Oktay Ekşi

Osman Oktay Ekşi (born 7 December 1932) is a Turkish journalist, author and politician. He has spent much of his career at the newspaper Hürriyet, and was its chief columnist from 1974 to 1983 and from 1985 to 2010. A founding member and Vice Chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SODEP), he was elected as a member of Parliament for the Republican People's Party in the 2011 general election.

Journalism career

He started his journalism career as a reporter for the Ankara News Agency (ANKA) in 1952. Between 1952 and 1954, he was the Ankara Correspondent for Dünya, a daily newspaper. He served as Ankara Bureau Chief of Dünya between 1954 and 1960.

After serving as Local Secretary at the Turkish Consulate General in London from 1962 to 1996, he returned to Turkey in 1966 to take up a job as Ankara Bureau Chief of Yeni Gazete daily (an affiliation of Hürriyet daily) which lasted until 1970. After working one year (between 1970-1971) at the Turkish Radio and Television Network (TRT) he joined Hurriyet newspaper in 1971 as Ankara correspondent. He became Ankara Bureau Chief in 1972 and in 1974 he was appointed as the Chief (Leading) Columnist of Hürriyet. He fulfilled this position until 1983, during which time (between 1974 and 1982) he was General Manager of Hürriyet News Agency.

In 1984, he became Chief (Leading) Columnist of Güneş daily and after rejoining Hürriyet in 1985, served as Chief (Leading) Columnist until 2010. Oktay Ekşi resigned from Hürriyet daily when one of his articles was taken as an insult by the Prime Minister in 2010. Ekşi referred to members of the government as having a “mindset willing to sell one’s own mother” — the phrase in Turkish is highly offensive — when criticizing Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Taner Yıldız and Environment Minister Veysel Eroğlu over a government project to build a hydroelectric complex in Rize.^[1]

From 1988 to 2010, Oktay Ekşi was The Chairman and Leading Founding Member of the (Turkish) Press Council. He was also the Vice Chairman and Founding Member of the World Association of Press Councils (WAPC) from 1992 to 2002. In 2002, he was elected President of the WAPC, a position which he served until 2009. Also between 1996 and 1998 he was the Founding Chairman and Leading Founding Member of Basın Enstitüsü Derneği (the National Committee of International Press Institute) (IPI).

Political career

In 1961, he was elected as a member of the Constituent Assembly which wrote the Turkish Constitution of 1961. Between 1962 and 1966, he served as Local Secretary at the Turkish Consulate General in London.

In 1983 until 1984, he served as Vice Chairman and founding member of the Social Democratic Party (SODEP).

He was elected as a member of Parliament for the Republican People's Party in the 2011 general election. He chaired the opening session of the 24th parliamentary term. as the oldest MP.

Awards

Oktay Eksi received numerous awards from various journalistic associations. In addition, he was awarded the Paul Harris Award by the 2430 Region of Rotary International in 1997. In 2003, Istanbul University gave Oktay Eksi an Honorary Doctorate and in 2006 he was given a Distinguished Service Award by Middle East Technical University.

Personal life

Oktay Eksi is married to Professor Dr. Aysel Ekşi. He has two sons and two grandchildren.

References