Renowned Kurdish geographer dies
The famous Kurdish writer and geographer Abdurrahman Onen, who recently published a series of books on the geography of Kurdish areas in Turkey, died after a yearlong battle with cancer on Monday
Onen was in intensive care in an Istanbul hospital before passing away, his brother Fuat told Rudaw English. In a Facebook post, he said his brother requested his body be donated to science.
Born in Mardin province in southeast Turkey on February 24, 1956, Onen spent most of his life as a geography teacher, and also wrote several books - including a geography dictionary - published in 2008.
In October 2020, he published the first book in the Kurdistan Geography series, featuring the geography of Agiri province in eastern Turkey. The second, about the geography of Van province, was published in May 2021.
The Ismail Besicki Foundation, which is publishing the series, said Onen’s dream was to allow Kurdish students to study geography in their own language.
“He dedicated his life to realizing this dream,” it said in a tweet.
The remaining three parts, featuring the geography of Dersim (Tunceli), Bitlis, and Amed (Diyarbakir) provinces, will be published in three months, his brother told Rudaw English.
Bawer Bersev, manager of Pirtuka Kurdi online bookstore, told Rudaw English Onen’s work on Agiri and Van are in high demand because they are the first works of their kind.
Such books are not common in Turkey, where the Kurdish language is banned in official settings, and the word “Kurdistan” and talking about the geography of Kurdistan can be punishable by jail.
Onen had visited almost all cities and villages in each of the five provinces to write his books.
https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeas ... y/23082021
