Hi  - I am going to be working on a possible book in English that has brief biographies of famous Turks.

they can be:

• male or female
• alive or dead
• Ottomans or Turkish citizens
• leaders (sultans, politicians)
• warriors
• folk heroes
• in business
• in sports
• in the arts

etc

Who would you recommend I include in the list?

I do not have much knowledge on the subject, but may I suggest Mr. Orhan Pamuk & Tarkan or classical pianist Fazıl Say as additions to the list. 

These are mere suggestions, based on my very limited (to date) knowledge in terms of Turkish litterature & arts.

Thanks for sharing the list with us MarioninTurkey!

Best wishes for your project.

Good ones! 

for authors I definitely would add Ömer Seyfettin, Yaşar Kemal, Orhan Kemal. Poet: Nazım Hikmet

Pianists: İdil Biret

Pop singers - you are right, it needs to be people who are long-lasting. Perhaps Sezen Aksu, Barış Manço, Mustafa Sandal, Eurovision winner Sertab Erener. Also Türk müzik Zeki Müren and Bülent Ersoy. İbrahim Tatlıses.

Others?

Does this page help?

 I  had forgotten Sezen Aksu & ´Musti´.......shame on me, hehehe!

some scientists/doctors?

e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mehmet_Oz

Wow...if we are already naming that many singers from recent years, that book will have 100 parts If you´re going all the way back to Ottoman times, you can´t include that many people from recent times or you´ll won´t have space for very influential figures from history.

I think Sinan (the architect) should be in there. Also sultan Ahmed the first, since muslims from all around the world go to his grave every day to pray. Seems important to me You can also think about military heroes like Osman Paşa. In any case, more historical figures.

I agree, more historical figures. If I may suggest, beside those Barba has mentioned, sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror,  sultan Suleiman I the Magnificent and Sokollu Mehmed Pasha (Grand Vizier under three Sultans: Suleiman the Magnificent, Selim II, and Murad III).

Then, don´t forget Nasrettin Hoca and Karagöz, as folk heroes (I think).

Also, I could add a whole list of poets, but I´m afraid it would be too long!

Maybe you should stick to list si++ suggested and pick the most famous ones.

Hello, i would love to contrubute ur project with some scientists. Hope u benefit. Here they are,

Muzafer Sherif (Muzaffer Şerif): Social Psychologist (My favourite)

Cahit Arf: Mathematician

Ali Kuşçu: Astronomist

İbn-i Sina: Md. Doctor-Philosopher

Mimar Sinan: Architect

Mehmet Oz: Md. Doctor