Hikmet Bilâ was a Turkish

Turkish people

Turkish people, also known as the "Turks" , are an ethnic group primarily living in Turkey and in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire where Turkish minorities had been established in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Romania...

 journalist

Journalist

A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...

 and columnist

Columnist

A columnist is a journalist who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs....

. He was the author of three books about Turkish political history.

Biography

He was born in Zonguldak

Zonguldak

Zonguldak is a city and the capital of Zonguldak Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey. Its population, according to the 2009 census, was 108,792. It is an important port on the Black Sea because of the coal mining in Zonguldak Province...

 in 1954. After graduating from high school, he was admitted to Ankara University, Faculty of Political Sciences and earned his B.A.

Bachelor of Arts

A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 degree from international relations department.

Hikmet Bilâ started his journalism career in daily newspaper Yeni Ulus in 1973. He wrote columns in several Turkish newspapers including Milliyet

Milliyet

Milliyet is a major Turkish daily newspaper founded in 1950.-History:Milliyet came to publishing life at the Nuri Akça press in Babıali, Istanbul as a daily private newspaper on 3 May 1950...

, Cumhuriyet

Cumhuriyet

Cumhuriyet is a centre-left Turkish daily newspaper, founded on May 7, 1924 by journalist Yunus Nadi Abalıoğlu. Based in Istanbul, it has been situated since October 17, 2005 in Mecidiyeköy. Cumhuriyet was the last newspaper to leave the old press district Cağaloğlu...

, and Vatan

Vatan

Vatan is a Turkish daily newspaper.A newspaper in Turkey founded in 2002, it is increasingly becoming one of the most popular.As of March 2011, Vatan newspaper had the 15th highest circulation in Turkey at 111,489....

. He worked as editor-in-chief at leading news channel of Turkey, NTV.

He died on 21 October 2011 in his Ankara home after suffering for 1,5 years from lung cancer

Lung cancer

Lung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...

. His funeral was held at Teşvikiye Mosque

Tesvikiye Mosque

The Teşvikiye Mosque is a neo-baroque structure located in the Teşvikiye neighbourhood of Şişli district in Istanbul, Turkey. It was originally commissioned in 1794 by Sultan Selim III, but most of the current mosque that stands today was completed in 1854 during the reign of Sultan Abdülmecit I...

 and buried in Ulus Cemetery on 22 October 2011.

His brother Fikret Bilâ wrote a sad and mournful article about Hikmet Bilâ after the funeral.

Books

• Sosyal Demokrat Süreç İçinde CHP ve Sonrası, Milliyet Yayınları (1987), 560pp.
• 12 Eylül: Türkiye'nin Miladı, Doğan Kitap (2002), 239pp, ISBN 9756817038, (with Mehmet Ali Birand and Rıdvan Akar).
• CHP 1919-2009, Doğan Kitap (2008), 472pp, ISBN 9786051110035.