Prof. Dr. Yalçın Küçük laid to rest

Researcher and author Prof. Dr. Yalçın Küçük, who passed away two days ago, was laid to rest in Ankara. Küçük's funeral service was held at the İsmet Oğultürk Mosque in Ankara's Cebeci Asri Cemetery, and he was subsequently interred at the Cebeci Asri Cemetery.

Küçük's family and loved ones attended the funeral.

The funeral ceremony was attended by CHP MP Tuncay Özkan, Çankaya Mayor Hüseyin Can Güner, and journalists Murat Yetkin, Mehmet Ali Güller, and Barış Terkoğlu. Participants from organizations such as the Communist Party of Turkey, the Revolution Party, and the People's Liberation Party were also present.

HIS COFFIN WAS CARRIED BY SOLDIERS

Following the funeral prayer, Küçük's coffin was carried by soldiers. The image carried by the soldiers bore the inscription 'Cyprus Veteran Yalçın Küçük'.

WHO IS YALÇIN KÜÇÜK?

Yalçın Küçük was born on July 1, 1938, as the child of a Caucasian family that had settled in İskenderun from Aleppo. After the May 27, 1960 coup, Küçük served in the State Planning Organization and began his tenure as a faculty member at METU in 1966. He wrote articles in line with his socialist ideas in journals such as Yön, Emek, Ant, and Toplumsal Kurtuluş, which he founded. He began his faculty position at Middle East Technical University in 1966. He wrote articles supporting socialist revolution in the journals Yön, Emek, and Ant. Between 1968 and 1970, he was at the Centre for Russian and East European Studies at the University of Birmingham. He compiled his Sovietology research into a book. He was sentenced to eight years in prison due to this book.

'REMOVED FROM HIS POST AFTER SEPTEMBER 12'

He became an associate professor in 1971. He was dismissed from his post after the March 12, 1971 memorandum. Between 1973 and 1976, he served as an executive in the economics department of the Cumhuriyet newspaper. In the 1970s, he participated in the efforts to re-establish the Workers' Party of Turkey (TİP). He was conscripted into the military in late 1973 and participated in the Cyprus Peace Operation as a second lieutenant. He recounted his experiences during this war in a memoir-interview book.

In 1979, he began publishing the journal Sosyalist İktidar along with others who had been expelled from the TİP with him. That same year, he became a faculty member at the Ankara Academy of Economic and Commercial Sciences. He was removed from the university after the September 12, 1980 coup. In 1983, he was arrested and imprisoned due to his work titled 'Bir Yeni Cumhuriyet İçin' (For a New Republic); he was later acquitted. He became a professor at Gazi University in 1987 and retired in 1994.

'WENT TO PRISON DURING THE ERGENEKON TRIALS'

On January 7, 2009, he was detained in Ankara as part of the Ergenekon investigation. Yalçın Küçük, who was sent to Istanbul to be brought before the court, was arrested on January 11, 2009. However, he was released 12 days later to be tried without arrest. On March 3, 2011, he was detained again after his home was searched as part of the same investigation. He was arrested by the duty court on March 6, 2011. In the Ergenekon case, which was concluded by the Istanbul 13th High Criminal Court on August 5, 2013, he was sentenced to 22 years and 6 months in prison.

He was released on March 10, 2014, upon the completion of his 5-year detention period.

News Source: 12punto