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Hasan Cemal

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Hasan Cemal
Born1944 (age 79–80)
Istanbul, Turkey
NationalityTurkish
Alma materAnkara University
Occupation(s)Journalist, writer

Hasan Cemal (born 1944) is a Turkish journalist and writer. He was the editor of Cumhuriyet from 1981 to 1992, and of Sabah from 1992 to 1998. In 2013 he resigned from the Milliyet newspaper after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had criticised his article supporting Milliyet's publication of minutes of a parliamentary visit to Abdullah Öcalan, and Milliyet suspended him and refused to publish his returning column.[1]

Cemal is the grandson of Djemal Pasha, one of the "Three Pashas" who led the Ottoman Empire during World War I.[2] He is known for acknowledging and apologizing for the Armenian genocide, which was perpetrated in part by his grandfather and his colleagues.[3] His 2012 book on the subject (written in response to the 2007 assassination of his friend Hrant Dink) is titled 1915: Ermeni Soykırımı (English: 1915: Armenian Genocide).[3]

Early life and education

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Hasan Cemal was born in 1944 in Istanbul, Turkey.[4] His mother had Georgian and Circassian ancestry.[5][6][7][8] In 1965, Cemal graduated from Ankara University with a Political Science Degree.[9]

Career

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Cemal began working for the weekly Hakkı Devrim [tr] in 1969 and soon thereafter, he became an Ankara representative of the Cumhuriyet newspaper.[4] In 1981, he was appointed chief editor of Cumhuriyet newspaper.[9] He resigned in January 1992 in a dispute over editorial policy: "I tried to widen the spectrum, to keep the balance. But they (old-guard intellectuals) always resisted, calling us plotters, tools of big business and the United States".[10] He became the editor of the Sabah newspaper in May 1992,[10] remaining in the position until 1998.[4] From 1998 he worked for Milliyet.

During the heightened tensions between the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the Turkish government, Hasan Cemal would be noted for conducting interviews with notable PKK leaders such as Abdullah Öcalan and Murat Karayilan.[4] In 2013 the Milliyet newspaper he wrote for suspended him for two weeks after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had criticised his article supporting Milliyet's publication of minutes of a parliamentary visit to Öcalan. When Milliyet then refused to publish his returning column, he resigned.[1] In 2018, he received a suspended sentence to a prison term of more than 3 months for his documentation of the withdrawal of the PKK in 2013.[11]

He then started writing on the independent news website T24 in 2013. He was awarded the Nieman Foundation for Journalism Louis Lyons Award for Conscience and Integrity in Journalism in 2015. A column he published on 12 August 2015 harshly criticising President Erdoğan, titled "The Responsibility for the Bloodshed Lies on the Sultan at the Palace" led him to be prosecuted for insulting the President.[12] The prosecutor demanded a prison sentence of 4 years and 8 months for Cemal.[13]

Armenian genocide

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According to Dennis Papazian of the University of Michigan's Armenian Research Center, in the 1980s, Hasan Cemal supported the Turkish government's position denying the Armenian Genocide. After some Turkish diplomats were assassinated by the armed Armenian ASALA group, he however began an inquiry and eventually changed his mind.[14] Following a trip to Armenia, where he visited the Armenian Genocide memorial, Hasan Cemal published a book entitled 1915: The Armenian Genocide. The book became a bestseller in Turkey.[15][16][17][18][19] Cemal remarked in his book, "To deny the Genocide would mean to be an accomplice in this crime against humanity."[18]

The book highlights Cemal's "personal transformation" and his experiences in Armenia.[19] While Cemal was in Armenia, he had an opportunity to meet and have lunch with Armen Gevorkyan, the grandson of Artashes Gevorgyan, the man who assassinated his grandfather Djemal Pasha in 1922.[20][21]

Cemal eventually apologized to all Armenians for the Armenian genocide for his grandfather's part in it.[21][22] Cemal also has insisted that the Turkish government should also apologize to the Armenians for the Armenian genocide.[21]

Works

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Some of Hasan Cemal's works include:[4]

