Altan Öymen
Altan Öymen is a Turkish journalist, author and former politician.Biography
He graduated from the School of Political Science of Ankara University. He began his journalist career already in 1950 at age of 18, and worked as reporter, columnist and editor-in-chief long time for the major newspapers like Ulus, Akşam, Cumhuriyet and Milliyet. He founded the press agency Anka news agency in 1972. In the 1960s, Altan Öymen served as the press attaché in Bonn, Federal Republic of Germany.
He entered politics in 1961 as member of the parliament that was formed after the military coup in Turkey, 1960. He was elected in 1977 as the deputy of Ankara from the Republican People's Party to the Turkish Grand National Assembly, and became minister for tourism and public relations in the cabinet of Bülent Ecevit's second government, which lasted only one month in the summer 1977. He was reelected in 1995 as the deputy of Istanbul from the CHP.
Following the resignation of Deniz Baykal from the presidency of CHP, he was elected leader on May 23, 1999. He acted 15 months long at this post, before Deniz Baykal was reelected at the next extraordinary party congress in 2000.
Altan Öymen resumed his journalist career, which he had interrupted during his party leadership, and is currently writing on political issues in his column in the newspaper Radikal.
In the 1980s and 1990s, he was awarded several times for his journalism.
