Etyen Mahçupyan (born 9 March 1950) is a Turkish journalist, writer, columnist and politician of Armenian descent who served as the senior adviser to Prime Minister of Turkey
Ahmet Davutoğlu from 2014-2015. He is one of the executive members of the founders' committee of the
Future Party (Turkey).
Early life and education
Mahcupyan was born in 1950 in Istanbul as a son of a catholic Armenian family. His surname derives from his great-grandfather's nickname, "Mahcup", meaning shy, embarrassed, or reticent. He learned the Armenian language in elementary school; however Turkish was the main language spoken at his household.
He graduated from
Robert College in 1968. In 1972, he received his bachelor of science degree in Chemical Engineering from the
Boğaziçi University
Boğaziçi University ( tr, Boğaziçi Üniversitesi), also known as Bosphorus University, is a major research university in Istanbul, Turkey. Its main campus is located on the European side of the Bosphorus strait. It has six faculties and two ...
in Istanbul. Realizing that earning a living would entail working under a manager, he studied business management, and finance. He completed his Master of Science degree at Business management in 1974 at
Boğaziçi University
Boğaziçi University ( tr, Boğaziçi Üniversitesi), also known as Bosphorus University, is a major research university in Istanbul, Turkey. Its main campus is located on the European side of the Bosphorus strait. It has six faculties and two ...
. Then he received his second Master of Science degree in the area of international economics from the faculty of political sciences at
Ankara University
Ankara University ( tr, Ankara Üniversitesi) is a public university in Ankara, the capital city of Turkey. It was the first higher education institution founded in Turkey after the formation of the republic in 1923.
The university has 40 vo ...
in 1977.
He received his M.S degree from Prof. Dr. Yahya Sezel in the Department of Economics at Ankara university during 1977-1980. Simultaneously, he also worked as a writer and an editor at the journal of
"Toplumcu Düşün" ("Societist Idea", which published sixteen issues between June 1978 and May 1980) with Tezel.
Following the coup of 1980, Mahçupyan left graduate school moving into business. To support himself, he worked as a manager at several companies (i.e., Eczacıbaşı Group ) as well as his own bakery business. After 1989, he started working for a consultancy firm, learning to work on “productivity-enhancing cultural and psychological change in companies.” Because of the kind of consultancy work he was doing, he studied social psychology.
Journalism
In mid 90s, he transferred his own businesses to his partner and moved into journalism. During 1995-1996, he was briefly involved in New Democracy Movement that was established under the leadership of
Cem Boyner. Between 1997-2000 he wrote as a columnist at
Radikal
''Radikal'' () was a daily liberal Turkish language newspaper, published in Istanbul. From 1996 it was published by Aydın Doğan's Doğan Media Group. Although Radikal did not endorse a particular political alignment, it was generally considere ...
newspaper and in 2000 at
Yeni Binyıl Yeni can refer to:
* Yeni, Acıpayam, Turkey
* Yeni, Bago, Myanmar
* Yeni, Katha Township, Myanmar
* Yeni, Mahlaing Township, Myanmar
* Yeni, Tavas
Below is the list of populated places in Denizli Province, Turkey by the districts. In the fo ...
newspaper. On 17 May 2001 he started writing at ''
Zaman'' and stayed there until 2014. Upon assassination of his close friend
Hrant Dink in 2007, he became the editor-in-chief of
Agos, the Armenian community's weekly newspaper and stayed at that position until his leave in 2010. Between 2014 and 2018, he kept writing his columns in
Akşam. and
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 ''
Karar
The MG 3 is a German general-purpose machine gun chambered for the 7.62×51mm NATO cartridge. The weapon's design is derived from the World War II era MG 42 ''Einheitsmaschinengewehr'' (Universal machine gun) that fired the 7.92×57mm Mauser r ...
'' newspaper that is known to share political views in line with
Ahmet Davutoglu.
Political career
In October 2014, Mahcupyan was appointed as the senior advisor to prime minister of Turkey
Ahmet Davutoglu. It was the first time in Modern Turkish history that a minority of Armenian descent was appointed to such a critical position and his appointment drew praise as a sign of Turkey's commitment to minority rights. He technically retired from this position in 9 March 2015. The announcement came a day after he openly acknowledged the
Armenian genocide
The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was ...
