Prof Dr Mehmet Altan

Westminster Debate ‘Ergenekon and the Other Side of the Story’

Prof. Dr. Mehmet Altan is an academic, economist, journalist, and author of over 25 books. Altan holds a BA in economics from Istanbul University (1979) and MA and Ph.D. from Sorbonne University (1979-1984). He studied the relations between Turkey and IMF and Turkey’s relations with the USA and the Soviet Union. He worked at a private firm and ‘Turk Haberler Ajansi’ and he was the daily Cumhuriyet’s Paris correspondent during his studies. A collection of essays that he wrote in Paris was published in a book called ‘Kanatli Karinca’ in 1985. Following the success of this book which received an award from Akademi Kitabevi, Altan wrote his academic work ‘Superler ve Turkiye’ in 1986. Mehmet Altan has worked at the Faculty of Economics, Istanbul University since 1986, first as assistant professor, then associate professor (1987) and full professor (1993). He wrote in the daily Sabah (1987-2006) and worked as an editor-in-chief in the daily Star until 2012.