R.I.P. Özgür Uçkan: Netizens of Turkey Lose One of Their Best · Global Voices
Erkan Saka

Dr. Özgür Uçkan, one of Turkey's few leading digital activists and a co-founder of Alternatif Bilisim, an association working on digital rights and freedoms in the country, died on July 10, 2015. He was just 54-years-old and had been seriously ill for some time.
A writer, teacher and advisor, Uçkan dedicated his working life to discussions of the knowledge economy, creative industries, information design and management, communication design, art and culture, while spending much of his time on digital freedom issues.
Uçkan's website is mostly in Turkish but there is also some English language content and his name regularly appears in web searches as an expert on the state of Internet freedom in Turkey.
An obituary and more photos of Uçkan can be found here, while many Turkish netizens linked to other online tributes:
Keeping the ball rolling: In memory of Özgür Uçkan and Caspar Bowden – @sedyst http://t.co/5B6KAOO1gw
— Ahmet A. Sabancı (@ahmetasabanci) July 12, 2015
This screen capture from his Twitter profile sums up his twin interests in theory and the practicalities of online freedom advocacy.
The cover photo is from the now legendary Internet Freedom March in Taksim, Istanbul on May 15, 2011.
Dr. Uçkan is one of those seen here holding a banner reading “Internet without Censorship” in Turkish.
His pinned tweet is a quote from Deleuze and Guattari's Anti-Oedipus. Prior to the quote he writes “This sums up my feelings”, while the quote itself reads “The masses were not deceived, at a particular historical moment they desired fascism.”
Uçkan was well versed in Deleuzian art theory, which he combined with his later growing interest in cybercultural issues.
He will be truly missed.