23 May 2017•Update: 23 May 2017
By Ahmet Sait Akcay
ANKARA
A seasoned Turkish journalist, columnist and writer died after a heart attack at his office in Istanbul’s Besiktas district on Tuesday.
Akif Emre was 60-years-old. He is survived by his wife and three children.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan offered condolences to the journalist’s wife over the phone, according to a presidential source, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to the media.
Ibrahim Kalin, presidential spokesman, also offered his condolences on his official Twitter account.
Akif Emre was one of the founders of the Yeni Safak daily to which he regularly contributed as a writer for over 20 years.
Emre used to be the chief editor of The World Bulletin online news portal and recently became the chief executive editor of the online publication, “Haberiyat.com”.
He had also edited several reference books on Islamic and Ottoman history.
Emre’s contributions ranged from journalism to intellectual and cultural issues. His main interest was on the history of Ottomans and classical Islamic culture.
He took every chance to promote the geography of Islamic culture, from Andalusia to Mostar to Jerusalem to Sarajevo to Thessaloniki in his writings. He also made documentaries.
In his recent columns, he drew attention to corruption, ethics and principles.
The late journalist was known to be ethical, independent, critical and as a man of principles. He always highlighted culture and its relation to daily life through his writings. He was intrigued with the idea of reviving Islamic culture.
His recent work Cizgisiz Defter (Notebook Without Lines), which came out in 2016, deals with cultural issues and Islamic identity.
