He was born to İzzet and his wife Mürvet on 9 December 1941 in
Beyoğlu,
Istanbul. Mother's side he was Kurdish.
Kurdish descent from
Palu, Elazığ.
Career Birand began his journalism career in 1964 by writing for the newspaper
Milliyet. In 1992, he joined
Show TV as a news presenter. Birand began hosting a political show titled
32. Gün (The 32nd Day), which was first on
TRT in 1985 and then moved to other private TV channels such as
CNN Türk and Show TV. He also presented the daily news on CNN Türk. Before his death in 2013, he worked at
Kanal D, hosting the news. In 2006, he said that
JITEM had asked
Mahmut Yıldırım (
Yeşil) to assassinate him, but that the operation was later cancelled, after Yıldırım had already investigated Birand's home security. Birand said that MIT chief
Şenkal Atasagun was one of those who had told him of this episode.
Death Birand died on 17 January 2013 from complications of gallbladder surgery to replace a
stent at the American Hospital in Istanbul. He had been receiving cancer treatment for a while. He was 71 years old. == Newspapers worked for ==