Assoc. Prof. ARİF YILMAZ

Dr. Arif Yılmaz (b. 1970, Manisa) is a Turkish academic, researcher, writer, and poet. His poetry and storytelling are innate talents. After completing his primary, secondary, and high school education in Manisa, he graduated from the Department of Turkish Language and Literature at Yüzüncü Yıl University in 1992. He completed his master's degree at Gazi University in 1996 with his thesis titled The Life and Poetic Art of Niyazi Yıldırım Gençosmanoğlu, earning his specialization degree. Between 1996 and 1997, he conducted research in the field of language and literature in the United States. Upon returning to Turkey, he pursued his doctoral studies at Ankara University and earned his Ph.D. in 2004 with his dissertation titled A Study on the Life and Poetry of Sabahattin Kudret Aksal. He later obtained his Associate Professorship with his work on The Storytelling of Kemal Bilbaşar.

Between 2005 and 2008, Yılmaz actively contributed to the establishment of the Department of Turkish Language and Literature at the Faculty of Literature and Humanities at Aleppo University. During the same period, he taught Turkish at the Cultural Section of the Turkish Consulate General in Aleppo and organized various cultural activities. In 2008, he was appointed as the Head of the Department of Turkish Language Education at Gaziantep University’s Faculty of Education and later served as the founding director of GAÜN TÖMER (Turkish and Foreign Languages Research and Application Center). During this period, he led TÖMER to become the largest language education center in the Southeastern Anatolia Region. He also served on the Board of Directors of the Center for Social Responsibility Projects (TDP), participating in numerous community service projects.

Starting his academic career in 1993, Yılmaz has taken pride and joy in mentoring thousands of students throughout his professional life. He has served as a jury member in numerous art and literature competitions and events. At Gaziantep University, he founded the Turkish Language Community, organizing a variety of academic and social activities aimed at promoting the proper use of Turkish, raising linguistic awareness, and enhancing social consciousness. These initiatives not only supported students' development in the field of language and literature but also strengthened the connection between the university and the broader community through cultural projects.

In August 2012, Yılmaz joined Uşak University, where he served as Deputy Director of the Institute of Social Sciences. Since 2022, he has been the Chair of the Department of Turkish Language and Literature at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. At Uşak University, he also established student communities, organized author and poet meetups, facilitated interactions between researchers and students, and supported literary creativity by initiating magazine publication projects.

Yılmaz has prepared expanded and critical editions of Sabahattin Kudret Aksal’s works Gazoz Ağacı ve Diğer Öyküler (2005), Bütün Şiirleri (2008), and Denemeler ve Konuşmalar (2018). He also compiled and published Aksal’s previously unpublished essays and interviews under the title Yazılar, Yanıtlar (2018). In 2019, he was awarded the Special Jury Prize for his meticulous and scholarly preparation of Aksal’s works, receiving his award at a ceremony organized by Yapı Kredi Publications on April 25, 2019.

In the fall semester of 2024–2025, Yılmaz served as a visiting scholar at the Department of Turkish Language at Samarkand State Institute of Foreign Languages in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. His academic research focuses primarily on modern Turkish literature and literary studies. Yılmaz has authored several original works, including A Study on the Life, Art, and Poetry of Sabahattin Kudret Aksal, The Storytelling of Kemal Bilbaşar, The Life and Poetic Art of Niyazi Yıldırım Gençosmanoğlu, and Şeyh Vasfi and Şöyle Böyle. He has also published various articles, poems, and short stories. He is married and has two children.