Çetin Özek

Professor Dr. Çetin Özek (b. 1934 in Çorum, Turkey - d. 16 July 2008, Istanbul) was a prominent Turkish jurist, author and journalist.

Çetin Özek graduated from Istanbul's respected Pertevniyal High School in 1952 and from Istanbul University Law School in 1956. He was an instructor in criminal law at the same university for five years before receiving his doctorate in 1961, with a thesis titled "Secularism in Turkey", a subject on which he was going to be known to feel strongly during his entire life.

Between 1962-1964, he attended the "Scuola di Perfezionamento di Diritto Penale" depending the University of Rome through an Italian state scholarship. Back to Istanbul University, he became a lecturer in 1968 and spent 1969-1970 in England for further studies.

Current politics became a decisive factor in his career when he was dismissed from Istanbul University's academic staff following the 1971 "Coup by Memorandum" in Turkey. He could later annul the dismissal through a decision of the Turkish Council of State (Danıştay) and, once back to university, he became a professor in 1978.

In 1983, in conflict with Turkey's newly founded "Council of Higher Education" (YÖK), Özek demissioned from his position at the university, and pursued a career focused on journalism and on legal counselling. He worked for the newspapers Hürriyet, Milliyet and Günaydın, both as columnist and as consultant. He returned to the university to demission again in 1999, this time in conflict with the rector. In the meantime, he pursued his primary profession of lawyer, in the frame of which he sometimes assumed cases which acquired notoriety and had repercussions ^[1]. He was also deeply involved in politics, making a name as a staunch supporter of Republican values and a strong critic of rising Islamist or Islamic-tainted movements.

Özek retired from his university career in 2002, although he remained active as a writer. In addition to a dozen books he wrote on matters such as criminal law, freedom of the press and secularism, a festschrift to his honor was published by prominent jurists from Galatasaray University in 2004 ^[2].

References

1. ^ Article: "American Jewish journalist Aliza Marcus faces charges in Turkey". 1995-10-20. http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/2211/edition_id/36/format/html/displaystory.html Article:. 
2. ^ [1] Köksal Bayraktar, ed (2004) (in Turkish). Prof. Dr. Çetin Özek Armağanı, 1085 sf.. Galatasaray University. 

Persondata
Name	Ozek, Cetin
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1934
Place of birth
Date of death	16 July 2008
Place of death