Fazıl Önder (1926 – 1958) was a

Turkish Cypriot Turkish Cypriots or Cypriot Turks ( or ; ) are so called ethnic Turks originating from Cyprus. Turkish Cypriots are mainly Sunni Muslims. Following the Ottoman conquest of the island in 1571, about 30,000 Turkish settlers were given land onc ...

journalist who was assassinated.

Biography

Fazıl Önder was born in

Omorphita Omorfita or Kuchuk Kaimakli ( ; ) is a northeastern quarter of Nicosia, Cyprus. Omorfita has been divided since Turkish invasion of Cyprus, 1974, its biggest chunk being under the ''de facto'' control of Northern Cyprus. Name It is Ομορφί ...

in 1926. He completed primary school, but was unable to attend secondary school for financial reasons. Thereafter, along with his brother Cemal, he embarked on an apprenticeship in a saddle shop. After the completion of his apprenticeship, he founded a saddle shop of his own with a business partner. From 1949 onwards, he signed up for membership to various trade unions, including the

Pancyprian Federation of Labour PEO, the Pancyprian Federation of Labour (, ), is an umbrella organization for trade unions in Cyprus, which evolved from PSE (). It was instrumental in the 1948 strikes in the mines of the Cyprus Mines Corporation and has been closely related to ...

. In 1951, he started working at the ''Turkish Literature Club (Turk Edebiyat Kulup)''. British educated lawyer

Ayhan Hikmet Ayhan Hikmet was a Turkish Cypriot who was allegedly assassinated by the Turkish paramilitary group TMT. He was a trained barrister, and editor of the Turkish Cypriot weekly newspaper ''Cumhuriyet''. On 23 April 1962, masked men broke into hi ...

, along with Ahmet Malyo,

Derviş Ali Kavazoğlu Derviş Ali Kavazoğlu (April 4, 1924 – April 11, 1965) was a Turkish Cypriot member of the left wing AKEL party who was killed in 1965 by Turkish ultranationalist paramilitary group TMT. Assassination Kavazoğlu and Kostas Misiaoulis were prop ...

, Mehmet Edisoğlu, and Önder had created this group to further educate themselves in politics, economics, and ideology, as well as encourage the spread of

socialism Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

to members and non-members alike through their activities. The organisation also served as a hub for people to be able to listen to

Radio Moscow Radio Moscow (), also known as Radio Moscow World Service, was the official international broadcasting station of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics until 1993, when it was reorganized into Voice of Russia, which was subsequently reorga ...

broadcasts, where

Nâzım Hikmet Mehmed Nâzım Ran (17 January 1902 – 3 June 1963), Note: 403 Forbidden error received 10 October 2022. commonly known as Nâzım Hikmet (), was a Turkish people, Turkish poet, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, director, and memoirist. ...

was then living in exile from his native Turkey. Önder eventually established a publication called

İnkılâpçı ''İnkılâpçı'' ("Revolutionary") was a weekly newspaper in Cyprus, closed in 1955. History İnkılâpçı ''(Revolutionary)'' was first published on 13 September 1955. The newspaper would be published for 15 weeks, in that period of time bei ...

''(Revolutionary)''. He was appointed editor, whilst Ahmet Sadi and Kavazoğlu took on columnist roles for the newspaper. İnkılâpçı published articles relevant to the Cypriot working classes and advocated the unity of

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

and

Turkish Cypriots Turkish Cypriots or Cypriot Turks ( or ; ) are so called ethnic Turks originating from Cyprus. Turkish Cypriots are mainly Sunni Muslims. Following the Ottoman conquest of the island in 1571, about 30,000 Turkish settlers were given land onc ...

, however after its fifteenth issue, it was shut down; the publication was cited as a threat to British colonial rule. Önder additionally assisted in the establishment of the ''Pedagogy Academy and Agriculture School'' in Cyprus.

Assassination

Önder was assassinated by TMT on 24 May 1958, it is believed that the order to assassinate him came because of the threat of his socialist leanings, as well as his stance against partition, favouring the idea of a united Cyprus. It has been reported that whilst Önder was initially shot, it was not fatal and the killer blow came when he attempted to overpower one of his assassins; the second member of the party stabbing him in the back during the struggle. His wife, Zehra, and daughter, Ayşe, were not permitted to be at his funeral; only his sister and two other relatives were allowed to attend. His relatives are still unable to confirm if Önder was in fact the individual buried under his name.http://www.fazilonder.org/biyografi.html His biography (

Turkish Turkish may refer to: * Something related to Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire * The w ...

)

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Onder, Fazil 1926 births 1958 deaths 20th-century Cypriot people 20th-century journalists People from Nicosia Turkish Cypriot journalists Assassinated Cypriot politicians Deaths by firearm in Cyprus Deaths by stabbing in Cyprus Assassinated Turkish Cypriot journalists People murdered in 1958 Journalists killed in Cyprus

Biography

Assassination

See also

References

External links