Mehmet Hasan Altan (born 11 January 1953[1]) is a Turkish academic economist, journalist, and author of over 25 books.

[3] Altan studied at the Sorbonne University from 1979 to 1984, completing masters and doctoral degrees in economics.

He was later indicted on charges of attempting to overthrow the constitutional order and acting on behalf of a terrorist organization.

[7] He was sentenced to life in prison for terror related charges in February 2018 because the day before the Turkish coup d`état attempt 2016, according to Reuters he said on television: “Whatever the developments were that led to military coups in Turkey, by making the same decisions, Erdogan is paving the same path”.

[1] He criticized Robert Spano, the president of the ECHR, for his acceptance of an honorary Doctorate by the Istanbul University from the same people who have dismissed him in 2016.