theater, Tecer produced some unforgettable works. His oldest published work is "Koçyiğit Köroğlu." This play was published in installments in Ülkü magazine between 1941 and 1942.

In 1942, Ahmet Kutsi Tecer was appointed to a high-ranking position within the Ministry, a member of the Board of Education. This position did not last long. In the by-elections held that year, he entered the Turkish Grand National Assembly as a Member of Parliament for Adana. In the general elections the following year, he became a Member of Parliament for Şanlıurfa.

With the transition to multi-party rule in 1946, his political career was coming to an end. He returned to his former position at the Gazi Education Institute as a philosophy teacher.

The second period of Tecer's life in Paris was the period when he went to Paris in 1947 after his student life to work as a Cultural Attaché.

He was particularly interested in folklore institutions until his passing.

Ahmet Kutsi Tecer passed away on Sunday night, July 23, 1967, at Vakıf Gureba Hospital.

Ahmet Kutsi Tecer was also writing his own poetry. He did not join the Five Syllables and Seven Torchbearers, literary movements that dominated the early years of the Republic. However, their unification was the tradition of "patriotic poetry," of which Tecer was a part.

Ahmet Kutsi Tecer was not one of those who fought on the front lines to establish the homeland where the Republic was born. But he served with his pen on the front lines of education and culture for the Republic's exaltation. He lived and preserved the culture of the people in the villages "there, far away," and passed it on to future generations.

As we mentioned above, Ahmet Kutsi Tecer, the enlightened teacher of the Republic, who was born on September 4, 1901, left an indelible mark on the culture and art of Sivas, whose name is identified with September 4 and where the foundations of the Republic were laid, for 86 years.

Sivas, where he spent four years, was a turning point in Ahmet Kutsi Tecer's life. It was here that he found his direction. He became a treasure hunter, unearthing buried treasures in Sivas and gifting them to his nation. He became so identified with Sivas that when the Surname Law was passed in 1934, he adopted the name of the Tecer Mountains, located between the districts of Ulaş, Kangal, Şarkışla, and Gemerek, as his surname.