Fevzi opens the +1T Design Days conference in Istanbul in 2015
Fevzi and I when he visited the Columbia University campus this past winter to film a design documentary
Those of us in the design community who know, admire and have worked with Fevzi Yazici, are saddened to hear of his arrest.
Fevzi is not just the talented art director of Zaman, one of the best designed newspapers in the world, but also a tireless organizer of design conferences to encourage the study of newspaper/editorial design, a passion that he shared with the rest of the world via his annual +1T Design Days conference in Istanbul. I, like many other designers from around the world, have been honored to speak at this conference and that is how we got to know about Fevzi and the incredibly good work he has carried out.
To have one of us arrested in the midst of the political turmoil now embracing Turkey is definitely sad news and I hope that we all become aware of what Turkey's citizens are presently going through . Fevzi is one of many journalists who have been arrested following the recent coup attempt against the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
We are all in total solidarity with Fevzi and his fellow journalists who find themselves in the middle of this surrealistic—-but very realistic—-situation.
An update
Since posting this blog earlier today Monday, I have received a couple of updates about Fevzi:
Based on a few email conversations he's had with various members of the US design community, his situation has changed a bit.
Pre-coup, he and several other editors lost their jobs at Zaman, a direct result of the squeeze caused by a government crackdown. He had been out of work for several weeks, finally latching on to a job as a columnist for Bakis.
Related content from SND
http://www.snd.org/2016/08/amid-post-coup-crackdown-snd-members-detained/
More about the arrests
http://usbizznews.com/media-freedom-in-turkey-sultanic-verses/
The +1T Design Days conference
Last year was the 10th year of the event. Here is a video about the Conference