A 70-year-old man in Ankara has fulfilled his long-standing dream of earning a journalism degree after returning to university through a student amnesty program and graduating alongside his daughter.

Erdoğan Doğan, who was forced to leave his journalism studies in 1976 due to the difficult conditions of the period, completed his degree nearly 50 years later at Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli University.

Doğan, a businessperson, had dreamed of becoming a journalist since childhood. Although he gained admission to the journalism department after taking university entrance exams for a second time, he was unable to continue his education and eventually left school.

Over the years, several amnesty programs allowed former students to resume their studies, but Doğan chose not to return and gradually gave up on completing his degree.

His daughter, lawyer Azra Doğan Haçkalı, ultimately changed his mind.

Haçkalı, who had also long been interested in journalism, decided to pursue the field as a second university degree. She encouraged her father to return to school and complete the education he had left unfinished decades earlier.

In 2022, father and daughter enrolled together in the Journalism Department of the Faculty of Communication at Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli University. Over the next four years, they attended classes together and shared the same academic journey.

Doğan said journalism had always remained an unfinished dream.

"Nearly 50 years have passed. Several amnesties were introduced, but I never applied. During the most recent amnesty, my daughter convinced me to return,” he said.

According to Doğan, his daughter completed the registration process and informed him that they would be studying together.

"She told me, ‘Dad, we are going to study together. You are now a journalism student.’ I was very surprised at first, but eventually I agreed,” he said.

Returning to university after decades away from education was a major change, but Doğan said he quickly adapted to campus life.

He described sharing the same classroom with his daughter as a special experience and said support from classmates helped him adjust.

Many of his classmates were close to his daughter's age, while others were the age of his grandchildren. Despite the age difference, he said they welcomed him and made him feel part of the university community.

Doğan said the experience reinforced his belief that learning should continue throughout life.

"There is no age limit for education. As long as people live, they should continue learning. If an opportunity exists, it should be used,” he said.

He added that returning to school helped him realize how much there was still to learn and credited his professors with broadening his understanding of society and life.

Although he has completed his journalism degree, Doğan said he is uncertain whether he will pursue a professional career in the field. However, he noted that several journalists have encouraged him to consider working with them.

For Haçkalı, studying journalism alongside her father became one of the most meaningful experiences of her life.

She said she had been interested in journalism since childhood, largely because of her father's influence, but had never pursued the profession.

Eventually, she decided that if she was going to study journalism, she wanted to do so together with her father.

"Then I thought, ‘If we study, we study together.’ That is how our journalism journey began,” she said.

Haçkalı recalled that her father initially resisted the idea of returning to university but soon embraced student life. He became dedicated to his coursework, spent long hours studying and even created a small library at home.

She said classmates and professors were highly supportive throughout their studies. Many initially thought their story was a joke but quickly became enthusiastic supporters once they learned it was true.

Balancing her work as a lawyer, graduate studies and journalism courses was challenging, Haçkalı said, but sharing the experience with her father made the effort worthwhile.

"Watching my father learn, and having him witness my own learning journey, was priceless,” she said.

After four years of studying side by side, father and daughter graduated together, bringing a decades-old dream to a successful conclusion and demonstrating that it is never too late to return to education.