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Journalist Ufuk Güldemir, founder of the Habertürk news network, has lost his fight against cancer.


The media world and Habertürk, where he was the head of the executive board in addition to being its founder, were in mourning on Sunday after Güldemir, 50, lost his more than year-long battle against cancer early on Sunday morning. Media members and his friends will say their last goodbyes to Güldemir tomorrow, June 12, following a ceremony at Habertürk headquarters in the morning. His funeral service will be held at the Teşvikiye Mosque after the ceremony. Güldemir will be laid to rest in İstanbul’s Zincirlikuyu Cemetery.

Born in the eastern city of Elazığ in 1956, Ufuk Güldemir started his career as a photojournalist in the Başkent and Son Havadis newspapers. Later he worked as a parliamentary correspondent for the Dünya daily and as a diplomacy correspondent for the Turkish news agency and the Cumhuriyet newspaper. In 1987 he was assigned as the Washington bureau chief of the Cumhuriyet daily, where he established a solid reputation with a number of key stories. In 1992 he returned to Turkey and started working as the news director at the Star Television channel. Güldemir worked as the head of the news department of Show TV and later as the editor in chief of the Milliyet and Sabah dailies.

In 1999, he set up Haberturk.com, which was at the time Turkey’s first internet news portal. In 2001, he founded the Habertürk TV station and a radio station as part of the same network. Güldemir was the holder of an honorary press card and was also a many-time recipient of a great number of national and international journalism awards.


Today’s Zaman İstanbul

Labels: world news