Altan Öymen

Aysel Öymen, Türkiye's first female director general of the Treasury and wife of journalist and former Republican People's Party (CHP) chairman Altan Öymen, has passed away at the age of 96.

Öymen graduated from Ankara University's Faculty of Political Sciences, held various diplomatic posts abroad and became Türkiye's first female director general of the Treasury in 1978.

Preliminary results from the delegate elections preceding the Republican People's Party's (CHP) congress indicate a leaning toward party leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, despite a push for transformative reforms by Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, daily Hürriyet has reported.

The parliamentary head of the main opposition Republican People's Party, Özgür Özel, has emphasized the need "not to overlook the public's reaction" and called for swift reforms in the party amid growing calls for change.

The Republican People's Party's (CHP) current stance on secularism and religion contains nothing that might upset the pious, according to Altan Öymen, a journalist and former leader of the party. 

The attempts at bringing the press to order by use of force presented themselves through the double attack on Hürriyet earlier this month. The first example of such an assault in the history of Turkey was a mob attack targeting the printing press center of Tan newspaper in December 1945.