Fehmi Koru (born 24 July 1950, in

İzmir İzmir is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara. It is on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, and is the capital of İzmir Province. In 2024, the city of İzmir had ...

) is a Turkish journalist and columnist.

Background

Koru studied

theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

at the Institute of High Islamic Studies, Izmir/Turkey (1973), and received his master's degree from the Center for Middle Eastern Studies of

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

(1982), in between he spent 15 months in London (1977–1978) to study English and a year in Damascus/Syria to improve his Arabic, at Dar-es Selam Arabic Language Center (1979). He also worked as a research affiliate at the Center for International Studies of

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

(1980–1982).

Career

Served as a consultant in the State Planning Organisation (1985–1986). He was the editor of the daily '' Milli Gazete'' (1984) and worked at daily Zaman from its inception (1986), first as the editor in chief (1986–1987) then as the chief editorial writer as well as Ankara Bureau Chief (1995–1998). He wrote for ‘Turkish Daily News’ (1999–2000), and ‘The New Anatolian’ (2006); both are English language dailies. He then joined in daily Yeni Şafak as Ankara Bureau Chief (1999) and was also its chief columnist until 2010. He later joined Daily

Star A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by Self-gravitation, self-gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night sk ...

(2011–2014). He was a columnist in the daily Haberturk (2014–2016). Currently, he is a freelance writer and blogger. He continues writing on hi
personal webpage
He was a regular commentator on Turkish TV Kanal-7 (1995–2015). He has appeared regularly on various TV political programs: He was the recipient of several prestigious press awards including one from Turkish Journalists Association (2003) and another from Progressive Journalists Association of Turkey (2003). He participated in many scholarly symposia and meetings in and out of Turkey, attended to Bilderberg Conference of 2006.

Books

His journalistic work has been published in seven books in Turkish and one in English. * Ben Böyle Gördüm: Cemaat'in Siyasetle Sınavı (Thus I Have Seen: Test Case for Gülen Group in Politics) * Mekke'de Ne Oldu? (What Happened in Mecca) * Taha Kıvanç'ın Not Defteri (Diary of Taha Kivanc) * Terör ve Güneydoğu Sorunu (Terror and the Kurdish Problem) * Yeni Dünya Düzeni (New World Order) * Tabana Kuvvet (On the Road) * 11 Eylül: O Kader Sabahı (9/11: That Fateful Morning) * One Column Ahead His article ‘Democracy and Islam: The Turkish Experiment’ came out in Sept/Oct 1996 issue of ‘Muslim Politics Report’ of the

Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank focused on Foreign policy of the United States, U.S. foreign policy and international relations. Founded in 1921, it is an independent and nonpartisan 501(c)(3) nonprofit organi ...

Personal life

He is married with Dr. Nebahat Koru and has five children. His brother Naci Koru is currently Deputy Foreign Minister, and he previously served as Turkey's Ambassador in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He will takeover his position as permanent representative of Turkey in United Nations Office in Geneve. While he was in London he shared a flat with

Abdullah Gül Abdullah Gül (; ; born 29 October 1950) is a Turkish politician who served as the 11th president of Turkey from 2007 to 2014. He previously served for four months as Prime Minister of Turkey, Prime Minister from 2002 to 2003, and concurrently s ...

, who later on became Prime Minister and then President of Republic of Turkey.

Notes

* Koru has used several aliases, Taha Kıvanç is the most known of all.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Koru, Fehmi 1950 births Living people Writers from İzmir Turkish journalists Imam Hatip school alumni Harvard University alumni Yeni Şafak people