Mehmet Altan

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Mehmet Hasan Altan (born January 11, 1953 in Ankara ) is a Turkish professor of economics , journalist and writer .

Life

His father was the politician Çetin Altan (1927-2015), his mother Kerime Altan. He is the younger of their two sons; his older brother Ahmet Altan is a journalist. Was imprisoned in Turkey from September 2016 to August 2018.

Altan attended elementary and middle school and the French grammar school in Istanbul. He studied at the "Academy of Economics and Commerce Istanbul" (İstanbul İktisadi Ticari İlimler Akademisi) . After completing his bachelor's degree, Altan continued his studies in Paris in 1979. In 1980 he received his Masters at the Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne . He later received his doctorate in Paris for a thesis on relations between Turkey and the International Monetary Fund . In Paris he initially wrote for the newspaper Hürriyet , whose external section his brother was in charge of . Altan later wrote for the Cumhuriyet . In 1984 he returned to Turkey. Altan worked for various newspapers and continued his academic career. Successively he received the degrees Yardımcı Doçent, Doçent (1987) and Professor (1993).

Altan taught at Istanbul University . He has authored several political books. He is married to Ümit Moran Altan and has one son.

Mehmet Altan was arrested on September 10, 2016, and shortly afterwards his brother Ahmet. The allegations are membership in a terrorist organization and attempt to overthrow the government .

Şahin Alpay , Mehmet Altan and the Cumhuriyet journalist Turhan Günay (who had previously been released from pretrial detention) lodged individual complaints with the Constitutional Court. They complained, for example, that their right to freedom and security, freedom of expression and freedom of the press had been violated.

On January 11, 2018, the Turkish Constitutional Court ruled with a narrow majority that Altan and Alpay's continued detention violated their rights and ordered their release. Nevertheless, on January 11, 2018, a Turkish criminal court ruled that Alpay and Altan must remain in custody. On February 16, 2018, Altan was sentenced to life imprisonment by the criminal court together with his brother Ahmet , Nazlı Ilıcak and the Taraf journalists Şükrü Tuğrul Özşengül , Yakup Şimşek and Fevzi Yazıcı .

He was detained in the Silivri Detention Center.

In response to a lawsuit by Altans and Alpays at the ECHR , the latter decided on March 20, 2018 (like the Turkish Constitutional Court before) that the detention of the two was a violation of their fundamental rights. In addition, the prosecution of journalists violates their freedom of expression; Criticism of the government should not be punished as support for terrorism. The Turkish state had to pay the plaintiffs € 21,500 in compensation.

On June 27, 2018, Altan was conditionally released after an Istanbul Court of Appeal ordered this with reference to the judgment of the Constitutional Court. The trial date for another trial against him and his brother was set for September 21, 2018.

In July 2019, the Turkish Court of Cassation overturned the judgment against Mehmet Altan for lack of evidence and referred the case back to the lower courts, recommending an acquittal; In the appeal proceedings, the life sentences of his brother and Nazlı Ilıcak were lifted, but conviction for other offenses was suggested. At the beginning of November 2019, Mehmet Altan was finally acquitted. In the same trial, however, Ahmet Altan and Nazlı Ilıcak were sentenced to several years' imprisonment for supporting the Gülen movement and thus a “terrorist organization”.

Books (selection)

  • Kanatlı Karınca , Nisan Yayınları 1985 (German Winged Ant)
  • Süperler ve Türkiye , AFA Yayınları 1986 (German: The Superstars and Turkey)
  • Marks'tan Sevgilerle , Güneş Yayınları 1989 (German greetings from Marx)
  • Darbelerin Ekonomisi (1990) ( Eng . The economy of coups)
  • Kapitalizm bu köye uğramadı (German capitalism did not come to this village)
  • Kurtler: Seytan Soyundan Mi? (Eng. Are the Kurds of the line of Satan?)
  • İkinci Cumhuriyet'in Yol Hikayesi (Eng. The Story of the Road to the Second Republic)
  • Puslu Demokrasi: Ergenekon Güncesi (Eng. Foggy Democracy: Diary of Ergenekon )
  • Marksist Liberal (German Marxist liberalist)
  • Kent Dindarlığı ( eng . Urban piety)

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ welt.de June 19, 2017: Judges open proceedings against journalists for the first time
  2. ↑ spiegel.de January 11, 2018: Court orders journalists to be dismissed - hope for Yücel? (see also Deniz Yücel )
  3. ↑ spiegel.de January 11, 2018: Turkish criminal court rejects the release of two journalists
  4. ↑ Six journalists in Turkey sentenced to life imprisonment on welt.de on February 16, 2018, accessed on February 16, 2018
  5. ↑ www.hurriyet.com.tr January 4, 2018
  6. ^ Judgment concerning the application by the journalist Mehmet Hasan Altan, who was arrested and detained following the attempted military coup (pdf)
  7. ↑ Turkey convicted of imprisonment for journalists In: tagesschau.de , March 20, 2018
  8. ^ Condemnation of Turkey: Free speech even in times of need In: sueddeutsche.de , March 20, 2018.
  9. ↑ Turkish journalist Altan released from custody. In: zeit.de . June 27, 2018, accessed June 27, 2018 .
  10. ↑ Turkish court overrules journalists' life sentences. In: reuters.com . July 5, 2019, accessed on March 17, 2020 .
  11. ^ Turkey's Supreme Court of Appeals declines to uphold aggravated life imprisonment of journalists. Stockholm Center for Freedom , July 5, 2019, accessed March 17, 2020 .
  12. ↑ Turkey: Writer Ahmet Altan is released under certain conditions. In: zeit.de . November 4, 2019, accessed March 17, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Altan, Mehmet
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Altan, Mehmet Hasan (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Turkish economist and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH January 11, 1953
PLACE OF BIRTH Ankara