Aclan Sayılgan (1924, İzmir – 5 September 2001, İzmir) is an actor and writer who worked in the State Theaters for many years. He joined the Communist Party of Türkiye in his youth, but later completely broke away from this line and became known for his books criticizing the Turkish left.
Theater and politics
He was born in Izmir, and after graduating from high school in this city, he entered the theater department of Ankara State Conservatory and graduated in 1948. He worked as an actor and director at the State Theaters and TRT in Ankara; He did not move away from the stage and radio until his retirement. In 1972, he received the best supporting actor award from the Art Lovers Association for his role in the play Kâtip Çokmazı. A significant part of the theater plays he wrote remained unpublished.
He became a member of the TKP in the second half of the 1940s and was among those tried during the arrests that started in 1951 and remained in prison for a while. He later left communism. He told about this break and his life story in his autobiography titled İnkar Fırtınası, published in 1962. During the same period, he had a close friendship with Attilâ İlhan.
works
The center of gravity of his writing is the history and criticism of left movements. In the period from the 1960s to the mid-1980s, he published books such as Left Movements in Türkiye, Ninety-Four Years of the Left, New Left, Cracks on the Left, The Endless Fight on the Left and Encyclopedic Marxist Dictionary. He also has novels called Arrest (1974) and Earthquake (1975), which are based on his personal testimonies.
He is the father of actor Şahap Sayılgan. He died in Izmir and was buried in Doğançay Cemetery.
