{{Short description|Turkish academic and journalist (1931–2011)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2023}} {{Infobox person | image = <!-- filename only, no "File:" or "Image:" prefix, and no enclosing brackets --> | alt = <!-- descriptive text for use by speech synthesis (text-to-speech) software --> | caption = | birth_date = 1931 | birth_place = Istanbul, Turkey | death_date = 29 November {{death year and age|2011|1931}} | death_place = Istanbul, Turkey | burial_place = Karacaahmet Cemetery, Istanbul | birth_name = | occupation = {{ubl|Academic|Journalist}} | years_active = 1960–2011 | spouse = | children = | relatives = }} '''Server Tanilli''' (1931–2011) was a Turkish academic and author. While working as an academic he was attacked by the terrorists on 7 April 1978 which left him paralyzed from the chest down. He worked at the University of Strasbourg, France, between 1980 and 2000 during his exile due to the military coup. He returned to Turkey in 2000 and contributed to the ''Cumhuriyet'' newspaper.
==Early life and education== Tanilli was born in Istanbul in 1931.<ref name=ckitap/> He received a degree in law from Istanbul University and also, obtained a PhD from the same university.<ref name=ckitap/>
==Career== Following his graduation, Tanilli joined his alma mater and became an associated professor in 1960.<ref name=ckitap/> Later he worked at Istanbul University as the professor of constitutional law.<ref name=dgur>{{cite book|author=Doğan Gürpɪnar|year=2022|editor1=Deniz Kuru|editor2=Hazal Papuççular|title=The Turkish Connection|chapter-url=https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110757293-009|publisher=De Gruyter Oldenbourg|location=Berlin; Boston|page=232|chapter=Turkish Anticlericalism, Republicanism, and the Left: Intersections and Departures|doi=10.1515/9783110757293-009 }}</ref> His courses were mainly about the constitutional law and the history of civilizations.<ref name=ckitap>{{cite news|title=Cumhuriyetçi, Atatürkçü bilge; Server Tanilli|author=Alev Çoşkun|url=https://www.cumhuriyet.com.tr/kitap/cumhuriyetci-ataturkcu-bilge-server-tanilli-alev-coskunun-yazisi-1912654|access-date=19 January 2023|work=Cumhuriyet Kitap|date=7 March 2022|language=tr}}</ref>
Tanilli left Turkey after the 1980 military coup in Turkey and worked at the University of Strasbourg, France.<ref name=bbc/>
===Work=== Tanilli published many books,<ref name=ckitap/><ref name=bbc/> and most of them were concerned with the Enlightenment and the French Revolution.<ref name=dgur/> He was also author of the biographies of the leading French figures, including Denis Diderot, Voltaire, Victor Hugo and Maximilien Robespierre.<ref name=dgur/>
His book entitled ''What Kind of Democracy Do We Want?'' was seized based on the order of the Turkish State Security Court in 1988.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Lois Whitman|title=Paying the Price: Freedom of Expression in Turkey|publisher=Helsinki Watch|year=1989 |isbn=978-0-929692-15-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kvYmkcILrysC&pg=PA72|page=72|author2=Tom Froncek}}</ref>
===Views=== Tanilli was a socialist and believed that socialism is the final step of the progressive reason.<ref name=dgur/> He argued in 1996 that one of the most significant problems that the Western democracies came across in the 20th century was the totalitarian political parties.<ref name=ocelep/> For him such parties enjoyed the privileges offered by the liberal political setting, but they did not follow the democratic principles following their election victories.<ref name=ocelep>{{cite journal|author=Ödül Celep|title=The Political Causes of Party Closures in Turkey|journal=Parliamentary Affairs|date=April 2014|volume=67|issue=2|page=374 |doi=10.1093/pa/gss041|hdl=11729/539|hdl-access=free}}</ref>
===Assassination attempt=== On 7 April 1978, Tanilli was severely wounded in a terrorist attack.<ref name=ggen/><ref>{{cite news|author=Barış Altıntaş|title=Cumhuriyet: A pained history of suppression, assassinations and betrayal|url=https://www.indexoncensorship.org/2017/09/cumhuriyet-a-pained-history-of-suppression-assassinations-and-betrayal/|access-date=19 January 2023|work=Index on Censorship|date=8 September 2017}}</ref> He survived the attack but was paralyzed from the chest down.<ref name=ggen/> In early May, he was sent by the Turkish state to London for medical treatment.<ref name=ggen>{{cite journal|author=Gencay Gürsoy|title=Terror in Turkey|journal=Index on Censorship|year=1978|volume=7|issue=6|page=52|doi=10.1080/03064227808532861 |s2cid=144217687}}</ref> The perpetrators were allegedly members of the Hearths of Idealism which is a parameter youth group affiliated with the Nationalist Movement Party.<ref name=ggen/>
==Later years and death== Tanilli returned to Turkey in 2000 and worked for ''Cumhuriyet'' newspaper.<ref name=bbc/> From 1999, Tanilli was the honorary member of the PEN International.<ref name=bbc/> He was recipient of the 2006 Sertel Democracy Prize.<ref name=bbc/>
Tanilli died in Istanbul on 29 November 2011.<ref name=bbc>{{cite news|title=Server Tanilli hayatını kaybetti|work=BBC Turkish|date=29 November 2011 |url=https://www.bbc.com/turkce/haberler/2011/11/111129_tanilli_update|access-date=19 January 2023}}</ref> He was buried in Karacaahmet Cemetery.<ref>{{cite book|title=Server Tanilli|publisher=İletişim Yayınları|url=https://iletisim.com.tr/kisi/server-tanilli/6172|access-date=19 January 2023}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[https://worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n86122338/ Overview of his publications] WorldCat
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Tanilli, Server}} Category:21st-century Turkish journalists Category:1931 births Category:2011 deaths Category:20th-century Turkish non-fiction writers Category:Istanbul University Faculty of Law alumni Category:Survivors of terrorist attacks Category:Cumhuriyet people Category:Academic staff of Istanbul University Category:Academic staff of the University of Strasbourg Category:Turkish exiles Category:Burials at Karacaahmet Cemetery Category:Writers from Istanbul Category:PEN International Category:Turkish socialists