Aydoğan Vatandaş
Aydoğan Vatandaş (born 1974) is an investigative journalist from Turkey, specializing in religion, military affairs and US-Mideast politics. He is the author of 11 books, many of which have become bestsellers in Turkey.[1]
Life & work
He attended the Turkish "Naval High School"' and later attended the Turkish "Naval War College", where he won a national youth poetry prize. He resigned from college in 1995 to begin working at the weekly newsmagazine Aksiyon and later enrolled at Fatih University. A year later, he published his first book: "Armageddon", about U.S. foreign policy in the Mideast and its influence on Turkish interests in Iraq. Using classified Turkish military documents, he revealed American intentions to help establish an independent Kurdish state in Northern Iraq. He was brought to trial by the Turkish military for this book, but was later found innocent.
While still in Turkey, he hosted a weekly TV discussion program called "Black Box". He has his Master's degree in Media Studies at The New School in Manhattan. He is also a reporter and columnist for the Cihan News Agency, and his commentaries can be read in Today's Zaman.[2][3]
His 2005 book on ASALA claimed that some assassinations ascribed to the group were actually carried out by intelligence agencies. It mentions the 1982 assassination of Bora Süelkan in Bulgaria, alleging a case of mistaken identity: the target was actually intelligence officer Mehmet Eymür, then active in Bulgaria.[4]
Books (in Turkish)
- ASALA Operations, 2005 (Alfa): an investigation into an Armenian militant group linked to the murders of Turkish diplomats between 1975-84.
- Secret of Barnabas, 2007 (Timaş, Fiction) Based on a true story, it tells about an early Aramaic gospel found in a tomb in the early 80's in Hakkâri, a city in southern Turkey.
- Apokrifal, 2008 (Timaş) One year later, he interviewed a professor of Aramaic about how the gospel was discovered and the criminal activities surrounding it.
- Monşer, 2009 (Timaş) The story of a powerful Turkish family involved in the formation of the modern Turkish state.
Books (in English)
- "Reporting From The Bridge" 2012(Blue Dome Press) Selected Interviews conducted in the U.S particularly on media and politics.
References
http://www.todayszaman.com/newsDetail_getNewsById.action?load=detay&link=225411