Orhan Birgit (13 July 1927 – 15 October 2019) was a Turkish lawyer, politician and journalist. He was a member of the Republican People's Party (CHP) and served as the minister of tourism in the first cabinet of

Bülent Ecevit Mustafa Bülent Ecevit (; 28 May 1925 – 5 November 2006) was a Turkish politician, statesman, poet, writer, scholar, and journalist, who served as the Prime Minister of Turkey four times between 1974 and 2002. He served as prime minister in ...

in 1974. He was one of the deputies of the party. He contributed to the leading newspapers, including ''

Ulus Ulus may refer to: Places *Ulus, Bartın, a district in Bartin Province, Turkey *Ulus, Ankara, an important quarter in central Ankara, Turkey **Ulus (Ankara Metro), an underground station of the Ankara Metro Other uses * ''Ulus'' (newspaper), a d ...

'' and '' Cumhuriyet''.

Early life and education

Birgit was born in

Kars Kars (; ku, Qers; ) is a city in northeast Turkey and the capital of Kars Province. Its population is 73,836 in 2011. Kars was in the ancient region known as ''Chorzene'', (in Greek Χορζηνή) in classical historiography ( Strabo), part of ...

on 13 July 1927. His father was a civil servant. He received a degree in law from

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 ...

Career and activities

Following his graduation Birgit worked as a lawyer and a journalist. His first journalist work was for a local newspaper entitled ''Akın'' based in

Mersin Mersin (), also known as İçel, is a large city and a port on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast of southern Turkey. It is the provincial capital of Mersin Province, Mersin (İçel) Province. It is made up of four municipalities and dis ...

. In 1946 he joined the CHP. He was one of the contributors of ''Ulus'', ''Memleket'' and ''Yeni Sabah''. Birgit was a member of executive board of the Association of Turkish Cyprus (Turkish: Kıbrıs Türktür Cemiyeti (KTC)) which had been established in August 1954 to support the rights of the Turkish minority in

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

against the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

and other organisations. He was arrested during the Istanbul pogrom on 7 September 1955 due to his KTC membership and was acquitted on all counts. In 1958 he established a weekly news magazine, ''Kim'', with Şahap Balcıoğlu,

Ali İhsan Göğüş Ali İhsan Göğüş (1923 – 22 July 2011) was a Turkish journalist, politician and former government minister. Life Ali İhsan Göğüş was born in Gaziantep in 1923. He completed the Kabataş High School in Istanbul, and graduated from th ...

and Özcan Ergüder. In the 1965 general election Birgit became a deputy for the CHP. Next year

was elected as the CHP secretary general, and Birgit was elected as a member of the central committee of the party in the congress. Güneş was part of the left of center group in the central committee. In the first cabinet of Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit Birgit was named as the minister of tourism and the speaker of the cabinet serving in the post between January and November 1974. Following the military coup in 1980 Birgit worked as a journalist for '' Dünya'' and ''

Hürriyet ''Hürriyet'' (, ''Liberty'') is one of the major Turkish newspapers, founded in 1948. , it had the highest circulation of any newspaper in Turkey at around 319,000. ''Hürriyet'' has a mainstream, liberal and conservative outlook. ''Hürriyet ...

''. In 1991 he was again elected to the Parliament from Istanbul for the Democratic Left Party led by Bülent Ecevit. He also taught at faculty of communications of several universities, including Galatasaray University, Istanbul University and Anadolu University. Then Birgit joined the ''Cumhuriyet'' newspaper. He was author of the following books: ''Herşey çok güzel olacak'' (Turkish: Everything will be great), ''Kalbur saman içinde'' (Turkish: Griddle in straw) and ''Evvel zaman içinde'' (Turkish: Once upon a time). Birgit also directed a documentary entitled ''Ermenek – Çamlıbel kültür çadırları'' ( tr, Ermenek – Çamlıbel culture tents) with Behlül Dal.

Personal life and death

Birgit was married and had a daughter. He died in Istanbul on 15 October 2019. He was buried in Edirnekapı Sakızağacı cemetery in Istanbul on 17 October.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Birgit, Orhan 20th-century Turkish lawyers 20th-century Turkish journalists 1927 births 2019 deaths People from Kars Istanbul University Faculty of Law alumni Members of the 15th Parliament of Turkey Republican People's Party (Turkey) politicians Members of the 13th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 16th Parliament of Turkey Democratic Left Party (Turkey) politicians Ulus (newspaper) people Cumhuriyet people Hürriyet people 20th-century Turkish non-fiction writers Ministers of Tourism of Turkey 21st-century Turkish journalists Documentary film directors Turkish magazine founders