Mehmet Hakkı Suçin is a writer, academic, and literary translator. He graduated from the Department of Arabic Language and Literature at Ankara University’s Faculty of Languages, History and Geography in 1993. He completed his MA at Gazi University with a thesis on the short fiction of the Egyptian writer Yahya Haqqi, and his PhD with a dissertation on equivalence problems and translation strategies between Arabic and Turkish. He began his professional career as a translator and interpreter at the Embassy of the State of Kuwait in Ankara and joined Gazi University in 1998. In 2005–2006, he was a visiting researcher at the Centre for Translation and Intercultural Studies (CTIS), University of Manchester. Since 2017, he has been Professor of Arabic Language Education at Gazi University’s Gazi Faculty of Education.
His academic work focuses on Arabic literature, translation studies, literary translation, and the teaching of Arabic as a foreign language. From 2010 to 2012, he chaired the committee responsible for developing Arabic-language curricula for primary and secondary education in Türkiye in alignment with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), contributing to the development of both curricula and teaching materials.
Internationally, he served on the jury of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF) in 2014, as an adviser and jury member for the Sheikh Hamad Award for Translation and International Understanding in 2015, and as a member of the Scientific Committee of the Sheikh Zayed Book Award in 2024. His translations have received several distinctions, including the Sharjah Turjuman Award, the Sheikh Hamad Lifetime Achievement Award, Dünya Kitap’s Translation Book of the Year, and the Writers’ Union of Turkey Translation Award.
Writing and Literary Translation
At the heart of Suçin’s writing and research lies the relationship between language, literature, and intercultural transfer. In his books Öteki Dilde Var Olmak (Existing in the Other Language), Dünden Bugüne Arapçaya Çevirinin Serüveni (The Journey of Translation into Arabic: Past and Present), and Haber Çevirisi (News Translation), he approaches translation not simply as a transfer between languages but as a space where histories, literatures, and cultures encounter one another. His work, published in Turkish, Arabic, and English, addresses the reception and circulation of Arabic literature in Turkish, the reception of Turkish literature in Arabic, poetry translation, translation criticism, and the teaching of Arabic.
His literary translations span nearly fifteen centuries, from pre-Islamic Arabic poetry to contemporary poetry and fiction. He has translated into Turkish works by classical authors and poets including the Mu‘allaqa poets, al-Mutanabbi, Ibn Hazm, Ibn Tufayl, and Ibn al-Kalbi, as well as modern and contemporary figures such as Kahlil Gibran, Adonis, Mahmoud Darwish, Nizar Qabbani, Mohammed Bennis, Nouri al-Jarrah, Najwan Darwish, Naguib Mahfouz, Ghassan Kanafani, and Adania Shibli.
Translation in Suçin’s work is not a one-way movement. He has also translated selections from classical Turkish poets such as Yunus Emre and Ahmed Yesevi, along with works by modern Turkish writers, into Arabic, contributing to the reciprocal circulation of Turkish and Arabic literatures. In this sense, translation is for him a means through which the two literary traditions encounter, recognize, and reread one another.
Translation Approach and “Poeticity”
For Suçin, poetry translation involves more than transferring meaning from one language to another. The sound, rhythm, imagery, emotional resonance, and cultural background of a poem must be reconstituted as a new poetic whole in the target language. He conceptualizes this approach through the notion of “poeticity.”
In his 2025 study, “Strategic Choices and ‘Poeticity’ in Poetry Translation: An Evaluation of Translations of Shakespeare and Imru’ al-Qays”, he systematized this approach as a framework for poetry translation. Poeticity seeks to preserve the poem’s aesthetic vitality in the target language, positioning translation between mechanical adherence to the source text and unrestricted rewriting.
International Work and Translation Workshops
Since 2012, Suçin has conducted workshops in Türkiye and abroad, primarily in literary translation, as well as in written and interpreting practices. He moderated all three editions of the International Turkish–Arabic / Arabic–Turkish Literary Translation Workshops (TÜRAPÇAT) held on Büyükada, Istanbul, and has led training programmes for translators and aspiring translators in Amman and Cairo. He has also contributed to training projects in community interpreting and professional interpreting involving the Turkish Red Crescent, Doctors Worldwide, the UN International Organization for Migration, and Türkiye’s Presidency of Migration Management.
Areas of Interest
Arabic Literature
Classical and modern Arabic literature, poetry and narrative, and the circulation of Arabic literature in Turkish.
Translation Studies and Literary Translation
Poetry translation, poeticity, translation criticism, and intercultural literary transfer.
Teaching Arabic as a Foreign Language
Curriculum development, CEFR, and task-based language teaching.
Academic Profiles
Publications, citations, and current academic work: