Cengiz Aktar

Cengiz Aktar (born 1955 in Istanbul) is a Turkish political scientist, journalist and writer. He has published numerous books on the European Union and its relations with Turkey. He worked for the United Nations and European Union. He was part of a campaign calling for an apology of the Turks towards the Armenians for the Armenian Genocide.

Born in Istanbul in 1955, Cengiz Aktar studied in Galatasaray High School then went on to study in the Sorbonne in Paris where he gained a Doctorate in Economics in 1982. He is a professor in the Economic and Administrative Sciences Department of Bahçeşehir University. He also taught in the International Relations Department of Galatasaray University. He is an advocate of Turkey's integration into the European Union and has published numerous books and articles on the European Union and its relations with Turkey.

From 1989 to 1994, he worked for the United Nations and European Union on migrations and asylum policies. From 1994 to 1999, he was the head of the United Nations's mission in Slovenia. His career within the United Nations spans 22 years.

In 1999, he befriended the Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink who was running the Armenian-language periodical Agos. After Dink was assassinated on 19 January 2007, Cengiz Aktar, along with other Turkish scholars, decided to launch a petition calling for an apology of the Turks towards the Armenians. Aktar believes that Turkish public must take the responsibility of being further informed about the Armenian Genocide. The petition read:

My conscience does not accept the insensitivity showed to and the denial of the Great Catastrophe that the Ottoman Armenians were subjected to in 1915. I reject this injustice and for my share, I empathize with the feelings and pain of my Armenian brothers and sisters. I apologize to them.

The campaign was named the I Apologize campaign and was signed by over 32,000 people. Cengiz Aktar is married and has two daughters.

• Aktar, Cengiz (1993), Turkiye'nin batililastirilmasi (Inceleme dizisi), Istanbul: Ayrinti Yayinlari, ISBN 978-9755390376 
• Aktar, Cengiz (2004), L'occidentalisation de la turquie : essai critique, Paris: Éditions L'Harmattan, ISBN 9782858025701 
• Aktar, Cengiz (2004), Lettres aux turco-sceptiques : La Turquie et l'Union européenne, Paris: Actes Sud, ISBN 978 2742752614 
• Aktar, Cengiz (2010), L'Appel au Pardon, des Turcs s'adressent aux Arméniens, Paris: CNRS Éditions, ISBN 978 2271068484