Gökşin Sipahioğlu (28 December 1926 – 5 October 2011) was a

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 ...

photographer and journalist who founded the Paris-based photo agency

Sipa Press Sipa Press is a French photo agency based in Paris. Overview It was founded in 1973 by the Turkish news photographer and photojournalist Gökşin Sipahioğlu together with American writer Phyllis Springer, concentrating their focus on photojourn ...

. He spent most of his life in Paris where the French media dubbed him "le Grand Turc". He also helped found the Kadiköy Sports Club, now best known for the

Efes Pilsen Anadolu Efes Biracılık ve Malt Sanayii A.Ş.'' (lit. Anadolu Efes Brewery and Malt Industries)'' produces and markets beer and malt and non-alcoholic beverages in Turkey, the United States, Russia, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), E ...

basketball team. He was the editor of the ''Istanbul Express'' and played an active role in the riot against non-Muslims of Turkey on 6 and 7 September 1955. In an interview conducted in 1991 regarding the 1955 riots a brigadier general stated: "The attacks of 6/7 September were certainly planned by the Special Operations Unit. It was an extremely premediated operation and it accomplished its objective. Let me ask you; wasn't it a (sic) extraordinarily successful action?"

Early life and education

Sipahioğlu was born on 28 December 1926, 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 ...

, Turkey. He attended the

Lycée Saint-Joseph In France, secondary education is in two stages: * ''Collèges'' () cater for the first four years of secondary education from the ages of 11 to 14. * ''Lycées'' () provide a three-year course of further secondary education for students between ...

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 ...

and later studied journalism at

Istanbul University Istanbul University, also known as University of Istanbul (), is a Public university, public research university located in Istanbul, Turkey. Founded by Mehmed II on May 30, 1453, a day after Fall of Constantinople, the conquest of Constantinop ...

Career

Sipahioğlu became a frontline photojournalist from the 1950s onwards. He received international recognition for his 1956 photos of wounded Egyptian soldiers after Israel invaded the

Sinai Peninsula The Sinai Peninsula, or simply Sinai ( ; ; ; ), is a peninsula in Egypt, and the only part of the country located in Asia. It is between the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Red Sea to the south, and is a land bridge between Asia and Afri ...

during the

Suez crisis The Suez Crisis, also known as the Second Arab–Israeli War, the Tripartite Aggression in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel, was a British–French–Israeli invasion of Egypt in 1956. Israel invaded on 29 October, having done so w ...

. Sipahioğlu was one of the few Western reporters or photographers in

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Cuban Missile Crisis The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis () in Cuba, or the Caribbean Crisis (), was a 13-day confrontation between the governments of the United States and the Soviet Union, when American deployments of Nuclear weapons d ...

in 1962 . He conveyed the tension of the time and many of his photographs of the crisis appeared on the front pages of many world newspapers. In 1968 Sipahioğlu's photographs of riots in Paris, between police and student protesters, became enduring images of the uprising. This led him to work for the international photo agencies

Black Star Black Star or Blackstar may refer to: Astronomy *Black star (semiclassical gravity), a theoretical star built using semiclassical gravity as an alternative to a black hole *Saturn, referred to as "Black Star" in ancient Judaeic belief *Black dwarf ...

and

Gamma Gamma (; uppercase , lowercase ; ) is the third letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 3. In Ancient Greek, the letter gamma represented a voiced velar stop . In Modern Greek, this letter normally repr ...

. In 1972 he was sent to

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

to cover the

Olympics The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a variety of competit ...

where he chronicled the Palestinian attack on Israeli athletes. The recognition for these pictures led him to launch

the following year, in 1973, along with his partner Phyllis Springer. Sipa went on to represent some of the world's best known photographers. In 2001 he sold Sipa Press to Sud Communication, owned by the industrialist Pierre Fabre, but stayed on as chairman until his retirement in 2003.

Awards and recognition

In January 2007, the French president

Jacques Chirac Jacques René Chirac (, ; ; 29 November 193226 September 2019) was a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He was previously Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and 1986 to 1988, as well as Mayor of Pari ...

appointed Sipahioğlu

Knight of the Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and civil. Currently consisting of five classes, it was ...

Personal life

Sipahioğlu married Phyllis Springer in 2002. He died on Monday 5 October 2011, in a hospital in Paris at the age of 84.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sipahioglu, Göksin 1926 births 2011 deaths French people of Turkish descent People from İzmir French photojournalists Turkish photographers Turkish photojournalists St. Joseph High School Istanbul alumni Istanbul pogrom