Fahrettin Altun (born 11 September 1976,

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the Swa ...

, Germany) is a Тurkish politician, researcher, academic, member of the Justice and Development Party and head of media and communications in the Turkish presidency.

Education and early life

Altun studied

Istanbul University , image = Istanbul_University_logo.svg , image_size = 200px , latin_name = Universitas Istanbulensis , motto = tr, Tarihten Geleceğe Bilim Köprüsü , mottoeng = Science Bridge from Past to the Future , established = 1453 1846 1933 ...

Department of Sociology, graduating in 1998. He then studied at

Mimar Sinan University The Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University ( tr, Mimar Sinan Güzel Sanatlar Üniversitesi, or MSGSÜ) is a Turkish public university dedicated to higher education in the fine arts. It is located in the Fındıklı neighbourhood of Beyoğlu, Istanbul ...

and received his PhD from

in 2006. His doctoral thesis was titled “A Comparative Analysis of Media Theories of McLuhan and Baudrillard”. Besides he has been involved in the Turkish government think tank

Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research The Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research ( tr, Siyaset, Ekonomi ve Toplum Araştırmaları Vakfı, SETA) is a policy think-tank based in Ankara, Turkey. It was established in 2006 with the objective of producing "up-to-date and ...

(SETA).

Professional career

He was Head of the Department of Communication at

Istanbul Şehir University Istanbul Şehir University ( tr, İstanbul Şehir Üniversitesi, literally City University of Istanbul) was a private, non-profit university located in Istanbul, Turkey. It was established in 2008 by the Bilim ve Sanat Vakfı (BiSaV or BSV, en ...

from 2008 to 2014 and was then a faculty member at Istanbul Medeniyet University from 2015 to 2017. Altun was chief editor of the magazine ''Kriter'', and appeared as a commentator on TRT, a state owned television channel. He has written for Sabah,

Daily Sabah The ''Daily Sabah'' (lit. "Daily Morning") is a Turkish pro-government daily, published in Turkey. Available in English, Arabic, and owned by Turkuvaz Media Group, ''Daily Sabah'' published its first issue on 24 February 2014. The editor-in-chief ...

and

Akşam ''Akşam'' (''Evening'') is a Turkish newspaper founded in 1918, owned by Zeki Yeşildağ's Türk Medya Grup (T Medya Yatırım San. ve Tic. AŞ.) since 2013. In 2013 it had a circulation of around 100,000. History ''Akşams founders in 1918 incl ...

, and worked as an editor for Yöneliş and Küre publishing houses.

Political career

Altun has risen to prominence within the Тurkish government quickly since leaving academia. According to

Ahval Ahval is an Emirati-funded online news website that solely reports on Turkey. The site was launched in 2017. Turkish journalist Yavuz Baydar is the current editor-in-chief. The name ''Ahval'' means "events" and is a Turkish Arabism derivation fro ...

, "Erdoğan frequently chooses Altun over his own spokesman Ibrahim Kalın to make critical statements and manage his social media output, the former academic is seen as the top man in the Presidency." He is seen as being close to former Economy minister and Erdogan's son in law

Berat Albayrak Berat Albayrak ( born 21 February 1978) is a Turkish businessman and former politician, and the son-in-law of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. He is a former CEO of Çalık Holding. He was a member of parliament from Istanbul in the 25th ...

and his family. Altun strongly criticized French President

Emmanuel Macron Emmanuel Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France since 2017. ''Ex officio'', he is also one of the two Co-Princes of Andorra. Prior to his presidency, Macron served as Minister of Econo ...

over his remarks on 'separatist Islam', following terrorist attacks in France. Altun said the remarks were "yet another example of a desperate European politician vying for relevance". Altun also said that European attitudes towards Muslims were reminiscent of the "demonization of the European Jewry in the 1920s." Following a raid on the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) office in

Esenyurt Esenyurt () is a district of the Istanbul Province and is a part of the metropolitan municipality of Istanbul. Located in the European side of Istanbul, Esenyurt borders with Avcılar and Lake Küçükçekmece on the east, Büyükçekmece on t ...

, he equated the HDP with the

Kurdistan Workers' Party The Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK is a Kurdish militant political organization and armed guerrilla movement, which historically operated throughout Kurdistan, but is now primarily based in the mountainous Kurdish-majority regions of south ...

(PKK).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Altun, Fahrettin 1976 births Living people Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University alumni Istanbul University alumni Academic staff of Istanbul Şehir University Turkish politicians Academic staff of Istanbul Medeniyet University Politicians from Stuttgart