Cigdem Akyol (born October 1978) is a German journalist and author of Turkish-Kurdish ancestry.
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Biography
Akyols parents moved from Turkey to Germany in 1973 and settled in the Ruhr region
The Ruhr ( ; , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr Area, sometimes Ruhr District, Ruhr Region, or Ruhr Valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 1,160/km2 and a populatio ...
in Herne. Akyol grew up in Herne, where she attended the Haranni- Gymnasium (high school). After her graduation in 1998 she studied international law and Eastern European history at the University of Cologne
The University of Cologne () is a university in Cologne, Germany. It was established in 1388. It closed in 1798 before being re-established in 1919. It is now one of the largest universities in Germany with around 45,187 students. The Universit ...
. Then she moved to Berlin to attend a journalism school and began working as a journalist. From 2006 to 2014, she worked for Berlin-based national German newspaper ''Die Tageszeitung
''Die Tageszeitung'' (, "The Daily Newspaper"), stylized as ''die tageszeitung'' and commonly referred to as ''taz'', is a German daily newspaper. It is run as a cooperative – it is administered by its employees and a co-operative of sharehol ...
'', for which she often reported from abroad. In 2014, she accepted a temporary position the Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH (abbreviated as dpa; ) is a German news agency founded in 1949. Based in Hamburg, it has grown to be a major worldwide operation serving print media, radio, television, online, mobile phones, and national news agen ...
offered in 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 ...
. After the completion of her term she remained in Istanbul working as a freelance journalist and book author.
In 2015, she published a book about Turkey in the 21st century, describing it as a conflicted split society and in 2016 she followed it up with an extensive biography of the Turkish politician and president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician who is the 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as the 25th prime minister of Turkey, prime minister from 2003 to 2014 as part of the Jus ...
.[''"Ich wollte nie in die Türkei"'']
- biography at lokalkompass.de (German, retrieved 30 May 2016, archived version)
Since 2019, Akyol has been a staff writer
In journalism, a staff writer byline indicates that the author of the article is an employee of the periodical, as opposed to being an independent freelance writer. In Britain, staff writers may work in the office instead of traveling to cover a ...
at the Swiss weekly WOZ.
Books
*''Generation Erdogan. Die Türkei – ein zerrissenes Land im 21. Jahrhundert''. Kremayr & Scheriau, 2015,
*'' Erdogan: Die Biografie''. Herder, 2016,
* ''Die gespaltene Republik. Die Türkei von Atatürk bis Erdoğan'', S. Fischer 2023, Frankfurt a. M. April 2023,
*''Geliebte Mutter – Canım Annem''. Steidl, 2024, (novel)
References
External links
Official website''Autorin im Porträt: Cigdem Akyol''
- biographical portrait at kremayr-scheriau.at (German)
- biography at lokalkompass.de (German, archived version)
at Perlentaucher (German)
''Cigdem Akyol - Die Erdogan-Biografin''
- interview broadcast by ARD (German)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Akyol, Cigdem
German women journalists
German newspaper journalists
German reporters and correspondents
People from Herne, North Rhine-Westphalia
1978 births
Living people
Die Tageszeitung people