Today in History – 18/19 July

Metin Toker dies

İsmet İnönü’s son-in-law, journalist Metin Toker was born in İstanbul in 1924. He graduated from Galatasaray Lycée and, after completing his undergraduate studies at İstanbul University’s Department of French Philology, he went to France to study political science. Toker, who became a columnist at Cumhuriyet in 1943, founded Akis magazine in 1954 and served as its editor until 1968. Akis was, in many ways, a school for numerous journalists.

In 1955, Toker married President İsmet İnönü’s daughter Özden İnönü. His name gained further recognition in the political arena after this marriage. Having served as a contingent senator between 1977 and 1980, Toker quit politics in the early 1980s and resumed writing about it. He was a columnist in the daily Milliyet for many years. Toker died on July 18, 2002.

Among Metin Toker’s books that shed light upon contemporary Turkish politics are Solda ve Sağda Vuruşanlar (Fighters of the Left and the Right), İsmet Paşayla 10 Yıl (A Decade with İsmet Pasha), Tek Partiden Çok Partiye (From Single to Multi-party Politics), Demokrasimizin İsmet Paşala Yılları (İsmet Pasha Years of Turkish Democracy), Bir Diktatörün İktidar Yolu (A Dictator’s Road to Power), Rus Geldi Aşka Rus’un Aşkı Başka (Russian Exulted, Russian in Love), Şeyh Sait ve İsyanı (Sheikh Said and His Revolt), Avrupa ‘Bir Şeyler’ Arıyor (Europe is Looking for ‘Something’), Dört Buhranlı Yıl (Four Depressed Years), Türkiye Üzerinde 1945 Kabusu (The Nightmare of 1945 upon Turkey).