Türker İnanoğlu

Türker İnanoğlu (18 May 1936 – 2 April 2024) was a Turkish screenwriter, film director and producer.

Personal life and death İnanoğlu married first the film actress Filiz Akın, and after his divorce Gülşen Bubikoğlu, another former Turkish movie star. He had two children, a son, İlker, from his former marriage and a daughter, Zeynep, from his last marriage.

İnanoğlu died in Istanbul on 2 April 2024, at the age of 87. On 4 April 2024, he was interred at Kanlıca Cemetery following the religious service at Barbaros Hayrettin Pasha Mosque in Levent.

Career İnanoğlu came in contact with the cinema when he was a student at the Istanbul Academy of Applied Fine Arts in 1957. After working as assistant to directors Ömer Lütfi Akat and Nişan Hançer in eleven movies, he directed in 1960 his first feature Senden Ayrı Yaşayamam.

After directing nine movies in the studios of Yeşilçam, the Turkish Hollywood, İnanoğlu established in 1959 his own film company Erler Film, which is today the oldest film production company in Turkey still in business. Since then, he produced 126 black-and-white and color films, among them 21 co-productions with Greece, Italy and Iran. He executed also the productions of American, Japanese, French and German filmmakers’ documentary films shot in Turkey. Until now, he directed 82 movies.

In 1979, İnanoğlu started the video business in Turkey by founding the first video company, Ulusal Video. His company distributed video copies of domestic movies to around 1,500 video clubs in Turkey and abroad. He contributed for five years to aid the survival of Turkish cinema, which found itself in a big economic crisis.

To produce news and entertainment programs for the television, he established a studio in 1985. In this studio, İnanoğlu produced very popular programs like Bir Başka Gece ("Another night"), Hodri Meydan ("Challenge"), Gecenin getirdikleri ("Things came by night") for the then only TV channel in Turkey, TRT. Later, following the opening of private TV channels, he continued to produce TV programs for channels like Star TV, Show TV, Kanal 6 and ATV, totaling to 10,000 hours.

In 1994, İnanoğlu became president of the channel ATV and helped it become a leader in the sector. Later, he established a cable TV channel, Süper Kanal.

İnanoğlu co-founded sectoral associations and served as their chairman. Later, he was the honorary president of the Turkish Association of Owners of Cinema Arts, SESAM. In 1997, he set up the Türker İnanoğlu Cinema Foundation and transferred all the copyrights on his productions to this charity institution with social and educational goals for the Turkish cinema.

Selected filmography Screenwriter İçimizden Biri (Someone from Us), 1960 Şafakta Buluşalım (Let’s meet at dawn), 1961

Director Sonbahar (The Autumn), 1959 Senden Ayrı Yaşayamam (I Can’t Live Apart From You), 1960 Küçük Kahraman (The Little Brave), 1960 İçimizden Biri (Someone from Us), 1960 Küçük Beyefendi (Little Gentleman), 1962 Kiralık Koca (Husband for rent), 1963 Bulunmaz Uşak (The Perfect Servant), 1963 Bahriyeli Ahmet (Ahmet, the Mariner), 1963 Yankesici Kız (The Pitpocket Girl), 1964 Mirasyedi (The Heir) Satılık Kalp (Heart for sale), 1965 Acı Tesadüf (Bitter Coincidence), 1966 İdam Mahkumu (The Prisoner for Death Penalty), 1966 Kaderin Cilvesi (Twist of Fate), 1967 Namus Borcu (Honor Due), 1967 Evlat Uğruna (For the Sake of Children), 1967 İstanbul Tatili (Holiday in Istanbul), 1968 Sabah Yıldızı (The Morning Star), 1968 Soyguncular (The Robbers), 1973 Bizim Kız (Our Girl), 1977

Producer İçimizden Biri (Someone from Us), 1960 Çöpçatan (The Matchmaker), 1961 Küçük Beyefendi (Little Gentleman), 1962 Yolcu (The Passenger), 1963 Bulunmaz Uşak (The Perfect Servant), 1963 Bahriyeli Ahmet (Ahmet, the Mariner), 1963 Yankesici Kız (The Pitpocket Girl), 1964 Satılık Kalp (Heart for sale), 1965 İdam Mahkumu (The Prisoner for Death Penalty), 1966 Acı Tesadüf (Bitter Coincidence), 1966 İntikam Uğruna (For the Sake of Revenge), 1966 Namus Borcu (Honor Due), 1967 Evlat Uğruna (For the Sake of Children), 1967 İstanbul Tatili (Holiday in Istanbul), 1968 Almanyalı Yarim (My Darling From Germany), 1974 Bizim Kız (Our Girl), 1977 Süpermenler (3 Supermen Against Godfather in Europe, Tres supermanes contra el padrino in Spain), 1979 Beyaz Ölüm (White Death), 1983 Tele Kızlar (Call Girls), 1985 Selamsız Bandosu (Selamsız’s Band), 1987 (co-production) Kaçamak (The Love Affair), 1988

Television series producer Tatlı Kaçıklar (Sweet Nutcases), 1996 İkinci Bahar (Second Spring), 1999 Bizim Otel (Our Hotel), 2001 Hastayım Doktor (I am Sick, Doctor), 2002 Yabancı Damat (The Foreign Groom), 2004 Anne Babamla Evlensene (Mommy, Marry My Daddy), 2005