APersonIndependent states
Âşık Veysel
Anatolia's blind minstrel (1894–1973), author of "Uzun İnce Bir Yoldayım" and "Kara Toprak".
Veysel Şatıroğlu was born in the village of Sivrialan in Şarkışla, Sivas. Smallpox blinded him at the age of seven; his father gave him a saz, and he grew up memorising the poems of Anatolian minstrels.
He became known in the 1930s for an epic he wrote for the tenth anniversary of the Republic and later taught the saz at the Village Institutes. His poems stand out for their plain language, love of people and the land, and deep reflection on life and death.
"Uzun İnce Bir Yoldayım", "Kara Toprak" and "Dostlar Beni Hatırlasın" are known in every home. In 1965 the Grand National Assembly granted him a life pension for services to the nation.
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Updated: October 2, 2026