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Shawwal, 1440 - June 2019
Dirasat
The Historical Development
of the Turkish Press:
From Its Beginnings to
the Present Day
Mohammed Alrmizan
The Historical Development
of the Turkish Press:
From Its Beginnings to
the Present Day
Mohammed Alrmizan
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Dirasat
No. 46 Ramadan, 1440 - May 2019
© King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies, 2019
King Fahd National Library Cataloging-In-Publication Data
Alrmizan, Mohammed
The Historical Development of the Turkish Press. /
Alrmizan, Mohammed. - Riyadh, 2019
44 p ; 23 x 16.5 cm (٤٦ ‫)دراسات؛‬
ISBN: 978-603-8268-16-2
1 - Turkish -Press-History
I - Title
II-Series
079.563 dc
L.D. no. 1440/9588
ISBN: 978-603-8268-16-2
1440/9588
Table of Contents
Abstract
6
Introduction
7
The History and Development of the Press
in the Republic of Turkey
7
Before the Republic: The Ottoman Empire
8
The Press in the Ottoman Empire:
The Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries
10
First Constitutional Reform 1876–1909
15
Second Constitutional Reform 1908
17
The Press after the Establishment of the Turkish Republic 21
The One-Party System, 1924–1940
21
The Multiparty Period of 1940–1960
23
The Military Coups of 1960, 1971, and 1980
and the Role of the Press
26
Before and after the Military Coup Attempt of 2016
31
Immersion of the Internet and Online Newspapers
in Turkey
34
Conclusion
35
References
38
5
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No. 46 Shawwal, 1440 - June 2019
Abstract
This article provides a historical overview of the development of the Turkish
press since its beginning during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in the
Ottoman Empire and through various critical periods of the Turkish Republic.
It explores, first, how the press and the printing houses developed during the
last stages of the Ottoman Empire. Moreover, it reveals the abuses of the press,
assassinations of many Turkish journalists and other important figures, and
appearance of newspapers during times of critical transformations, like those
of Tanzimat, Sultan Abdul Hamid II, and the Young Turks. Second, it offers a
detailed account and analysis of the development and censorship of the Turkish
press during the beginning of the independence of the Turkish Republic,
and later through the military coups, political divides, social violence, and
socioeconomic hardships. Third and last, this article sheds light on the recent
situation of the Turkish press and media.
Keywords: Turkish press, Ottoman press, Abdul Hamid II, press history,
Turkish newspapers.
Introduction
The early development of the Turkish press is an interesting case to
study in itself because it helps us understand the related historical events
and documents interactions involving the press as well as the interactions of
notable writers in their articles and correspondence on various political, social,
and public issues. Its origins can be traced back to the Ottoman Empire, and
it is impossible to understand the current situation of the press in the Turkish
Republic without referring to developments that occurred during the early
days. Ottoman history is very rich but also complicated, as it goes back at
least as far as the establishment of the empire in 1299, and continues through
its dissolution and the birth of the new Turkish Republic in 1923.(1) The
Ottoman (Turkish) press began to develop in the late period of the empire, at
the beginning of the nineteenth century.
During the early developments of the press in the period of the Ottoman
Empire, there were important events, including political, religious, economic,
and social and cultural changes inside the empire and in the outside world,
and specifically in the neighboring region of Europe. Also, the period of the
nineteenth and twentieth centuries, in which the Ottoman press was developing
and becoming established, was considered to be the weakest period in the long
history of a once-powerful empire that spread over several continents.
The History and Development of the Press in the Republic of Turkey
While this article examines the history of the Turkish press, it must also
relate it to the political and unprecedented events and transformation processes
that this nation has experienced. For example, the transformation from a broad
empire covering various races and religious subjects to a national Republic
had a profound influence upon the Turkish language, race and national
(1)
Ahmed M. A. Emin Yalaman, The Development of Modern Turkey as Measured by Its Press
(Ph.D. diss., Columbia University. Faculty of Political Science, 1914), 5–114.
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No. 46 Shawwal, 1440 - June 2019
citizenship. The development of the Turkish press can be understood as falling
into two different periods: before the Republic (Ottoman times) and after the
declaration of the Turkish Republic.
Before the Republic: The Ottoman Empire
During the time of the Ottoman Empire, the development of the press
was influenced by a number of important issues, including the introduction
of the printing press, the different policies of the sultans, and the internal and
external challenges of the empire. For example, during the eighteenth and the
nineteenth centuries, the early Turkish press witnessed the Tanzimat (reforms)
period (1839–1876), as well as influential sultans including Mahmut II (1784–
1839) and Abdul Hamid II (1842–1918), whose important initiatives led to
their eras now being considered to be significant for modern Turkish history,
including the development of the press.(2) The reign of the Sultan Abdul Hamid
II is considered to be the most critical period because in 1876 he declared
the Birinci Meşrutiyet (the First Constitutional Reform) and then, in 1908, he
declared also the İkinci Meşrutiyet (Second Constitutional Reform), both of
which constituted the most important stage of modern Turkish history.(3) In
addition, this period saw the appearance of the Young Ottomans, followed
by their successors, the Young Turks and the İttihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti
(Committee of Union and Progress [CUP]), which opposed some sultans and
their policies, including Abdul Hamid II, and advocated for more political
reforms and a moderation of the Ottoman system.
