During the years he spent with BBC Turkish, Mango conveyed many important events to his listeners, from the Suez Canal crisis to the Abdi İpekçi assassination. Mango, who published the internationally acclaimed book 'Atatürk - Founder of Modern Turkey' in 1999, spent 5 years researching for the book.
Andrew Mango was born in Istanbul in 1926. He worked in the press department at the British Embassy in Ankara in the 1940s. Mango moved to London in 1947 and completed his doctorate in Iranian literature.
Mango, who speaks Turkish fluently, retired from the BBC in 1986, having also served as president of the BBC Turkish Service and the Southern European Service.
Andrew Mango, the British author of the biography "Atatürk", passed away on July 7, 2014 (at the age of 88).
Andrew James Alexander Mango (14 June 1926 – 6 July 2014) was a British BBC employee and author. He was born in Istanbul, one of three sons of Alexander Mango, an Italian-Greek barrister, and his White Russian wife Adelaide Damonov; the Byzantinist Cyril Mango was his younger brother. He was brought up in Istanbul and mastered a number of languages.
Mango, who is also known for his biography book titled "Atatürk - Founder of Modern Turkey" about Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, had a close interest in Turkey throughout his life and visited it frequently.
Mango's biography of Atatürk, which he worked on for 5 years and was published in 1999, is considered one of the most comprehensive biographies about Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.
Meanwhile, British Ambassador to Ankara, Richard Moore, made a statement on his Twitter account: "I heard that the great Andrew Mango, the doyen of Atatürk biographies and Turkey studies, passed away and I was very saddened." He was incredibly kind to me early in my career. "We will miss his vast knowledge and humanity," he said.
He died at his home in London on 6 July 2014, aged 88.
He is the brother of Cyril Mango, an expert on the history, art, and architecture of the Byzantine Empire.
Summary of life story
He improved his language skills by learning Persian and Arabic at the School of Oriental Studies in London. He earned his doctorate with his research on the forms of the Alexander the Great incident in Islam. He joined the BBC as a student in 1947 and was the manager of the Turkish Broadcasts department for fourteen years. He retired in 1986 while he was the Southern European and French Publications Manager there. From that day on, he devoted all his work to research on issues related to Turkey. Mango's first article about Turkey was published in the magazine Political Quarterly in 1957. His promotional works titled Turkey and Discovering Turkey were followed by the book Turkey: The Challenge of a New Role (1994).