  • 1915: Ermeni Soykırımı (English: 1915: Armenian Genocide; 2012)
    • English edition translated by Liz Erçevik Amado and Irazca Geray, published by the Hrant Dink Foundation and the Gomidas Institute, 2015 (978-6056448-88-1).
  • Barışa Emanet Olun (English: Be One with Peace; 2011)
  • Türkiye'nin Asker Sorunu (English: Turkey's Military Problem; 2010)
  • Cumhuriyet'i Çok Sevmiştim (English: I Really Liked Cumhuriyet; 2005)
  • Kürtler (English: Kurds; 2004)
  • Kimse Kızmasın, Kendimi Yazdım (English: Don't Be Mad, I Wrote Myself; 1999)
  • Özal Hikayesi (English: The Story of Özal; 1989)
  • Tarihi Yaşarken Yakalamak (English: To Catch History Alive; 1987)
  • Demokrasi Korkusu (English: Fear of Democracy; 1986)
  • Tank Sesiyle Uyanmak (English: Waking Up to the Sound of Tanks; 1986)

Awards

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Some of Hasan Cemal's awards include:[9]

  • The Fıkra Award from the Doruktakiler ve Gazeteciler Cemiyeti (1989)
  • Sedat Simavi Award for Journalist of the Year (1986)

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Hurriyet Daily News, 19 March 2013, Daily Milliyet parts ways with prominent journalist Cemal after İmralı leaks debate
  2. ^ Sassounian, Harut (5 April 2011). "Cemal Pasha's Grandson Says Genocide, Morgenthau's Great Granddaughter Doesn't". Armenian Weekly. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
  3. ^ a b Baydar, Yavuz. "Facing Turkey's Past: Struma and 1915". HuffPost. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
  4. ^ a b c d e "Hasan Cemal kimdir? (Who is Hasan Cemal?)". Bugun (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 5 June 2013. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
  5. ^ CEMAL, Hasan (16 July 1997). "Kardeşlik ve barış..." Sabah (in Turkish). Retrieved 20 December 2014.
  6. ^ CEMAL, Hasan (24 August 2007). "Kökler!". Milliyet (in Turkish). Retrieved 20 December 2014.
  7. ^ CEMAL, Hasan (25 August 2007). "Roots!". Milliyet. Archived from the original on 20 December 2014. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
  8. ^ CEMAL, Hasan (7 March 2012). "Çerkeslerin acısını da anlamak zorundayız!". Milliyet (in Turkish). Retrieved 20 December 2014.
  9. ^ a b c "Hasan Cemal Biyografisi". Sondakika (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 24 December 2013. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
  10. ^ a b Hugh Pope, Los Angeles Times, 12 May 1992, Media : It's News Vs. Nudes in the Turkish Press : The glitzy Sabah daily and the respected Cumhuriyet reflect clashing cultures at a continental crossroads.
  11. ^ SCF (3 April 2018). "Veteran Turkish journalist Hasan Cemal sentenced over documenting PKK withdrawal". Stockholm Center for Freedom. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
  12. ^ "Hasan Cemal'e, Tayyip Erdoğan yazısı için soruşturma". Platform for Independent Journalism. Retrieved 3 June 2016.
  13. ^ "Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of May 15". Committee to Protect Journalists. 16 May 2016. Retrieved 3 June 2016.
  14. ^ "Armenian Genocide 98th Anniversary Commemoration to be Held in Times Square on April 21, 2013 During Genocide Awareness Month". PR Newswire. Retrieved 25 May 2013.
  15. ^ "Neither denial nor recognition first, but cognition". Today's Zaman. 28 October 2012. Archived from the original on 26 August 2014. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  16. ^ Cengiz, Orhan Kemal (11 October 2012). "1915 and terrorists on mountains". Zaman Today. Archived from the original on 16 April 2015.
  17. ^ Gibbons, Fiachra (21 January 2013). "Erdogan needs to move fast to heal Turkey's divides". The Guardian.
  18. ^ a b "Author Hasan Cemal Fired from Milliyet Newspaper". Armenian Mirror-Spectator. 20 March 2013. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
  19. ^ a b "Knights to Honor Hasan Cemal". Armenian Weekly. 13 March 2013. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
  20. ^ "Cemal Pasha's Grandson Publishes a Book, "1915 Armenian Genocide"". GenocidePreventionNow. Winter 2012. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
  21. ^ a b c "Hasan Cemal, Grandson of Cemal Pasha, Apologizes for the Genocide". The Armenian Observer. 6 April 2011. Retrieved 25 May 2013.
  22. ^ "Turkey's Gul Deems Shameful The Dismissal of Journalist That Wrote Book About Armenian Genocide". NEWS.am. 3 April 2013. Retrieved 25 May 2013. Cemal had visited Armenian capital city Yerevan's Genocide Memorial in 2008 and apologized to the Armenians for the genocide.
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