Tough it is to work with Oğuz Güven

I don’t know if this is something I’m entitled to do in days like these, but I was actually going to avail myself of the ‘right to laziness’ that day and set aside a bit of time for myself. At least, that was the plan I had made the day before. My plan was upset by a phone call coming from dear Arif Kızılyalın. Arif called at about eight in the morning and said, ‘They have arrested Oğuz Güven.’ On receiving news of this arrest, which has unfortunately turned into a commonplace event, I made a beeline for the judicial complex. And I set about waiting for Oğuz Güven to be led into the complex.

The name Oğuz Güven always has a special place for me, because he witnessed the period in which I took my first steps into professional journalism. And he was one of my first teachers in the profession. I learned a great deal from him about how to get the most complex of issues across in sixty seconds in a TV report and frame a headline that would grab readers for a report.

The professional togetherness into which we were forced as of the first quarter of 1997 turned over time into big brother-little brother relationship. When he resigned over an injustice visited on one of his colleagues in the founding days of TV8, he saw sixteen more people who had arrived with him follow suit. And I, too, found myself in the ranks of the unemployed along with Oğuz Güven. Our friendship has continued unbroken from that day until today. Whenever I have been unemployed, old Oğuz has always put himself out and done his best to find work.

The last time I worked with old Oğuz was at Hürriyet. Our stint of nearly two years in duration was ‘pretty tough’ for me, because: ‘Tough it is to work with Oğuz Güven.’

For those who are puzzled as to why I formed this back to front sentence, it will be instructive to remind them of old Oğuz’s book. Tough it is to Laugh in Tough Times was the name of old Oğuz’s first book whose birth I witnessed. The book describes in the first person the tragicomic stories of arrest, detention and prison that were experienced over 12 September. Old Oğuz, the author of the work in oral history Tough it is to Laugh in Tough Times, is now living through the same tragic situation as his heroes in his book.

Old Oğuz, who has spent his life in the left and socialist struggle, is accused of making propaganda for the bloody and dark terrorist organisation, FETO. On top of this, just because of one word. In fact, I most want the prosecutor who is to draft that indictment to read this article. I didn’t entitle it ‘Tough it is to work with Oğuz Güven’ for nothing. Because Oğuz Güven is a journalist who is extremely sensitive about how the news is reported, is passionately devoted to his job and has no toleration for mistakes. Nobody knows this better than those who have worked with him.

So, I think it would be beneficial for the prosecutor who had him detained and the judge who detained him for a headline that remained on the page for a mere 55 seconds to get to know Oğuz Güven, because detaining people through prejudice has become a commonplace event in this country. Each detention order leads to lives being ruined and our colleagues’ names being dragged through the mud.

There are actually a great many things that can be said, talked of and spoken about. But, were old Oğuz the editor of this page, he would breathe down my neck and say, ‘Briefly, put it briefly.’ So as not to incur his wrath when I visit him today in jail, I will keep the article brief. Anyway, I have no right to get his back up! Because just a few days ago it was old Oğuz’s birthday. Years ago, I had the opportunity to give him Yeni Türkü’s latest album as a birthday present. Now, I have no opportunity of giving him any present because this time he is endungeoned in Silivri and all his rights have been usurped thanks to state of emergency decrees with the force of law. But, you can rest assured that I will take all your love to Silivri dungeon and leave it in his cell.