Vatan (former Newspaper)

''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 (1923-1925)

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 Independence Tribunals in 1925.

Second term (1940-1978)

CHP government

The newspaper was relaunched on 19 August 1940 by Ahmet Emin Yalman. 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 directed at the wealthy citizens most of whom were non-Muslim 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. In the 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 the latter's non-secular moves. 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 democratic 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.

DP government punished ''Vatan'' (like all other opposition papers) by various methods like reducing the advertising revenue and limiting the newsprint paper. 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.

Later years

During the troubled years, ''Vatan'' faced deep financial problems. About half of the shares were bought by a new group and in 1961 Yalman sold his shares to break away. 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.Karaveli, p. 147

In 1976 ''Vatan'' was sold to Numan Esin who began publishing ''Vatan'' in Ankara as an afternoon paper up to 1978.

Recent Vatan

The former newspaper ''Vatan'' which continued publishing between 2002 and 2018 is not related to the former Vatan except for its title.

References

Sources

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*{{Cite book, title=A Scapegoat for All Seasons:the Dönmes or Crypto-jews of Turkey, last=Bali, first=Rifat N., publisher=Isis Press, year=2008, isbn=978-9754283631, location=Istanbul

1923 establishments in Turkey
1940 establishments in Turkey
1925 disestablishments in Turkey
1978 disestablishments in Turkey
Turkish-language newspapers
Newspapers established in 1923
Newspapers established in 1940
Publications disestablished in 1925
Publications disestablished in 1978
Defunct newspapers published in Turkey
Daily newspapers published in Turkey