Doğan Özgüden
Doğan Özgüden (born 1936, Kalecik, Ankara) is a Turkish journalist and publisher. A former editor of Akşam (1964 - 1966), he has been based in Belgium since 1974, having left Turkey after the 1971 military coup under threat of over 300 years in prison for his publications.[1] Together with Info-Türk co-founder Inci Tugsavul he was awarded the 2006 Ayse Zarakolu Freedom of Thought Prize by the Human Rights Association of Turkey for Info-Türk's journalism.
Career
Özgüden worked at a variety of Turkish newspapers from 1952 to 1964, before becoming editor-in-chief of Turkish daily newspaper Akşam (1964 - 1966). A member of the Workers Party of Turkey (TIP), he was elected to the party's central committee in 1964.[1]
Together with Inci Tugsavul, Özgüden co-founded the Ant Publishing House in 1967, publishing the weekly Ant as well as a variety of books.[1] After the banning of Ant by the junta of the 1971 military coup, its editors Özgüden and Tugsavul organized in Europe, founding Info-Türk in Brussels in 1974. The founders were charged with over 50 opinion-related crimes for articles written or published in Ant, and were stripped of their Turkish nationality in 1984.[2]
In 2006 the Human Rights Association of Turkey awarded the 2006 Ayse Zarakolu Freedom of Thought Prize to Info-Türk co-founders Özgüden and Tugsavul.[2] On the occasion of the award, IFEX said that Info-Türk had "tackled many subjects considered taboo in Turkey, including anti-semitism and the question of the Armenian Genocide."[2]
References
- Info-Türk, Info-Türk Editors
- IFEX, 8 March 2006, TURKISH JOURNALISTS SHARE HUMAN RIGHTS PRIZE