Vatan (former newspaper)

Vatan
Type Daily newspaper
Format Broadsheet
Owner(s) Ahmet Emin Yalman
Nevzat Karaveli
Naim Tiralı
Numan Esin
Founded 1923
Political alignment Democrat
Language Turkish
Ceased publication 1925, 1878
Relaunched 19 August 1940

Vatan (“Fatherland”) was a former Turkish newspaper founded by Ahmet Emin Yalman and his friends. There were two district periods in the history of Vatan.

First term

Ahmet Emin Yalman and Ahmet Şükrü Esmer founded the newspaper in İstanbul soon after Yalman returned from Malta exile (a mass exile to Malta by the British high commissioner following the First World War ) in 1923. The newspaper supported Mustafa Kemal in his struggle to convert the monarchy to republic. But soon after the republic was proclaimed the newspaper began to oppose Mustafa Kemal and supported the main opposition Progressive Republican Party. After Sheikh Said rebellion the newspaper was closed down by the court in 1925.[1]

Second term

CHP government

The newspaper was relaunched on 19 August 1940 by Ahmet Emin Yalman.[2] During the Second World War Vatan frequently criticized the Republican People’s Party (CHP) government. For example, Vatan sharply opposed the Wealth tax a new tax for the wealthy citizens of Turkey in 1942, to raise funds to support the defense of the country. Vatan was punished for this opposition by the court. Its publication was suspended for six months. But after the war Vatan was able to continue in a more democratic environment.[3] In 1945–46 term it supported the Democrat Party (DP) against the CHP government.

DP government

This support continued after DP won the 1950 election. However, Vatan also began criticizing DP for DPs non-secular moves.[4] On 22 November 1952, Yalman barely escaped an assassination attempt in Malatya. Even after this incident, Vatan continued to support DP in such operations like closing the Nation Party and participating in the Korean War. However DP, once a champion of democracy was no longer democrat and by the 1957 elections, due to the disillusionment with the totalitarian rule of DP, Vatan ended its DP support. It became one of the notable opposition papers to the DP government.[5]

DP government punished Vatan (like all other opposition papers) by various methods like reducing the advertising revenue and limiting the newsprint paper.[6] Later courts also punished Vatan by temporarily suspending its publication. In 1959. Ahmet Emin Yalman, as well as the other Vatan people like Naim Tiralı and Selami Akpınar, were jailed only to be set free by the 1960 Turkish coup d'état.[7]

Later years

During the troubled years, Vatan was faced with deep financial problems. About half of the shares were bought by a new group and in 1961 Yalman sold his shares to break away.[8] After Yalman's term the royalty of the newspaper was sold to Naim Tiralı the former executive editor of the paper. Meanwhile, the newspaper infrastructure (buildings and machinery) was sold to Hürriyet newspaper.[9]

Aftermath

In 1976 Vatan was sold to Numan Esin who began publishing Vatan in Ankara as an afternoon paper up to 1978. Present newspaper Vatan which began publishing in 2002 is not related to the former Vatan except for its title.

References

  1. ↑ Karaveli p. 131
  2. ↑ Karaveli, p.17
  3. ↑ Gök, p. 20
  4. ↑ Öymen, pp. 346–351
  5. ↑ Gök, p.93
  6. ↑ Gök, p. 112
  7. ↑ Karaveli, pp.134–142
  8. ↑ Karaveli, p.143
  9. ↑ Karaveli, p. 147

Sources

  • Karaveli, Orhan (2001). Görgü Tanığı. İstanbul: Pergamon. ISBN 975-96826-2-1.
  • Gök, Sanem. "Türk Siyasal yaşamında Vatan gazetesi" (PDF). Ankara University. Retrieved 15 December 2014.
  • Öymen, Altan (2009). Öfkeli Yıllar. İstanbul: Doğan Kitap. ISBN 978-605-111-401-9.
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