A Turkish journalist settled in France, he became one of the voices of the Turkish section of Radio France Internationale: part of Turkey learned through him what Paris thought of its affairs. In October 1991 he had launched, on Radio Soleil, a community station in the Goutte-d'Or, a weekly programme in Turkish that he presented live, microphone in hand.
The story
Born in Istanbul in 1949, Uğur Hüküm came to Paris in 1974 and made journalism his trade in a country that was not his own, working for those who had stayed behind.
In October 1991, on Radio Soleil — a community station founded ten years earlier in the Goutte-d'Or, the immigrant quarter of northern Paris — he launched a weekly programme in Turkish, and presented it live, microphone in hand.
In 1993 he took charge of the Turkish service of Radio France internationale and became one of its voices: for years, part of Turkey learnt from him what Paris thought of its affairs.
Educated at the boys' lycée in Istanbul and then at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, he also wrote for Cumhuriyet, the great secular Turkish daily.
A heart attack took him in Paris in 2013, at sixty-four. He lies in Division 16, chemin de Lesseps, first row, under a stone that carries nothing but “Ugur HUKUM, 1949-2013” — his name stripped of its Turkish marks.
The grave
A grave of great sobriety: one name, two dates, “Ugur HUKUM, 1949-2013”. The Turkish loses its diacritics there — no breve on the g, no umlaut on the u — as on many stones in the cemetery where foreign alphabets are simplified. Nothing there mentions RFI, Radio Soleil or the forty years of journalism.
On site, do not miss
A stone without ornament, and a name written the French way: “Ugur HUKUM”, without the breve on the g or the umlaut on the u — Turkish spelling did not cross the border of the engraving.
Visitors' questions
Where is Uğur Hüküm's grave?
In Division 16, chemin de Lesseps, first row, beneath a very plain stone: “Ugur HUKUM, 1949-2013”, without the diacritics of Turkish. The Division is also that of the stage director Patrice Chéreau.
Patrice ChéreauWhat was Uğur Hüküm's profession?
Journalist. He worked in the Turkish section of Radio France Internationale, where he was one of the voices for years, and in October 1991 launched, on Radio Soleil — a community station in the Goutte-d'Or founded ten years earlier — a weekly programme in Turkish that he presented live.
Daniel CollingWhy so many Turkish figures at Père-Lachaise?
Because Paris served as a refuge for Turkey's dissenting voices throughout the twentieth century. The singer Ahmet Kaya rests in Division 71, the film-maker Yılmaz Güney in Division 62, Uğur Hüküm in Division 16.
Ahmet KayaWhat did he write in Jazz Magazine?
“Letters from Paris” devoted to Turkish art, theatre and cinema — a go-between's work in the opposite direction: introducing French readers to a cultural scene they had no reason ever to encounter.
Yılmaz GüneyAudio guide to Père Lachaise: the best unusual guided tour!
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