Soner Yalçın (born January 1, 1966) is a Turkish journalist and writer. The co-founder of the news website odatv, he was arrested in February 2011 along with other odatv journalists and charged with links to the

Ergenekon Ergenekon (sometimes spelled ''Ergeneqon'', mn, Эргүнэ хун, Ergüne khun) is a founding myth of Turkic peoples, Turkic and Mongols, Mongolic peoples.

organization. He was released pending trial in December 2012.

Journalistic career

Soner Yalçın is an investigative journalist specialized in reporting about the

deep state in Turkey In Turkey, the deep state ( tr, derin devlet) is an alleged group of influential anti-democratic coalitions inside the Turkish political structure, composed of high-level elements within the intelligence services (domestic and foreign), the Tur ...

. He began working in 1987 for the center left-wing periodical called ''

2000'e Doğru ''2000'e Doğru'' ( tr, Towards 2000) was a weekly Turkish news magazine. It was published between 1987 and 1992. History and profile ''2000'e Doğru'' was established in January 1987 by Doğu Perinçek. The publisher was Sistem Yayıncılık. I ...

'' (Towards 2000) as a permanent political correspondent in

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, mak ...

. In 1990, he was appointed as the chief of intelligence reporting of the newspaper. From 1993 to 1994, he worked as news director for the daily ''

Aydınlık ''Aydınlık'' ("Clarify" or "Enlightenment" in Turkish) is the newspaper of the Patriotic Party (''Vatan Partisi''). Originally launched as a weekly newspaper in 1921, it has been repeatedly closed and relaunched, most recently in 2011. Histo ...

'' (Enlightenment), which is today the official newspaper of the İşçi Partisi but not at the time of Yalçın's involvement. After the split of the ''Aydınlık'' group, the forced ban during the

1980 Turkish coup d'état The 1980 Turkish coup d'état ( tr, 12 Eylül Darbesi), headed by Chief of the General Staff General Kenan Evren, was the third coup d'état in the history of the Republic of Turkey, the previous having been the 1960 coup and the 1971 coup ...

, ''Aydınlık'' has been relaunched as a left-wing daily in 1990 not only supported by the İşçi Partisi but also by intellectuals and writers not affiliated to this party. Like others, Soner Yalçın was working for ''Aydınlık'' considered at that time as a broader project and he was not a member of this party. He definitely left this newspaper in 1995. ''Aydınlık'' became now the official newspaper of the İşçi Partisi. After that episode, Soner Yalçın briefly worked for the newspaper ''Siyah – Beyaz'' (Black - White) published by Doğan Yurdakul before starting a new career in television in 1996 for ''

Show TV Show TV is a nationwide television channel in Turkey owned by Albayrak Holding since 2018, acquired from Sadık Albayrak which in turn seized from Ciner Media Group after Turgay Ciner was forced to sell due to tax debts. The channel replaces C ...

''. He began as a television investigative reporter based in Ankara. The same year, he was hired by ''

Star TV Star TV may refer to: * E! (Canadian TV channel) (formerly Star!), a Canadian entertainment news channel * Las Estrellas (Spanish for The Stars), the Mexican television network * Estrella TV (Spanish for Star TV), the American Spanish-language ne ...

'' where he worked as the general news manager. Later

CNN Türk CNN Türk is a Turkish pay television news channel, launched on 11 October 1999 as the localised variant of American channel CNN. It broadcasts exclusively for Turkey and it is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery and Demirören Group. Its headqua ...

asked Soner Yalçın and

Cüneyt Özdemir Cüneyt Özdemir (born 8 February 1970) is a Turkish journalist, television host and producer. Özdemir is the anchorman of the leading local and foreign affairs program 5N1K, broadcast on CNN Türk Television for 20 years now. Career ''32. Gü ...

to prepare a new television program called ''5N1K''. With journalist

Barış Pehlivan Barış Pehlivan (; born July 10, 1983) is a Turkish journalist and author. He is known for his investigative news and books on Turkish politics. He has been sued many times for his journalistic activities. He was imprisoned in 2011 and 2020 as ...

, Soner Yalçın produced a number of political documentaries called ''Oradaydim'' ("I was there") broadcast by CNN Türk. Since February 4, 2007, he was working a columnist for the Sunday editions of the daily ''

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 ...

''. End 2007, he launched his own online news website called '' OdaTV''.Soner Yalçın (2012), ''Samizdat Hakikatlere Dayanacak Gücünüz Var mi.'' Kirmizi Kedi Yayinlari, Istanbul 2012, .

Experienced writer

Beside his journalistic activities, Soner Yalçın is also a prominent and popular writer. He wrote several critical essays and investigation about the controversial role of Turkish governmental intelligence organization, the existence of a Turkish branch of

Operation Gladio Operation Gladio is the codename for clandestine "stay-behind" operations of armed resistance that were organized by the Western Union (alliance), Western Union (WU), and subsequently by NATO and the CIA, in collaboration with several European Int ...

, the

Counter-Guerrilla Counter-Guerrilla ( tr, Kontrgerilla) is the Turkish branch of Operation Gladio, a clandestine stay-behind anti-communist initiative backed by the United States as an expression of the Truman Doctrine. The founding goal of the operation was to ere ...

