Sipa like Sipahioglu
Göksin Sipahioglu
Sipa Press
Göksin Sipahioglu, founder, chairman and managing director of Sipa Press, has been for half a century one of the outstanding figures of photojournalism, to which he has contributed some of the most glorious chapters.
From the Cuban missile crisis to the Prague coup, from the tragic Olympic Games in Munich to the events of May 1968 in France, from Mao’s China to war in the Sinai, from Dubcek to Pompidou, and from the closed world of Albania to Djibouti’s independence, few of the events or the giant figures of history have escaped his lens.
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After graduating from the prestigious French Lycee Saint Joseph in Istanbul, the former international basketball player, born on December 28th, 1926 in Izmir (Turkey), studied journalism at the University of Istanbul. In 1952, Göksin began his career as a sports reporter for the evening daily "Istanbul Express." In 1957, he founded the general-interest news daily "Yeni Gazete." Three years later, he was named general manager of the daily "Vatan." Through the years, he renovated the Turkish press, modernizing it by promoting photography to the front page and in accelerating the newspaper printing process.
This staunch believer in first-hand accounts, who was a pioneer of the photographic essay in Turkey, began to roam the planet. In 1961, he managed to make his way into Albania, and brought back rare pictures. The following year he was the only journalist to enter Cuba during the missile crisis, a story which ran on the front pages of 45 American daily newspapers.
From 1962 onward, he became a senior reporter for the foremost Turkish daily "Hurriyet," for which he was sent as correspondent in France from 1966. His work was distributed by such French agencies as Dalmas, Reporters Associés, Vizo and Gamma. Based in Paris, he had a ring-side seat during the events of May 1968. Göksin Sipahioglu's photos of May 1968 were published the following year in Les Trublions by Jean Bertolino (Editions Stock).
In 1969, with his companion, American journalist Phyllis Springer, Göksin founded the agency which bears his name. At once owner, news editor, editor-in-chief and of course photographer, he boasts a long list of scoops. Supported by an impressive network of correspondents throughout the world, Sipa Press today is one of the world's first-ranking photographic agencies.
In 1994, Göksin Sipahioglu was made Chevalier of France's Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
