İlhan Selçuk (11 March 1925 – 21 June 2010) was a Turkish

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solicit ...

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

, author,

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire ...

and

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, or ...

Biography

Selcuk was born in the western Turkish

Aydın Province Aydın Province ( tr, ) is a province of southwestern Turkey, located in the Aegean Region. The provincial capital is the city of Aydın which has a population of almost 200,000 (2012). Other towns in the province include the summer seaside res ...

in 1925. His mother, who was Armenian, hid her Armenian roots. He earned a

law degree A law degree is an academic degree conferred for studies in law. Such degrees are generally preparation for legal careers. But while their curricula may be reviewed by legal authority, they do not confer a license themselves. A legal license is gra ...

from

Istanbul University , image = Istanbul_University_logo.svg , image_size = 200px , latin_name = Universitas Istanbulensis , motto = tr, Tarihten Geleceğe Bilim Köprüsü , mottoeng = Science Bridge from Past to the Future , established = 1453 1846 1933 ...

in 1950. He began writing for magazines and newspapers after his graduation. He also authored numerous books and

novels A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itself ...

. His works included ''Ağlamak ve Gülmek'' (''Laughing and Crying''), ''Japon Gülü'' (''Japanese Rose''), ''Ziverbey Köşku'' (''Ziverbey Mansion''), ''Güzel Amerikalı'' (''The Beautiful American'') and ''Düşünüyorum Öyleyse Vurun'' (''I Think, Therefore Shoot Me''). Selcuk was cofounder of a political magazine, ''

Yön ''Yön'' ( Turkish: ''Direction'') was a weekly Turkish political magazine published between 1961 and 1967. It was a Kemalist and leftist magazine. In fact, ''Yön'' was more than a publication in that its contributors represented a political mov ...

'', which was in circulation between 1961 and 1967. He was detained and tortured at the Ziverbey Villa after the

1971 Turkish coup d'état The 1971 Turkish military memorandum ( tr, 12 Mart Muhtırası), issued on 12 March that year, was the second military intervention to take place in the Republic of Turkey, coming 11 years after its 1960 predecessor. It is known as the "coup by m ...

. Selcuk was the

editor in chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

of the ''

Cumhuriyet ''Cumhuriyet'' (; English: " Republic") is the oldest up-market Turkish daily newspaper. It has been described as "the most important independent public interest newspaper in contemporary Turkey". The newspaper was awarded the ''Freedom of Pr ...

'', a

secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negativ ...

Turkish

daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, spor ...

. He was detained on 21 March 2008, as part of the

Ergenekon Ergenekon (sometimes spelled ''Ergeneqon'', mn, Эргүнэ хун, Ergüne khun) is a founding myth of Turkic and Mongolic peoples.

investigation. Colleagues and opposition politicians, including Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the leader of the

Republican People's Party The Republican People's Party ( tr, Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi, , acronymized as CHP ) is a Kemalist and social-democratic political party in Turkey which currently stands as the main opposition party. It is also the oldest political party i ...

, blamed Selcuk's detention and investigation for Selcuk's declining health and death. Selcuk was released the following day and placed on trial without an arrest. İlhan Selçuk died in

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

multiple organ failure Multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) is altered organ function in an acutely ill patient requiring medical intervention to achieve homeostasis. Although Irwin and Rippe cautioned in 2005 that the use of "multiple organ failure" or "multisy ...

on 21 June 2010, at the age of 85. He had been hospitalized at the Vehbi Koç Foundation American Hospital since 24 January 2010, for treatment of ischemic brain disease and a recent

stroke A stroke is a disease, medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemorr ...

. Selçuk was buried in the Hacıbektaş district of

Nevşehir Nevşehir (from the Persian compound ''Now-shahr'' meaning "new city"), formerly Neapolis (Ancient Greek: Νεάπολις) and Muşkara, is a largely modern city and the capital district of Nevşehir Province in the Central Anatolia Region of ...

next to his brother, Turhan Selçuk, a

caricaturist A caricaturist is an artist who specializes in drawing caricatures. List of caricaturists * Abed Abdi (born 1942) * Al Hirschfeld (1903–2003) * Alex Gard (1900–1948) * Alexander Saroukhan (1898–1977) * Alfred Grévin (1827–1892) * Al ...

who died in March 2010.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Selcuk, Ilhan 20th-century novelists 1925 births 2010 deaths Cumhuriyet people Istanbul University Faculty of Law alumni People from Aydın Turkish magazine founders Turkish newspaper editors Turkish novelists Turkish people of Armenian descent Turkish socialists