Banu Avar

Who is Banu Avar?

Banu Avar is a Turkish author, journalist, news anchor, and political commentator. She started her career at the Turkish magazine Süreç in 1980, and has worked in newspapers such as Günaydin, Dünya, and Vatan.

After getting her Masters degree at City University, London, she worked at the BBC as a radio reporter for the Turkish news department and trained with the BBC documentary department. She was hired by Turkish Radio and Television Corporation in London. A short time later, she became a reporter for the popular TV programme 32. Since 1985 she has worked as a producer. In 1999, she created two programmes for TRT. She has also made documentaries for the Discovery Channel and the BBC.

In 1999, she started documentaries with TV8 and worked there as a director until 2004. After leaving that job, she transferred to TRT 1 and started producing documentaries for them, beginning with Sinirlar Arasinda. So far, more than 20 such documentaries have appeared on TV. She has also presented an anti-capitalist programme for TRT 1.

Countries which have shown her work include France, the Netherlands, Israel, Palestine, Uzbekistan, Iran, Algeria, Denmark, and the U.K. She has become more critical of Turkey and other European countries.