Abdülhamit Bilici, exiled editor-in-chief of Zaman, one of the largest daily newspapers in Turkey, will speak at 3:30 p.m. Thursday at the Baptist House. Sponsored by the Friends of the Muslims Community at Chautauqua, Bilici will speak about his work in Turkey. He is living in exile from his country following the recent political turmoil and government oppression of the media.
Bilici has worked in various journalistic capacities his entire working life. He began his career at Zaman as a correspondent, then worked as editor of Aksiyon Weekly Magazine from 1995 to 1997 before returning to Zaman as the foreign news editor from 1998 to 2001. In 2002 he became the general editor of Zaman, a post he held until 2008. He served as general director of Cihan News Agency and as editor-in-chief for Zaman. He was also a columnist for Zaman and Today’s Zaman, the English-language version of the newspaper.
Bilici is an expert on Turkish politics and is editor of the book Why Turkey?, which features different perspectives on Turkey-European Union relations.