, the relations between the Turkish mafia and state officials, the tactics and the networks of global Islamist movements (especially the US network of the

Gülen movement The Gülen movement ( tr, Gülen hareketi), referred to by its participants as Hizmet ("service") or Cemaat ("community") and since 2016 by the Government of Turkey as FETÖ ("Fethullahist Terrorist Organisation" or, more commonly, "Fethullah Ter ...

) and some historical analysis about the Turkish-Ottoman identity. The usual style of this writer is to explain the reader that reality is not usually as it appears, the truth is sometimes hidden and a conscientious reader should look for it. Written in prison, his last publication ''Samizdat'' (2012) speaks about the freedom of the press and the freedom of expression in Turkey. It gets back to the context of his 29 first days in prison and ends with his 395th day. It gives extensive details about his own bill of indictment, explains the situation for other Ergenekon detainees and criticize the role of mainstream media.

OdaTV case

Yalçın co-founded the news website odatv in 2007. He was arrested in February 2011 along with other odatv journalists and charged with links to the

Ergenekon Ergenekon (sometimes spelled ''Ergeneqon'', mn, Эргүнэ хун, Ergüne khun) is a founding myth of Turkic peoples, Turkic and Mongols, Mongolic peoples.

organization. He was released pending trial in December 2012.CPJ, 28 December 2012
In Turkey, Odatv publisher conditionally released
/ref> According to the prosecution, Soner Yalçın is a leading member of this clandestine terrorist organization which was allegedly preparing a Turkish secularist military coup against the current Turkish government. According to the arrested journalist, a pro-Gülen movement clandestine network within the Turkish police hacked his computer and falsified the documents in order to put in jail him and his colleagues working for OdaTV.

Bibliography

in Turkish * ''Samizdat Hakikatlere Dayanacak Gücünüz Var mi.'' Kirmizi Kedi Yayinlari, Istanbul 2012, . * ''Bu Dinciler O Müslümanlara Benzemiyor.'' Doğan Kitapçılık, İstanbul 2009, . * ''Siz Kimi Kandırıyorsunuz!'' Doğan Kitapçılık, İstanbul 2008, . * ''Efendi 2: Beyaz Müslümanların Büyük Sırrı.'' Doğan Kitapçılık, İstanbul 2006 * ''Efendi: Beyaz Türklerin Büyük Sırrı.'' Doğan Kitapçılık, İstanbul 2004, . * ''Behçet Cantürk'ün Anıları.'' Doğan Kitapçılık, İstanbul 2003, . - on Behçet Cantürk * (with Doğan Yurdakul) ''Reis - Gladio'nun Türk tetikçisi.'' Doğan Kitapçılık, İstanbul 2003, . - on

Abdullah Çatlı Abdullah Çatlı (1 June 1956 – 3 November 1996) was a Turkish secret government agent, as well as a contract killer for the National Intelligence Organization (MİT). He led the Grey Wolves, the youth branch of the Nationalist Movement Party ...

* ''Binbaşı Ersever'in İtirafları.'' Doğan Kitapçılık, İstanbul 2003, . - on the assassination of

Ahmet Cem Ersever Ahmet Cem Ersever (1950 – 4 November 1993) was a commander in the Turkish Gendarmerie, and said to be one of the founders of the Gendarmerie's JITEM intelligence unit. He was assassinated in November 1993.) (1993), ''Kürtler, PKK ve A. Öcala ...

* (with

Mehmet Ali Birand Mehmet Ali Birand (9 December 1941 – 17 January 2013) was a Turkish journalist, political commentator and writer. Biography He was born to İzzet and his wife Mürvet on 9 December 1941 in Beyoğlu, Istanbul. His mother was of Kurdish desc ...

) ''The Özal: Bir Davanın Öyküsü.'' Doğan Kitapçılık, İstanbul 2001, . - on the life and death of

Turgut Özal Halil Turgut Özal (; 13 October 192717 April 1993) was a Turkish politician, who served as the 8th President of Turkey from 1989 to 1993. He previously served as the 26th Prime Minister of Turkey from 1983 to 1989 as the leader of the Mothe ...

, and related history * ''Teşkilat'ın İki Silahşoru - Biri Meşrutiyet'in Silahşoru Dede Yakub Cemil Diğeri Cumhuriyet'in Silahşoru Torun "Yakub Cemil".'' Doğan Kitapçılık, İstanbul 2001, . * (with Doğan Yurdakul) ''Bay Pipo - Bir MİT Görevlisinin Sıradışı Yaşamı: Hiram Abas'' Doğan Kitapçılık, İstanbul 1999, . - on

Hiram Abas Hiram Abas (1932 in Istanbul – 26 September 1990) was a Turkish intelligence official in the National Intelligence Organization (MIT). He retired after the 1980 Turkish coup d'état, but returned in August 1986 as deputy to MIT chief Hayri Ünd ...

* ''Hangi Erbakan?'' Doğan Kitapçılık, Öteki Yayınevi, Ankara 1996, . * ''Kayıp Sicil - Erdogan Erdoğan'ın Çalınan Dosyası'' Kirmizi Kedi, Istanbul 2014 .

References

External links