(2)
Ibid., 20. The term Tanzimat comes from nizam, which is an Arabic word for “order.” It refers to
a series of reforms initiated between 1839 and 1876 (the First Constitutional Reform) under the
sultans Abdulmejid and Abdulaziz with the aim of modernizing the state’s affairs, education,
taxes, and economy based on the European model.
(3)
See Seçil Akgün, “The Emergence of Tanzimat in the Ottoman Empire,” Osmanlı Tarihi
Araştırma ve Uygulama Merkezi Dergisi OTAM 2.02 (1991), http://dergiler.ankara.edu.tr/
dergiler/19/834/10541.pdf; H. İnalcık, “Tanzimat nedir?” H. İnalcık ve M. Seyitdanlıoğlu
(ed.), Tanzimat (Değişim Sürecinde Osmanlı İmparatorluğu) içinde (s. 1335) (Ankara: Phoenix
yayınevi, 2006).
As many historical documents indicated, the story of the introduction of the
printing house in the Ottoman Empire is complicated, but it can be traced back
to the fifteenth century, when the anti-Semitism in Spain forced members of
the Jewish population to emigrate.(4) As a result, some settled in the Ottoman
territories, where they published some of their books. Later, in the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries, various publication houses where founded by
Armenians and Greeks.
The work of Ahmed Emin Yalaman (1888–1972) is a unique document
of the Ottoman press because it was published in 1914, a time when he was
able to witness the development of the press and write about it subsequently.
However, there were as yet no Turkish-language publications, according to
Yalaman.(5) He wrote: “It is noteworthy that, in spite of the general love for
books and in spite of the fact that copied books were so expensive, the printing
press was introduced as late as 1728. There was, however, a Jewish printing
office in Constantinople at the end of the fifteen century, and several Greek
and Arminian offices in 1628.”(6)
The introduction of the printing press in the Ottoman Empire was complex
and did not come about easily. It was opposed by some theologians who
thought it was profane, and that such a thing could distort human intelligence
and religious books.(7) However, on orders of the sultan, together with Shaykh
al-Islām Abdullah Effendi’s (d. 1743) fatwa that the printing machine did not
cause any problems with regard to religion, the printing press was eventually
allowed.(8) As a result, the first Turkish publishing house was established by
(4)
Mehmet Ali Karaman, “Osmanlı Modernleşmesinde Basın,” SDÜ Fen Edebiyat Fakültesi Sosyal
Bilimler Dergisi, Sayı: 32, 2014, 131–142, https://abs.mehmetakif.edu.tr/upload/1176_3277_
yayinDosya.pdf.
(5)
Yalaman, The Development of Modern Turkey, 20.
(6) Ibid.
(7) Ibid. See Muhittin Eliaçik, “Lâle Devri Şeyhülislâmı Yenişehirli Abdullah Efendi ve Manzum
Fetvası,” International Journal of the Language Academy, 2, no. 4 (winter, 2014): s.86–93.
(8)
Yalaman, the Development of Modern Turkey, 21.
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No. 46 Shawwal, 1440 - June 2019
Ibrahim Muteferrika (1674–1745) and Mehmed Said Efendi (d. 1761) in
1727.(9) However, by 1756 only eighteen works had been published, with
around 16,500 copies issued.(10) From that time onward, many printing houses
began to appear, and the Ottoman government introduced a press bureau that
was responsible for following foreign news and translating the most important
parts into the Ottoman language. Despite the spread of printing houses and the
translation and exchange of foreign news, the first newspaper to be published
in the Ottoman Empire was in French in the late eighteenth century, and the
first Ottoman newspaper was not published until the early nineteenth century.(11)
The Press in the Ottoman Empire: The Eighteenth and
Nineteenth Centuries
Many sources suggest that the first newspaper printed in the Ottoman
territories was the Bulletin des Nouvelles, which was introduced by the French
ambassador Raymond de Verninac Saint-Maur (1761–1822) in Istanbul in
1795.(12) This newspaper was concerned with French internal and external
reports and foreign news. However, Yalaman believes that the first real
newspaper to be was concerned with Ottoman interests and reporting on its
internal and external affairs was the Spectateur de l’Orient (later renamed
Courrier de Smyrne), which was established in 1825 by a Frenchman named
Alexandre Blacque (1794–1837).(13)
(9)
Ibid., 24.
(10) Ibid.
(11) S. Gezgin, “Gazeteciliğin ve Türk Yazılı Basınının Kısa Tarihsel Perspektifi (Ii),” İstanbul
Üniversitesi İletişim Fakültesi Dergisi, 2004, 11–24, http://www.journals.istanbul.edu.tr/iuifd/
article/view/1019012945/1019012173.
