Namık Kemal  Namık Kemal (21 December 1840 – 2 December 1888) was an Ottoman democrat, writer, intellectual, reformer, journalist, playwright, and political activist who was influential in the formation of the Young Ottomans and their struggle for governmental reform in the Ottoman Empire during the late Tanzimat period, which would lead to the First Constitutional Era in the Empire in 1876. Kemal was particularly significant for championing the notions of freedom and fatherland in his numerous plays and poems, and his works would have a powerful impact on the establishment of and future reform movements in Turkey, as well as other former Ottoman lands. He is often regarded as being instrumental in redefining Western concepts like natural rights and constitutional government. An Ottoman Turkish citizen, Namık Kemal was born in Tekirdağ (then part of the Ottoman Empire, today in Turkey) on 21 December 1840, to his mother Fatma Zehra Hanım (who had ethnic Albanian ancestors from Konitsa) and father Mustafa Asım Bey (who was the chief astrologer in the Sultan’s Palace, and whose family was originally from Yenişehir in Bursa Province). Since surnames or family names were not in use during the Ottoman Empire, "Kemal" was not his surname, but part of his first name. During his youth, Kemal traveled throughout the Ottoman Empire, staying in Constantinople, Kars, and Sofia, and studied a number of subjects, including poetry. In 1857, at the age of 17, Kemal worked in the "Tercüme Odası" ("The Translation Office") of the government. However, as a result of the political nature of his writings, Kemal was forced to leave this job by Grand Vizier Mehmed Emin Âli Pasha and so joined his friend and fellow Young Ottoman, İbrahim Şinasi, on his newspaper "Tasvir-i Efkar" ("Herald of Ideas"). Kemal worked on "Tasvir-i Efkar" until his exile and flight to Paris in 1867. The Young Ottomans were a group of political activists whose members came principally from the young elite of Ottoman society. The major goal of this group was to institute political reform according to the Western ideas of representative government. After joining the Young Ottomans in 1862, Kemal continually wrote essays on the subjects of political, administrative, social, and foreign policy reform.