Yaşar Nuri Öztürk

Öztürk died in his home at age of 65 in the afternoon of June 22, 2016. Diagnosed with stomach cancer, he underwent a surgery on November 12, 2011, and was treated then three and half months long. He was hospitalized a couple of days prior to his death in Yeditepe University's hospital, was discharged back home after treatment. On June 24, he was interred at Kanlıca Cemetery following the religious funeral service held at Şakirin Mosque in Istanbul.

His lengthy articles, such as “Islam and Europe,” (Die Zeit, February 20, 2003); “Islam and Democracy,” [“Desperately Seeking Europe,” London (Archetype Publications), 2003, pp. 198–210; Europa Leidenschaftlich Gesucht, München-Zürich, (Piper Verlag) 2003, pp. 210–224], “İslam-Batı İlişkileri ve Bunun KEİ Ülkelerindeki Yansımaları” (Chelovecheskiy Faktor: Obschestvo i Vlast, 2004–4), along with the extensive interviews he has given on the subjects of Islam, the West and secularism [for example, see “al-Ahram” (weekly), February 1–7, 2001] have had a deep impact in both the West and the Islamic world.

Öztürk was elected to the Turkish Parliament in 2002 as Istanbul deputy, started People's Ascent Movement and in his leadership this movement turned into a political party (2005) named People's Ascent Party (HYP). However, he resigned from active politics in October 2009, and turned his efforts to writing and propagation of roots of Islam through understanding of Qur'an. Since then, he has appeared on many regularly scheduled TV shows, some of which he was a constant guest. A notable format of these shows is the reading and explanation of the Qur'an in Turkish. In these shows, a host would read the Qur'an in Turkish, and Prof. Öztürk would explain the meanings and significance.

Yaşar Nuri Öztürk (February 5, 1951 – June 22, 2016) was a Turkish Islamic scholar, university professor of Islamic theology, lawyer, columnist and a former member of Turkish parliament. He has been described as a Quranist and has given many conferences on Islamic thought, humanity and human rights in Turkey, the USA, Europe, the Middle East and the Balkans. In 1999, members of a violent extremist group called Great Eastern Islamic Raiders' Front (İBDA-C) confessed that they had planned an assassination attempt that never took place.

He was born in Bayburt on February 5, 1951, but grew up in the village of Fındıcak of Sürmene, Trabzon in Turkey's Black Sea Region.

He also made the first Turkish translation of the Qur'an after Elmalılı Muhammed Hamdi Yazır's Qur'anic exegesis-Hakk Dīni Kur'an Dili originally published in 1935. This translation, which went into 126 printings between 1993 and 2003, is recognized as the most printed book in the history of the Turkish Republic.