Altan Öymen

Mehmet Altan Öymen (born 20 June 1932) is a Turkish journalist, author and former politician.

Öymen was born on 20 June 1932.

He completed his secondary education at the Atatürk High School in Ankara.

He graduated from the School of Political Science of Ankara University.

He began his journalist career already in 1950 aged 18 and worked as a reporter, columnist and editor-in-chief long time for the major newspapers like Ulus, Akşam, Cumhuriyet and Milliyet.

In the 1960s, Altan Öymen served as the press attaché in Bonn, Federal Republic of Germany.

He entered politics in 1961 as member of the parliament that was formed after the military coup in Turkey, 1960.

He founded the press agency Anka news agency in 1972.

He was elected in 1977 as the deputy of Ankara from the Republican People's Party (CHP) to the Turkish Grand National Assembly, and became minister for tourism and public relations in the cabinet of Bülent Ecevit's second government, which lasted only one month in the summer 1977.

In the 1980s and 1990s, he was awarded several times for his journalism.

He was reelected in 1995 as the deputy of Istanbul from the CHP.

Following the resignation of Deniz Baykal from the presidency of CHP, he was elected leader on 23 May 1999.

He acted 15 months long at this post, before Deniz Baykal was reelected at the next extraordinary party congress in 2000.

Öymen resumed his journalist career, which he had interrupted during his party leadership, and wrote on political issues in his column in the newspaper Radikal.