Final Months Marked by Relentless Activism
Despite his advanced age, Öymen remained a visible presence on Turkey’s streets throughout the past year, standing at the front of “Protect the People’s Will” rallies that erupted after the imprisonment of Istanbul Metropolitan Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu. Eyewitnesses frequently noted the nonagenarian’s determination to attend marches and public meetings from start to finish, a punishing schedule that eventually took a toll on his health.
A Life in Politics
• Öymen first joined the CHP as a university student in 1950 and entered the Constituent Assembly in 1961.
• In the 1977 general election, he became CHP deputy for Ankara and was appointed Minister of Tourism and Promotion in Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit’s 40th government.
• He later served as CHP parliamentary group deputy chair, member of Turkey’s delegation to the Council of Europe, and deputy secretary-general of the party.
• Returning to parliament as an Istanbul MP in 1995, Öymen was elected CHP chairman at the party’s extraordinary convention on May 23, 1999, a post he held for 15 months. His defeat by his predecessor, Deniz Baykal, at the September 2000 convention remains one of the rare instances in Turkish politics where an incumbent party leader lost a leadership vote while still in office.
A Distinguished Journalism Career
Born on June 20, 1932, in Istanbul, Mehmet Altan Öymen began reporting for Ulus newspaper as a parliamentary correspondent. Over the next six decades, he served as Ankara bureau chief of Tercüman, editor-in-chief of Yeni Gün and Öncü, and columnist for Akşam, Cumhuriyet, and Radikal, while holding multiple senior roles at Milliyet, including editor-in-chief, chief columnist, and board member. In 1972, he founded ANKA News Agency, which he directed until 1979, during which time he also produced radio and television documentaries for domestic and international broadcasters. Öymen also spent four years in Bonn as press attaché at the Turkish Embassy.
Until his final illness, he continued to write weekly columns for Cumhuriyet, solidifying his reputation for incisive analysis of Turkish politics, grounded in firsthand experience.
Personal Life and Tributes
Fluent in German and French, Öymen was married to Aysel Öymen and was the father of two children. CHP leader Özgür Özel, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, and numerous colleagues from the press corps issued messages of condolence, praising “Altan Abi” as “a fearless democrat, a principled journalist and a statesman whose life embodied the struggle for civil liberties.”
Photo: Cumhuriyet