Mehmet Ali Birand (9 December 1941 – 17 January 2013) was a Turkish journalist, political commentator and writer.

Biography

He was born to İzzet and his wife Mürvet on 9 December 1941 in

Beyoğlu Beyoğlu (; ) is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of Istanbul Province, Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 9 km2, and its population is 225,920 (2022). It is on the European side of Istanbul, Turkey, separated from the o ...

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

. His mother's father, Şerif Bey, was of

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish language ** Northern Kurdish (Kurmanji) **Central Kurdish (Sorani) **Southern Kurdish ** Laki Kurdish *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern ...

descent from

Palu, Elazığ Palu (; ; ) is a town of Elazığ Province of Turkey. It is the seat of Palu District.İlçe ...

. Şerif Bey settled in Ereğli, Zonguldak, and married there a Turkish woman named Seniye Hanım. Birand's maternal uncle was a diplomat,

Mahmut Dikerdem Mahmut Dikerdem (1916–1993) was a Kurdish-Turkish diplomat, writer and peace activist. He served as ambassador of Turkey in Jordan, Iran, Ghana, and India. He is known for being the founder and president of the Turkish Peace Association which w ...

. He completed his high school education at

Galatasaray High School Galatasaray High School (, ), established in Istanbul in 1481, is the oldest and Selective school, highly selective high school in Turkey. It is also the second-oldest Turkish educational institution after Istanbul University, which was establi ...

Career

Birand began his journalism career in 1964 by writing in the newspaper ''

Milliyet ''Milliyet'' ( Turkish for "''nationality''") is a daily newspaper published in Istanbul, Turkey. History and profile ''Milliyet'' came to publishing life at the Nuri Akça press in Babıali, Istanbul as a daily private newspaper on 3 May 1950 ...

''. In 1992, he joined

Show TV Show TV is a Turkish free-to-air national television channel, established in 1991 by Erol Aksoy, Dinç Bilgin, Haldun Simavi and Erol Simavi, owned by the Can Holding. History The channel replaces Cine5's now-defunct frequencies, and it was ...

as a news presenter. Birand began hosting a political show titled ''

32. Gün ''32. Gün'' () was a Turkish national and international television news show. Launched in 1985 by Mehmet Ali Birand, it was Turkey's longest-running and one of the most influential news programmes. The show was originally aired on state-owned T ...

'' (The 32nd Day), which was first on TRT in 1985 and then moved to other private TV channels as

CNN Türk Cable News Network Türk (known as CNN Türk) is a Turkish free-to-air television news channel, launched on 11 October 1999 as the local affiliate of American channel CNN. It broadcasts exclusively for Turkey and it is owned by Demirören Grou ...

and Show TV. He also presented the daily news on CNN Türk. Before his death in 2013, he worked at

Kanal D Kanal D (English: Channel D) is a nationwide television channel in Turkey that is part of Demirören Group. It was founded by Ayhan Şahenk and Aydın Doğan in 1993. The network has also run an international channel, Euro D, since 1996, whic ...

, hosting the news. He also authored several books including ''30 Sıcak Gün'', ''Diyet'', ''Türkiye'nin Avrupa Macerası'', ''12 Eylül 04.00'' and ''Emret Komutanım''. Birand was also a member of

Galatasaray Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Galatasaray and familiarly as Cimbom, is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul including basketball, wheelchair ...

's board and uncommitted governance council. In 2006, he said that

JITEM Jandarma İstihbarat ve Terörle Mücadele or Jandarma İstihbarat Teşkilatı (abbr. ''JİTEM'' or ''JİT''; English: "Gendarmerie Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism" or "Gendarmerie Intelligence Organization") is the intelligence department of ...

had asked

Mahmut Yıldırım Mahmut Yıldırım (born 3 May 1953) is a Turkish counter-guerrilla and spy of Zaza origin. Yildirim, who identified himself to the public as Ahmet Demir but was called by the code-name ''Yeşil'' among intelligence, disappeared in 1998.''Sabah ...

(''Yeşil'') to assassinate him, but that the operation was later cancelled, after Yıldırım had already investigated Birand's home security. Birand said that MIT chief

Şenkal Atasagun Şenkal Atasagun (born 17 August 1941) is a former Turkish civil servant. He was head of the National Intelligence Organization (, MİT) from 1998 to 2005. Biography Atasagun was born in Kars on 17 August 1941. He joined MIT in 1967 after gr ...

was one of those who had told him of this episode.

Death

Birand died on 17 January 2013 from complications of gallbladder surgery to replace a

stent In medicine, a stent is a tube usually constructed of a metallic alloy or a polymer. It is inserted into the Lumen (anatomy), lumen (hollow space) of an anatomic vessel or duct to keep the passageway open. Stenting refers to the placement of ...

at the American Hospital in Istanbul. He had been receiving cancer treatment for a while. He was 71 years old.

Newspapers worked for

* 1964–1992 ''

'' * 1992–1998 ''

Sabah Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah has land borders with the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and Indonesia's North Kalima ...

'' * 1999–2013 '' Posta'' * 2001–2013 ''

Hürriyet ''Hürriyet'' (, ''Liberty'') is a major List of newspapers in Turkey, Turkish newspaper, founded in 1948. it had the highest circulation of any newspaper in Turkey at around 319,000. ''Hürriyet'' combines entertainment with news coverage and ...

'' * 2001–2011 ''Milliyet''

Works

*''Diyet'' *''Türkiye'nin Avrupa Macerası'' *''30 Sıcak Gün'' *''12 Eylül 04.00'' ** in English: ''The generals' coup in Turkey - An inside story of 12 September 1980'' *''Emret Komutanım'' *''32. Gün'' *''10 Yılın Perde Arkası'' *''Mehmet Ali Birand'' *''Milliyet Yayınları / Aktüel Kitaplar Dizisi'' *''Nasreddin Hodja''

Notes

External links

A short biography of Mehmet Ali BirandMehmet Ali Birand's Hürriyet archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Birand, Mehmet Ali 1941 births 2013 deaths People from Beyoğlu Milliyet people 20th-century Turkish journalists 21st-century Turkish writers Turkish people of Kurdish descent Turkish broadcast news analysts Galatasaray High School alumni Hürriyet people Sabah (newspaper) people Galatasaray S.K. board members Turkish television journalists Posta (newspaper) people Deaths from pancreatic cancer in Turkey 21st-century Turkish journalists Burials at Anadoluhisarı Cemetery