Nilüfer ÖZGÜR

Biography

I was born as Nilyufer Mustafova Ahmedova in Malko Yonkovo, a village in the Northeast part of Bulgaria, which was famously known as Ludogoriye ("Wild Forest"). When the official state policy of the Jivkov rule endorsed the so-called "revival process," more than a million Bulgarian citizens with Turkish origin had been converted into a new ethnic identity and received Bulgarian, Slavic, and Christian names. In February 1985, after the military aggression over the turbulent assimilation process had died out, Lilia Martinova Andreeva became my official Bulgarian name. The "revival process" had been originally planned and foreseen as irrevocable and irreversible. However, in June, 1989, the decline of "the Iron Curtain" ensued a massive and compulsory emigration to Turkey, and forced thousands of individuals of the Turkish minority who resisted the new order to leave their native lands. After a long and devastating journey by train, I and my family landed in Ankara, the capital city of Turkey, where we started a life from "zero" (like most immigrants in those days who witnessed the fall of the Berlin Wall).

I finished high school in Ankara and worked in different jobs to support myself and partly my family. My working life in the private sector had become a sequence of experiences in a free market system, to which I found it difficult to adjust, considering my Eastern European background. My educational life, too, went through a rough path because of the tremendous cultural and social changes. Seeing the necessity to receive a university education, I decided to change my direction in life and learn English to become a teacher. I had been working in a small translation company and preparing for my future college life simultaneously. I used to speak Bulgarian, Turkish, Russian, and a little English and German. Finally, after I passed the official state exams, I was able to attend Hacettepe University in Ankara, where I received a First Class Honour's Degree in American Studies. I completed my Master's Degree at Gazi University, at the Department of English Language Teaching, where I also started my professional life as an English instructor. My Master's thesis had a pedagogical orientation; it was based on the teaching of the novel. I completed my Doctoral Degree at Middle East Technical University in Ankara, with a thesis on Thomas Hardy's poetry, which later constituted the groundwork of my monograph-Hardy Deconstructing Hardy: A Derridean Reading of Thomas Hardy's Poetry, published by Routledge in 2017. My experience with Routledge became the most fulfilling and groundbreaking moment in my life. It prompted my ambition to continue my critical studies in literature.

I am currently employed at Kırklareli University, where I have served as head of department at the Western Languages and Literatures Department, Division of English Language and Literature. As an administrator and educator, I have been able to contribute to the launching of the English Language and Literature Programme which received its first students in 2019 and graduated them in June, 2023. It has been an incredible journey that has taught me a lot professionally.

I continue my teaching and studies in English literature, literary theory and criticism. I enjoy publishing short articles and translations of poetry in popular Turkish journals. It is one of my greatest pleasures to see that readers of literature get acquainted with famous English and American poets, and experience the universality of impressions and emotions shared by all humanity. I feel that literature, poetry and deconstructionist philosophy redefine who I am, tell a narrative of who I used to be, and who I want to become. My future plans and projects involve more writing, not only for academic purposes, but also writing for pleasure. I desire to play a role in transmitting and recreating a great variety of cultures, narratives, identities and stories which I hope to share with the world.

Education

PhD, Middle East Technical University, 2015

Areas of Research / Professional Expertise

Literary Theory, Literary Criticism, Deconstruction, Deconstructionist Criticism, Modernism, Modernist Poetry, Poststructuralism, Education, Translation of Poetry

Personal Interests

Postmodernist philosophy, literature, psychoanalysis, languages, theatre, translation, and history. I am a lover of nature and a supporter of animal rights and foundations. I love driving, travelling and seeing new places.

Websites

• Academia.com

• Linked-in

• Twitter

Books

Articles

News