. However he stated that his departure had nothing to do with the row. He said he retired in March due to the mandatory retirement age for civil servants, and has kept advising Davutoglu afterwards informally.
As a part of his senior advisory duty to former prime minister
Ahmet Davutoglu, he traveled and met with journalists, politicians and bureaucrats for better communication purposes that would lead to solutions to regional problems in which Turkey clearly plays a crucial role. Some of his past appearances include the ''Hrant Dink Memorial Peace and Justice Lecture: Minorities and Human Rights in Turkey'' , the
Centre for Turkey Studies (CEFTUS) roundtable entitled ''Understanding the Transformation; AK Party Era in Turkey'', and ''The New Turkey'' conference at the
Italian Parliament
The Italian Parliament ( it, Parlamento italiano) is the national parliament of the Italian Republic. It is the representative body of Italian citizens and is the successor to the Parliament of the Kingdom of Italy (1861–1943), the transitio ...
.
He was a member of
TESEV advisory board and also the director at
TESEV until late 2014. Afterwards, he and his colleagues at
TESEV resigned from their positions and all together established a new
Non-governmental organization
A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from g ...
named PODEM. PODEM is a Public Policy and Democracy Studies foundation which describes itself as:
"The Center for
Public Policy and Democracy Studies (PODEM) is an Istanbul-based independent think tank founded in February 2015. PODEM seeks to contribute to the efforts towards the creation of a Turkey where democracy is fully institutionalized, and where a democratic mindset, social peace and justice prevail. It further envisions a Turkey that is increasingly influential in the establishment of peace and justice on regional and global levels."
As of 2019, Mahcupyan has been working with Davudoglu as one of the founders of the
Future Party.
Movies and television
Mahcupyan was the screenplay writer of the movies
Pains of Autumn
''Pains of Autumn'' ( tr, Güz Sancısı) is a 2009 Turkish drama film, directed by Tomris Giritlioğlu, based on the novel by Yılmaz Karakoyunlu. The film, which went on nationwide general release across Turkey on , was one of the highest-gross ...
and
Mrs. Salkım's Diamonds
''Mrs. Salkım's Diamonds'' ( tr, Salkım Hanım'ın Taneleri) is a 1999 Turkish drama film, directed by Tomris Giritlioğlu. It is based on the historical novel Mrs. Salkim's Diamonds by Yılmaz Karakoyunlu. The film, which went on nationwide ge ...
.
[ and he also hosted several TV programs.
]
Publications
Books
* ''Timarhane Gunlerim'' (2016)
* ''Icimizdeki Oteki'' (2015)
* ''1915-2015 Yüzyıllık Sorun'' (2014)
*''Bir Zamanlar Ermeniler Vardı'' (2008)
*''Batı'yı Anlamak'' (2008)
*''Türkiye'yi Anlamak'' (2008)
*''Liberallik Demokratlık Tartışması'' (2008)
*''Bir Demokratın Gündemi'' (2007)
*''Bir Zümre, Bir Parti : Türkiye'de Ordu'' (2004)
*''İkinci Tanzimat'' (2003)
*''Batı'dan Doğu'ya, Dünden Bugüne Zihniyet Yapıları ve Değişim'' (2000)
*''Radikal Yazılar 4 : Büyük Travmanın Eşiğinde'' (2000)
*''Radikal Yazılar 3 : Yönetemeyen Cumhuriyet'' (2000)
*''Radikal Yazılar 2'' (2000)
*''Radikal Yazılar 1'' (1998)
*''Türkiye'de Merkeziyetçilik: Devlet ve Din'' (1998)
*''İdeolojiler ve Modernite'' (1997)
*''Beyin Fırtınası : Demokrasi, Batılılaşma, Laiklik, Devlet, Yeni Dünya Düzeni'' (1997)
*''Osmanlı'dan Postmoderniteye'' (1996)
Movies
* ''Pains of Autumn (2009)''
* ''Mrs. Salkım's Diamonds (1999)''
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mahcupyan, Etyen
1950 births
Turkish journalists
Turkish writers
Robert College alumni
Living people
Turkish newspaper editors