Sevan Nià Âanyan (; born 21 December 1956) is a Turkish-Armenian writer, fugitive and lexicographer. Author of a number of books, Nià Âanyan was awarded the Ayà Âe Nur Zarakolu Liberty Award of the Turkish Human Rights Association in 2004 for his contributions to greater freedom of speech. He is also known for his work to restore à Âirince, a semi-derelict village near Turkey's Aegean coast.
Sevan Nià Âanyan was given a cumulative prison sentence of 16 years and 7 months for building infractions, and for allegedly insulting the Islamic prophet Muhammad in a blog entry in September 2012. He escaped from the prison in July 2017 and moved to Athens, where he intended to apply for political asylum, as stated in his interview to the Belgian daily La Libre Belgique. He subsequently went to live in exile in Samos, stating that he is "grateful to the providence that the goatfuckers who run Turkey gave him, unintentionally, this splendid opportunity."
Nià Âanyan was born in Istanbul in 1956 to an Armenian family. His father was architect Vagarà  Nià Âanyan. After graduating from the Private Armenian School of Pangaltñ, he attended Robert College in 1972, then studied philosophy at Yale University in 1979. He did graduate studies in political science at Columbia University, where he worked under Giovanni Sartori, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Seweryn Bialer, and Douglas Chalmers. His unfinished PhD thesis concerned the competitive strategies of political parties in unstable South American regimes. During his university years Nià Âanyan became fluent in several languages, including Latin, Arabic and Classical Armenian.
Grundrisse, which he translated into Turkish, was published with a hundred-page preface in 1979. His articles appeared in Birikim and in the opinions section of The New York Times.
He is the founder and former manager of the company that brought the Commodore 64 computers to Turkey in the 1980's. He founded Commodore, a computer magazine in Turkish, and wrote articles there under the pen name Baytan Bitirmez.
In October 2021, while visiting Albania, he was reportedly declared persona non grata by the Greek authorities and banned from re-entry, with reason said to be a state secret. His undesirability, according to Athens Voice, was the information passed to the police by local Samos agents as if "the Turk is buying real estate", which, if it happened, would violate the law on non-purchase of real estate by foreigners in some border areas. On January 7, 2022, the Greek justice dismissed the case, prohibiting any deportation to Turkey. The Armenian Embassy in Greece said Nià Âanyan must leave Greece voluntarily within 15 days according to the court decision, adding that as he is a citizen of Armenia, "he can leave for Armenia if he wishes.âÂÂ
Nià Âanyan married Müjde Tönbekici in 1992. The couple settled in à Âirince, a former Greek-majority village in the Aegean hills of Western Turkey which had been semi-derelict since the 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey.
Several of the renovated village houses were eventually converted into a highly acclaimed "Hotel de Charme" by the name of the Nià Âanyan Houses.
Nià Âanyan's Sözlerin SoyaÃÂacñ: ÃÂaÃÂdaà  Türkçenin Etimolojik SözlüÃÂü (Etymological Dictionary of Contemporary Turkish), published in 2002 was the first work in its field. Popularly known as "The Nià Âanyan Dictionary", a revised and expanded fifth edition was published in 2008. The full contents of the dictionary are available online at nisanyansozluk.com, with new material added on a continuous basis.
Nià Âanyan wrote The Wrong Republic (), a critique of the founding myths of the Republic of Turkey, which was established in 1923. Written in 1994, the book circulated widely in photocopy, until it could be legally published in 2008.
In 2010, Nià Âanyan published a toponymic study that documents the historical origins and linguistic roots of geographical names in Turkey. The study examines place names from various languages, including Turkish, Greek, Armenian, Kurdish, and others, providing insights into their etymology and historical changes. The project also tracks modifications to place names over time, particularly those changed during the 20th century under the Turkification policies of the Turkish Republic.
The project went online in 2010, and developed into an effort to document all the historic toponyms of Turkey. The current database includes over 56,000 mapped place-names and can be viewed online at nisanyanmap.com.
In 2012, Nià Âanyan unveiled his Rock Tomb, an Ionic order facade in the manner of ancient Lycian rock tombs, measuring eight by five metres, carved into a limestone cliff facing the Mathematics Village near à Âirince. The carving was done using hand tools, and took three years to complete. Nià Âanyan drew up the design and contributed much of the labor. The tomb was inaugurated with a ceremony, in which unlimited wine, halva and tea were served. The ceremony was attended by approximately 200 people, including Ali Nesin, the founder of Nesin Mathematics Village.
Nià Âanyan was handed a cumulative jail sentence of 16 years and 7 months for several crimes including illegal construction in a protected nature zone in à Âirince. He was imprisoned on 2 January 2014. After being moved to a lower security prison for good behavior, he escaped on 14 July 2017 and fled to Greece.
Nià Âanyan has been married four times, to Corinna-Barbara Francis (1981-1985), Müjde Tonbekici (1992-2008), Aynur Deniz (2009-2011) and to Ira Tzourou, who he married on 5 May 2019 in Samos. He has 5 children. He describes himself as an "outspoken Atheist."
Nià Âanyan has been constantly under criticism for his controversial comments and behaviour on various topics. The earlier of those critiques relate to his commentary on a sexual abuse case, hence he was criticized for justifying sexual abuse and bullying.
He emptied a jar of his feces over his ex-wife Müjde Tonbekici, which resulted in widespread reaction and disgust from the public, calls to cancel his column on Agos newspaper was rejected by newspaper management.
After the 2020 Elazñàearthquake, Nià Âanyan tweeted that "Elazñàis the most bigoted, ignorant, most paranoid, and sexually obsessed city of Turkey where material and spiritual rape culture prevails. The city is based on a seized property, and is a prison of denied identities. It's a pity for the children though, they are innocent."
In regard to the murder of school principal ðbrahim Oktugan, Nià Âanyan stated: "It is right that someone who knowingly and willfully takes the life of a young person should be punished proportionately. In some circumstances, killing can be a method. In my 11 years of school life, I have known maybe 60 teachers. At least 20 of them were complex, sadistic, ignorant, conniving assholes. I always blame myself for not having the courage to kill even one of them.", adding on, he stated "I don't know the murdered Mr. ðbrahim. But I know the poster behind him well." referring to a picture of Oktugan in front of an Atatürk corner, which is mandatory to be placed according to the regulations of Ministry of National Education.
On 31 August 2024, Nià Âanyan stated: "I regret that the name of Nià Âanyan has been defamed by your hotel" in regard to the 30 August Victory Day commemorations of the staff and guests at the Nià Âanyan Hotel in à Âirince which was shared on the official account of the hotel as "A very emotional moment".