Namık Kemal

Namık Kemal was an Ottoman writer, poet, democrat, intellectual, reformer, journalist, playwright, and political activist who was influential in the formation of the Young Ottomans and their struggle for governmental reform in the Ottoman Empire during the late Tanzimat period, which would lead to the First Constitutional Era in the Empire in 1876. Kemal was particularly significant for championing the notions of freedom and fatherland in his numerous plays and poems, and his works would have a powerful impact on the establishment of and future reform movements in Turkey, as well as other former Ottoman territories. He is often regarded as being instrumental in redefining Western concepts like natural rights and constitutional government.

21 December 1840

Born on the same birth day (21 December): Anthony Powell • Barry Gordon • Florence Griffith Joyner • Hu Jintao • Joe Kocur • John H. Ketcham • Lorenzo Perosi • Man Singh I • Marta Fernández (basketball) • Nikolaos Sifounakis • Phil Roman • Sherry Rehman • Stela Popescu • Tom Sturridge

Born in the same month (December 1840): Nozu Michitsura