Zekeriya Sertel

Zekeriya Sertel, also known as Mehmet Zekeriya Sertel, (1890–1980) was a Turkish journalist. He was the first director of state press department and founder and editor of various periodicals. From 1950 to 1980, Sertel lived in exile.

Early life and education Zekeriya Sertel was born in Ustrumca, Macedonia, Ottoman Empire, in 1890. Then he worked for the Istanbul-based newspaper Tasvîr-i Efkâr edited by Yunus Nadi and owned by Velid Ebuzziya. Zekeriya established a satirical magazine, Diken, together with Sedat Simavi in 1918. Next year Zekeriya Sertel and his colleagues founded a weekly magazine entitled Büyük Mecmua . They were granted the Charles Crane scholarship with the help of fellow journalist and writer Halide Edib Adıvar. With his wife he founded and edited several magazines including Resimli Ay, Resimli Perşembe, Resimli Hafta and Sevimli Ay. Sabiha and Zekeriya Sertel were among the owners of another newspaper, Tan which was published from 1935 to 1945. Then he was arrested several times due to his writings published in Resimli Ay and Tan. He and his wife left Turkey in 1950 because of political pressures and lived in different countries, namely the Soviet Union, Hungary and France. Zekeriya's family initially opposed the marriage due to the fact that Sabiha was from a dönme family. Sabiha's family did not support their marriage, either. He died in Salpetriere Hospital, Paris, on 12 March 1980.