Cengiz Çandar

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Cengiz Çandar 2012 in Halifax .

Cengiz Çandar (* 1948 in Ankara ) is a Turkish journalist and publicist . His articles are currently published on www.al-monitor.com, where other Turkish columnists such as Amberin Zaman, Fehim Taştekin and Semih İdiz also write.

Origin and education

Çandar comes from an Ottoman aristocratic family that has been documented since the 14th century and provided leading officers and officials, especially in the first centuries of the empire, including Çandarlı Kara Halil Hayreddin Pascha ( Grand Vizier 1364-1387), Çandarlı II. Halil Pascha (1439-1453) and three other grand viziers.

Work and activity

Early years

Cengiz Çandar completed his school education in Ankara, Kayseri and Tarsus and studied political science at Ankara University . During his studies he took part in the 1968 movement and, after it had split up, sided with the Maoist Aydınlık group, led by Doğu Perinçek . After the military intervention in March 1971 , he fled to Beirut and Damascus , where he joined the Palestinian PLO . From there he went to Western Europe and returned to Turkey in 1974 after a general amnesty under Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit .

Presidential advisor and "Andıç scandal"

Then he began to work for the then daily Vatan . From there he moved to Cumhuriyet . After the military coup in 1980 , he stayed frequently in Iran and Lebanon , and later worked for the daily newspapers Hürriyet , Güneş and Sabah . Çandar often wrote on foreign policy issues; especially to the Middle East , from the 1990s also to the Balkans and the USA .

From 1991 until his death in April 1993 he was an advisor to the then President Turgut Özal . In the mid-1990s, Çandar took part in the liberal party founding New Democracy Movement, led by entrepreneur Cem Boyner .

In 1998, under the influence of the military intervention in February 1997 , Çandar was released in the wake of the so-called "Andıç scandal" near Sabah . This involved reports of alleged statements by the formerly high-ranking, but at this point in time already renegade PKK functionary Şemdin Sakık . According to some media reports, the latter accused Çandar and other well-known journalists who deviate from official Kurdish policy , such as Mehmet Ali Birand , Ahmet Altan , Mehmet Altan and Mehmet Barlas , of receiving financial support from the PKK for their journalistic activities. The reports turned out to be lies and controlled by the military; In 2009, the then Chief of Staff, Yaşar Büyükanıt , admitted that the operation had been a “mistake”.

Influential columnist

After his dismissal in Sabah Çandar found a refuge in the Islamic - conservative Yeni Şafak . He later switched to the liberal daily Refarans , finally writing for the left-liberal Radikal until it was closed in spring 2016 . At times his texts appeared in Refarans , Radikal and Hürriyet at the same time - all publications by the Doğan group and yet unique in Turkish press history. Not least because of his columns on the subject of foreign policy, Çandar was often quoted in foreign media.

Late Erdoğan and self-criticism

In his farewell column in the Radikal , Çandar declared his departure from "active journalism". Shortly afterwards he exercised self-criticism: he had given too little consideration to the “injustices” in the proceedings surrounding the Ergenekon conspiratorial organization . Nevertheless, these accusations were not purely a fantasy product; there had actually been coup efforts in the army. At the same time, Çandar criticized that he and his kind had not recognized that “political Islam in Turkey under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan ” was transforming into an “ autocracy ”.

For a long time, Çandar was well-disposed towards President Erdoğan. After he kept his distance, Erdoğan covered him with charges of libel. In the spring of 2016, Çandar was the record holder among Turkish journalists with seven reports of abuse from the president.

In August 2016, Çandar received a research assignment at Stockholm University .

Works

  • 1976, Direnen Filistin ("The fighting Palestine")
  • 1981, Dünden Yarına İran ("Iran from yesterday to tomorrow")
  • 1983, Ortadoğu Çıkmazı ("Dead End Middle East")
  • 1983, Tarihle Randevu ("Rendezvous with History")
  • 1987, Güneşin Yedi Rengi ("The seven colors of the sun")
  • 1999, Benim Şehirlerim ("My Cities")
  • 2001, Çıktık Açık Alınla: 28 Şubat Postmodern Darbe Geçidi'nde (1996-2000) ("With an Open Forehead: On the Threshold of the Postmodern Coup ", 1996-2000)
  • 2012, Mezopotamya Ekspresi: Bir Tarih Yolculuğu ("Mesopotamia Expresses: A Journey into History")

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. a b c Biographical information at biyografi.net.
  2. a b Cengiz Çandar: Doğan Grubu rükûdaydı, secdeye geçmeden yere kapaklandı! , Biographical information at T24, April 11, 2016.
  3. Mehmet Ali Birand : Nihayet, bir komutan “Andıç hata idi” dedi , Hürriyet, May 9, 2009.
  4. Interview with Yeni-Şafak publisher Mustafa Albayrak , Habertürk TV , April 12, 2012
  5. a b Hoşçakalın ... , Radikal, April 6, 2016.
  6. Günter Seufert : "I share the pain" , Die Zeit, December 15, 2008.
  7. Raziye Akkoc: "Of course I feel restricted": How press freedom in Turkey is declining - and getting worse , The Telegraph, October 30, 2015.
  8. Cengiz Çandar: Siyasi İslam'ın otokrasiye evrimini göremedik; Ergenekon ve Balyoz ihlallerine duyarlı davranmadık, pişmanım , interview with T24 , April 12, 2016.
  9. Deniz Yücel : The liver sausage complex: Wen Erdogan sued , Die Welt, April 17, 2016.
  10. Staff website at Stockholm University