Yunus Nadi Abalıoğlu (1879,

Fethiye Fethiye () is a city and district of Muğla Province in the Aegean Region of Turkey. It is one of the prominent tourist destinations in the Turkish Riviera. In 2019 its population was 162,686. History Fethiye was formerly known as Makri ...

– 28 June 1945) was a renowned Turkish

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

and the founder of the newspaper ''

Cumhuriyet ''Cumhuriyet'' (; English: " Republic") is the oldest up-market Turkish daily newspaper. It has been described as "the most important independent public interest newspaper in contemporary Turkey". The newspaper was awarded the ''Freedom of Pr ...

''. He was known to be a sympathizer of the

Nazi regime Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

before the war, as he published many antisemitic propaganda articles praising

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and the ...

Biography

Yunus Nadi was born in 1879 in the Seydiler village of the south Aegean town

. After primary school in Fethiye, he was schooled on

Rhodes Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the S ...

. Later on, Yunus Nadi moved to Istanbul. He graduated from

Galatasaray High School Galatasaray High School ( tr, Galatasaray Lisesi, french: Lycée de Galatasaray), established in what was then Constantinople and is now Istanbul, in 1481, is the oldest high school in Turkey. It is also the second-oldest Turkish educational in ...

. He then graduated from the

Istanbul University , image = Istanbul_University_logo.svg , image_size = 200px , latin_name = Universitas Istanbulensis , motto = tr, Tarihten Geleceğe Bilim Köprüsü , mottoeng = Science Bridge from Past to the Future , established = 1453 1846 1933 ...

with a degree in Law. Yunus Nadi started to work as a journalist at the newspaper "''Malumat''" in 1900. He was only 22 years old when he was sentenced to a three-years prison and exile due to an article he wrote in 1901. Until the proclamation of the Second

Constitutional Monarchy A constitutional monarchy, parliamentary monarchy, or democratic monarchy is a form of monarchy in which the monarch exercises their authority in accordance with a constitution and is not alone in decision making. Constitutional monarchies dif ...

in 1908, he lived in Fethiye. Returning to Istanbul, Yunus Nadi joined the newspaper "''İkdam ve Tasvir-i Efkar''". In 1910 he became the

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

of the newspaper "''Rumeli''" in

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...

published by the Committee for Union and Progress party. At the age of 32, he was elected Deputy of Aydın into the Ottoman Parliament in Constantinople in 1912 and was reelected for another five-years term in 1914. The literary Yunus Nadi Prize competition, which is "the oldest surviving literary competition" in Turkey, has been named to his name and memorial.

Turkish War of Independence

" Yeni Gün" was the only media to covered the

Turkish War of Independence The Turkish War of Independence "War of Liberation", also known figuratively as ''İstiklâl Harbi'' "Independence War" or ''Millî Mücadele'' "National Struggle" (19 May 1919 – 24 July 1923) was a series of military campaigns waged by th ...

to the rest of the world. Yunus Nadi founded the newspaper "Yeni Gün". Despite censorship and pressures from the invading forces, he continued to support

Mustafa Kemal Mustafa ( ar, مصطفى , Muṣṭafā) is one of the names of Prophet Muhammad, and the name means "chosen, selected, appointed, preferred", used as an Arabic given name and surname. Mustafa is a common name in the Muslim world. Given name ...

's independence movement, which was set up on May 19, 1919 in

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. After the invasion of Constantinople by the

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and

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forces on November 13, 1918, Parliament banned him. He fled to

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...

in order to escape arrest. Yunus Nadi was welcomed by Mustafa Kemal with great enthusiasm on April 2, 1920. He started to publish his newspaper "Yeni Gün" again on August 9, 1920 in Ankara. The printing machine used in Constantinople was dismantled and smuggled into Ankara in separated parts. Members of his family also followed Yunus Nadi to Ankara. Yunus Nadi established the news agency "

Anadolu Ajansı Anadolu Agency ( tr, Anadolu Ajansı, ; abbreviated AA) is a state-run news agency headquartered in Ankara, Turkey. History The Anadolu Agency was founded in 1920 during the Turkish War of Independence by the order of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. As ...

" together with

Halide Edib In chemistry, a halide (rarely halogenide) is a binary chemical compound, of which one part is a halogen atom and the other part is an element or radical that is less electronegative (or more electropositive) than the halogen, to make a flu ...

. Meanwhile, he was elected a member of the newly formed

Turkish Grand National Assembly The Grand National Assembly of Turkey ( tr, ), usually referred to simply as the TBMM or Parliament ( tr, or ''Parlamento''), is the unicameral Turkish legislature. It is the sole body given the legislative prerogatives by the Turkish Const ...

as Deputy of İzmir. His newspaper had to be moved to

Kayseri Kayseri (; el, Καισάρεια) is a large industrialised city in Central Anatolia, Turkey, and the capital of Kayseri province. The Kayseri Metropolitan Municipality area is composed of five districts: the two central districts of Kocasina ...

because of the nearing Greek forces to Ankara during the

Battle of Sakarya The Battle of the Sakarya ( tr, Sakarya Meydan Muharebesi, lit=Sakarya Field Battle), also known as the Battle of the Sangarios ( el, Μάχη του Σαγγαρίου, Máchi tou Sangaríou), was an important engagement in the Greco-Turkish W ...

. During the summer months of 1923, newspapers in Constantinople were sharply against the proclamation of republic. Yunus Nadi was working very closely with Mustafa Kemal and was the head of the parliament commission, which was working on the new constitution. On October 29, 1923 Yunus Nadi read the new constitution in parliament after the proclamation of the republic.

Republican period

Mustafa Kemal tried to convince some mild representatives of opposing newspapers of Istanbul in a meeting held in

İzmir İzmir ( , ; ), also spelled Izmir, is a metropolitan city in the western extremity of Anatolia, capital of the province of the same name. It is the third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara and the second largest urban aggl ...

on January 5, 1924 without success. These newspapers intensified their negative attitudes instead and attacked openly the regime in Ankara. This led Mustafa Kemal to commission Yunus Nadi to establish a new newspaper in Constantinople, to propagate and defend the principles of the republic and the democracy against the monarchy and the

caliphate A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...

. The preparations continued until the end of April 1924 and the first issue of the newspaper was published on May 7, 1924. The newspaper was named "''Cumhuriyet''" (literally republic in Turkish) by Mustafa Kemal. "''Cumhuriyet''" has a current circulation of approximately 38,000 copies, and is a left-wing publication Yunus Nadi, who took the family name Abalıoğlu, owned the newspaper and was editor-in-chief until his death on June 28, 1945 in a hospital in

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situa ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. The newspaper was owned later on by his eldest son Nadir Nadi and then by Nadir Nadi's wife Berin. Currently, the foundation "Cumhuriyet Vakfı" is the publisher. His remains were brought to Istanbul and buried at the

Edirnekapı Martyr's Cemetery The Edirnekapı Martyr's Cemetery ( tr, Edirnekapı Şehitliği), one of the largest burial grounds of Istanbul, Turkey, is located in the neighborhood of Edirnekapı of Eyüp district, in the European part of the city. It consists of an old, ...

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abalioglu, Yunus Nadi 1879 births 1945 deaths People from Fethiye Galatasaray High School alumni Istanbul University Faculty of Law alumni Cumhuriyet people Malta exiles Members of Kuva-yi Milliye Burials at Edirnekapı Martyr's Cemetery Turkish newspaper publishers (people) Deputies of Izmir