An Intellectual of the Republic: Cihad Baban’s Journalism and Political Life

Abstract

Cihad Baban, who comes from the Babanlar/Babanzadeler family, one of the deep-rooted families of the Iraqi city of Sulaymaniyah, is one of the important and influential intellectuals who grew up in the Republican Period. The Babans, of whom he was a member, held different and high positions in the last period of the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Türkiye. Cihad Baban's journalism life, which started as an amateur during his secondary education, turned professional in 1934 and continued almost uninterruptedly until his death. The most dominant feature of Baban’s, who graduated from Istanbul Faculty of Law, was that he was a well-equipped and competent journalist. In line with this feature, Baban, who adopted journalism as a way of life, became a pioneer in the establishment of many newspapers, worked as an editorial writer both for the newspapers he founded and for some other newspapers, and also performed various tasks. Not as much as his journalism, but also with his political life, Baban was elected five terms as a member of parliament, twice from Istanbul, twice from Izmir and once from Çanakkale, and sat in the ministerial seat twice. The Freedom Party and the Republican People's Party also have an important place in his independent political life, which started with the closeness to the Democrat Party. He was active in politics from 1946 till the end of the 1960s. After the May 27, 1960 Coup, he was brought to the Ministry of Press, Broadcasting and Tourism. Baban, who was given responsibilities many times in Türkiye's foreign policy, did not play an active role in the 1970s. During the 12 September 1980 Coup, he made an active return to politics with the Ministry of Culture.

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