Çiğdem Toker

Çiğdem Toker was born in 1965 in Diyarbakır, Turkey.{{Cite web|title=Çiğdem Toker|url=http://www.biyografya.com/biyografi/271|access-date=2021-08-09|website=Biyografya|language=Turkish}}{{Cite web|title=Toker, Çiğdem 1965-|url=http://worldcat.org/identities/lccn-no2009043861/|access-date=2021-08-25|website=WorldCat}} After graduating from Ankara University, Law School, she became an investigative journalist.{{Cite web|last=Blaser|first=Noah|date=2021-08-08|title='We Fell Off the Face of the Earth'|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/08/08/turkey-prison-complex-erdogan/|access-date=2021-08-09|website=Foreign Policy|language=en-US}}

Toker began her career in 1986, working for the culture section of the Anka News Agency.{{Cite web|title=Çiğdem Toker|url=https://www.europeanpressprize.com/laureate/cigdem-toker/|access-date=2021-08-05|website=European Press Prize}} She then worked on dubbing films for the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation. After stints at the publications Günaydın and Nokta, she passed the exam to work at Anadolu Agency in 1988. She spent two years at Anadolu, covering the State Security Court and the Court of Cassation, the country's supreme court.

She then transitioned to covering economics, first for the weekly magazine Ekonomik Panorama from 1990 to 1993. Then for 15 years, from 1993 to 2008, she wrote on economics for the newspaper Hürriyet. Her tenure at the newspaper included covering the 2001 Turkish economic crisis.

On the foundation of the new newspaper Habertürk in 2009, Toker was hired as the publication's first Ankara bureau chief. However, she left shortly thereafter to serve as Ankara bureau chief at the newspaper Akşam. When the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund of Turkey took over the newspaper in 2013, Toker resigned from her role there.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uGYHBgAAQBAJ|title=Diminishing Press Freedom in Turkey|publisher=Rethink Institute|date=November 2014|language=en}}

From 2013 to 2018, she was a columnist for the newspaper Cumhuriyet, described as a "star investigative reporter" for the paper.{{Cite web|last1=Carrié|first1=Shawn|last2=Omar|first2=Asmaa|date=2018-06-22|title=The last independent newsroom in Turkey|url=https://www.cjr.org/watchdog/cumhuriyet-turkey.php|access-date=2021-08-25|website=Columbia Journalism Review|language=en}} In 2017, she wrote a series of articles revealing how the Turkish government removed regulations in order to give contracts for prison construction to companies close to the government. She resigned from the publication after a change in management.{{Cite web|last=Mat|first=Fazıla|date=2018-09-26|title=Cumhuriyet: the return of Kemal Atatürk|url=https://www.balcanicaucaso.org/eng/Areas/Turkey/Cumhuriyet-the-return-of-Kemal-Atatuerk-190190|access-date=2021-08-09|website=OBC Transeuropa|language=it}}{{Cite news|date=2018-09-10|title=Journalists quit Turkey opposition daily after leadership change|work=AFP International Text Wire in English}}

Toker then wrote for the opposition newspaper Sözcü until 2022.{{Cite web|last=Akyavas|first=Renan|date=2021-02-18|title=Çiğdem Toker|url=https://freeturkeyjournalists.ipi.media/trials-calendar/cigdem-toker-5-2/|access-date=2021-08-09|website=Free Turkey Journalists|language=en-US}}{{Cite news|last=Gall|first=Carlotta|date=2019-04-03|title=Erdogan's Opponents Promise Scrutiny of Istanbul's Books After Turkey Elections|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/03/world/europe/turkey-istanbul-erdogan-ekrem-imamoglu.html|access-date=2021-08-25|issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite web |last=Merkezi |first=Haber |date=2022-11-16 |title=Çiğdem Toker, yazılarıyla T24'te |url=https://t24.com.tr/haber/cigdem-toker-yazilariyla-t-24-te,1072850 |access-date=2024-04-25 |website=T24 |language=Turkish}} She now reports for the online publication T24, which she had previously contributed to beginning in 2009. Among several court cases she has faced throughout her journalistic career, she was accused of defamation and sued for 80,000 Turkish lira for her 2019 reporting in Sözcü on foundations linked to the government and family of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.{{Cite web|date=2020-09-24|title=Turkey: Sözcü journalist Çiğdem Toker is sued for compensation over her newspiece exposing misuse of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality funds|url=https://womeninjournalism.org/cfwij-press-statements/turkey-szc-journalist-idem-toker-is-sued-for-compensation-over-her-newspiece-exposing-misuse-of-istanbul-metropolitan-municipality-funds|access-date=2021-08-09|website=The Coalition For Women In Journalism|language=en-US}} She had previously faced a 3 million lira fine for reporting on public sector contracts for Cumhuriyet.{{Cite web|last=Cupolo|first=Diego|date=2018-07-18|title=President Erdogan's republic of fear|url=https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/observations/2018/07/president-erdogan-s-republic-fear|access-date=2021-08-25|website=The New Statesman|language=en}} Toker has been sued by not only the government but also hospitals, agricultural firms, and mining companies.{{Cite news|date=2018-01-16|title=Turkish journalist sued for thousands of dollars for|work=BBC Monitoring European}}

In 2015, she was shortlisted for the European Press Prize for her work on uncovering mysterious expenditures under then-Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu. In 2023, she was given the Turkish Journalists' Association's Press Freedom Award.{{Cite web |date=2023-06-07 |title=Turkish press group presents freedom award to investigative journalist Çiğdem Toker |url=https://www.duvarenglish.com/turkish-press-group-presents-freedom-award-to-investigative-journalist-cigdem-toker-news-62681 |access-date=2024-04-25 |website=Duvar English |language=}}

She has written or contributed to several books, including Abdüllatif Şener: Adım da Benimle Beraber Büyüdü (2008), a long interview with the politician Abdüllatif Şener; Türkiye'de Sağlıkta Kamu Özel Ortaklığı - Şehir Hastaneleri, compiled by Kayıhan Pala (2018); and the 2019 work Kamu ihalelerinde olağan işler, which builds on her reporting on government contracts.{{Cite news|last=Gall|first=Carlotta|date=2019-12-23|title=Istanbul's New Mayor Outlines Gross Mismanagement Under Erdogan's Allies|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/23/world/middleeast/istanbul-mayor-erdogan.html|access-date=2021-08-25|issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite web|last=Şimşek|first=Hüseyin|date=2019-11-27|title=Kamu İhalelerinde Olağan İşler kitabının yazarı Çiğdem Toker: Milyarlar el değiştiriyor|url=https://www.birgun.net/haber/kamu-ihalelerinde-olagan-isler-kitabinin-yazari-cigdem-toker-milyarlar-el-degistiriyor-277835|access-date=2021-08-25|website=BirGün Gazetesi|language=Turkish}}

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Category:1965 births

Category:Living people

Category:Turkish women journalists

Category:Investigative journalists

Category:People from Diyarbakır

Category:Ankara University alumni