[1][2][3] Önal worked as a psychological counselor at a juvenile prison in the early 1980s, but was fired when the government found out she was "kind of a leftist".
Önal had learned about it from Veli Küçük after being introduced to him through MIT spy and fellow journalist, Tuncay Güney.
[6] In 1994 Turkish Hizballah published a death threat against her, leading Önal to go into hiding in Cyprus for three months.
[4] From 1995 to 1997, she hosted a discussion show Minefield on Kanal 7, which brought together Jews, Armenians and Turks five days a week in a way not previously seen on Turkish television.
[1] The International Women's Media Foundation, which gave her a Courage in Journalism Award in 1996, said of her in 2008: "Onal has been a controversial journalist most of her life.