Amberin Zaman

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Amberin Zaman is a Turkish journalist and a senior correspondent for Al-Monitor.[1] Having started as a journalist in Turkey, Zaman contributes to various newspapers throughout the world. Her writing is centered on minority rights issues in Turkey.

Life and career[]

Amberin Zaman is the daughter of Arshad-uz Zaman a former Bangladeshi Ambassador and member of parliament. Her mother is a Turk from Istanbul.[2][3] She was born in New York City, New York and has studied in Switzerland.[4] She returned from the United States where she became Turkey's correspondent for the Los Angeles Times, The Economist, The Daily Telegraph, and The Washington Post in 1992.[4] After being sacked from Habertürk, Zaman was employed with the liberal newspaper Taraf. She also specialises in Kurdish issues and is currently a Public Policy Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars in Washington DC She additionally is a columnist for the independent online Turkish news portal Diken and for Al Monitor.[2]

Views and controversies[]

Amberin Zaman has been a supporter of minority rights in Turkey.[2][5] She is a proponent of normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations and regularly discusses the Armenian genocide in her columns. In 2014, she participated in a conference by the Hrant Dink Foundation that was dedicated to Armenian-Turkish reconciliation.[6] Zaman, who recognizes the Armenian genocide as fact, believes that the Turkish government must reconcile with its history concerning the Armenians.[7][8] In response to the Turkish government's letter of condolences to Armenians on 24 April 2014, Zaman declared:[8]

As a citizen who believes that the Armenian genocide must be recognized, apologized for, and whose victims be properly compensated, even if these expectations may be far from occurring, I officially stand with the state's first written letter to the Armenian victims.

Zaman states that she is a target of a vilification campaign by pro-government media.[9] In 2013, Amberin Zaman was sacked as a journalist for HaberTurk because of columns that were considered unacceptable by the government.[9]

Zaman was attacked on Twitter for reporting the Gezi Park protests. She described the attacks as "abusive, violent and sexual".[10]

In 2014, the Prime Minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, called Amberin Zaman "A militant in the guise of a journalist, a shameless woman... Know your place!"[9] and "scum" at two successive election rallies. In a response to the accusations by the Prime Minister, Zaman wrote a column in the newspaper Taraf entitled "First be a human!" (Turkish: Önce insan ol!)[11] A public apology campaign had started with numerous human rights groups and journalist associations throughout the world.[12] Erdogan's rhetoric was condemned by a representative of the Organization for Security and Cooperation, The Economist, and the Turkish Journalists' Association.[12] The Equality Monitoring Women's Group of Turkey collected 130 signatures demanding that Erdogan apologize for his language.[12]

Zaman "experienced a mass attack on Twitter" for her reporting on the Charlie Hebdo shooting in January 2015. Zaman stated: "It's like a public lynching. It has made me frightened for my physical safety when I am out in the streets."[10]

Personal life[]

She is married to Joseph Pennington, the US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Iraq.[4]

References[]

  1. ^ "Al-Monitor Names Amberin Zaman as Senior Correspondent". www.al-monitor.com. Retrieved 2019-03-27.
  2. ^ a b c "Amberin Zaman'dan Cemaat'in kanalında Cemaat'e çağrı". Cumhurriyet.
  3. ^ "Amberin Zaman babasının vasiyetini yerine getirecek mi" (in Turkish). OdaTV. 2013-02-26.
  4. ^ a b c "Amberin Zaman kimdir? (Nereli, Kaç yaşında, Babası kimdir?) - Başbakan 'Edepsiz Kadın' Demişti" (in Turkish). 46MEDYA. 2014-08-08. Archived from the original on 2015-01-26. Retrieved 2015-01-26.
  5. ^ "Amberin Zaman". The German Marshall Fund of the United States.
  6. ^ "Mühürlü Kapı: Türkiye-Ermenistan Sınırının Geleceği Konferansı" (in Turkish). Hrant Dink Foundation.
  7. ^ Zaman, Amberin (24 April 2012). "1915 ile yüzleşmek". HaberTurk.
  8. ^ a b Zaman, Amberin (25 April 2014). "Erdoğan beni ters köşeye yatırdı!". Haber7.
  9. ^ a b c "Turkish PM tells female reporter to 'know your place'". The Telegraph. 8 August 2014.
  10. ^ a b Bell, Bethany (6 February 2015). "Twitter abuse: Women journalists get more threats". BBC News.
  11. ^ Zaman, Amberin (8 August 2014). "Önce insan ol!". Taraf. Archived from the original on 2015-02-04. Retrieved 2015-01-26.
  12. ^ a b c "Blogs TURKISH MEDIA WATCH August 13, 2014, Wednesday Erdoğan should apologize to Zaman, says signature campaign". Zaman. Archived from the original on January 24, 2015.

External links[]

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