Abdi İpekçi

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Memorial for Abdi İpekçi near the place where he was murdered

Abdi İpekçi (August 9, 1929 - February 1, 1979) was a Turkish journalist, intellectual and an activist for human rights. He was assassinated while editor-in-chief of the major Turkish newspaper Milliyet.

Abdi İpekçi was born in İstanbul, Turkey. After finishing high school at Galatasaray Lisesi in 1948, he attended Law School at İstanbul University for a while. He started his professional career as a sports reporter for the newspaper Yeni Sabah, and transferred later to Yeni İstanbul. In 1954, he entered the newspaper Milliyet as its publishing manager, and was promoted to editor-in-chief in 1959.

A highly respected journalist, he was a proponent of the separation of religion and state, and an advocate of a dialogue and conciliation with Greece, as well as of human rights for the various minorities in Turkey.

[edit] Assassination

On February 1, 1979, a member of the ultra-nationalist Grey Wolves, Mehmet Ali Ağca, murdered Abdi İpekçi in his car on the way back home from his office in front of his apartment building in İstanbul. Ağca was caught due to an informant and was sentenced to life in prison. After serving six months in a military prison in İstanbul, Ağca escaped with the help of the Grey Wolves and fled to Bulgaria, which was then a base of operation for the Turkish mafia.

According to reporter Lucy Komisar, Mehmet Ali Ağca had worked with Abdullah Çatlı in this 1979 assassination, who "then reportedly helped organize Ağca's escape from the prison, and some have suggested Çatlı was even involved in the Pope's assassination attempt". Ağca later became famous for his failed assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II on May 13, 1981. According to Reuters, Ağca had "escaped with suspected help from sympathizers in the security services" ^[1].

Abdi İpekçi was survived by his wife Sibel, daughter Nükhet and son Sedat. Turkey's largest sports arena, located in Zeytinburnu, İstanbul, and the street in which he was assassinated, are named after him.