(12) Ibid.; Yalaman, The Development Of Modern Turkey, 28; Karaman, “Osmanlı
Modernleşmesinde Basın, ” 136; E. Ö. Gönenç, “Türkiye’de Gazete Yayıncılığının Başlaması
ve Gelişmesi,” İstanbul Üniversitesi İletişim Fakültesi Dergisi, 2003, 165–167, http://dergipark.
gov.tr/download/article-file/212413; Murat Özgen, “Türk Basınının Gelişimine Tarihsel Bir
Yaklaşım ve Değerlendirme,” İstanbul Üniversitesi İletişim Fakültesi Dergisi, no: 11, 2001,
19–23, http://www.journals.istanbul.edu.tr/iuifd/article/view/1019013601/1019012817.
(13) Yalaman, The Development of Modern Turkey, 28.
Takvim-i Vekayi (The calendar of events) became the first Ottoman
newspaper in 1831.(14) It was published with the support of Sultan Mahmut II
and in its first issue included a column that justified its existence as the first
Ottoman newspaper and its intended contribution to the public.(15) In addition,
another different newspaper came into being in 1840, entitled Ceride-i Havadis
(Register of news).(16) It was published by an Englishman, William Nosworthy
Churchill (1796–1846), who was residing in Istanbul.(17) The concern of this
newspaper was mainly foreign policy and international news. This made it stand
out in Ottoman press history because it is considered the first private newspaper
and thus, enjoyed a more relative autonomy compared to its predecessors.
The first Ottoman local newspaper was established by İbrahim Şinasi
(1826–1871), with the support of his friend Agah Efendi (1832–1885), in
1860.(18) It was called Tercüman-ı Ahvâl (Interpreter of conditions).(19) The
significance of the establishment of Tercüman-ı Ahvâl is that it was selfsupporting, and was launched by someone who would later become one of
the founders of the modern school of the Ottoman press. The idea of Şinasi’s
newspaper was to respond to the internal and external affairs of the empire, of
which he was critical. However, Şinasi’s connection with his first newspaper
lasted only six months before he established another newspaper, Tasvir-i Efkâr
(The table of opinion), and in its first year Namık Kemal (1840–1888) joined
Şinasi on the writing staff shortly before the latter decided to retire to go to
(14) Gönenç E.Ö., Türkiye’de Gazete, 171. See Orhan Koloğlu, Takvimi Vekayi Türk Basınında, 150
Yıl 1831–1981, Çağdaģ Gazeteciler Derneği Yayınları, Ankara bty; Uğur Akbulut, “Osmanli
Basın Tarihine Bir Katki: Gazetelerin Yayinlanma Amaçlari Üzerine (1831–1876),” Turkish
Studies— International Periodical for the Languages, Literature and History of Turkish or
Turkic, 8, no. 5 (spring 2013): 31–57.
(15) Yalaman, The Development of Modern Turkey, 28–33.
(16) Ibid., 32. Also, see Perihan Ölker, “Cerîde-I Havâdis ve Hakâyiku’l-Vekâyî Gazetelerinde
Türk Dili Ile Ilgili Iki Yazı,” Turkish Studies—International Periodical for the Languages,
Literature and History of Turkish or Turkic, 8, no. 9 (summer 2013): 2021–2033.
(17) Ölker, “Cerîde-I Havâdis ve Hakâyiku’l-Vekâyî Gazetelerinde Türk Dili Ile Ilgili Iki Yazı.”
(18) Murat. Özgen, Türk Basınının, 20.
(19) See S. Çıkla, “Tanzimat’tan Günümüze Gazete-Edebiyat İlişkisi,” Türkbilig, 2009, 34–63.
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Paris. (20) In 1862, Namık Kemal and other intellectuals, writers and reformists
grouped themselves into what would become the Young Ottomans, a group
that was discontented with the ongoing affairs of the empire.(21) The Ottoman
government was aware of the newly established newspapers, which were led
by outspoken critics, some of whom were educated writers who had studied
sciences and foreign languages in Europe, so it established the press law in
January 1865.(22) The law was introduced in an attempt to regulate the already
established newspapers and those that might follow; the goal was to monitor
these newspapers and their staffs and to impose censorship on the content of
the writing and avoid any criticism that might anger the sultan.
Another important writer and publisher is Ali Suavi (1839–1878), an
enlightened theologian, who established a significant newspaper, Muhbir
(Herald of glad tidings) in 1865.(23) In this newspaper, Suavi published
revolutionary content, including critiques of two empire statesmen of the time,
Mehmed Emin Ali (1815–1871) and Mehmed Fuad (1814–1869) Pashas.
Suavi faced some threats and was asked many times to quit his writing and
criticism, however, he continued and later became a central member to the
Young Ottomans.(24)
In 1867 both Suavi and his newspaper, along with the new branch of the
Young Ottomans, which by then included a number of writers and critics,
began to feel the pressure of the Ottoman government.(25) Because of an
increase in the Ottoman government’s censorship of the press and warnings
(20) Yalaman, The Development of Modern Turkey, 34–40.
(21) Ibid.
(22) Ibid. See Stanford J. Shaw and Ezel Kural Shaw, History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern
Turkey; Vol. 2, Reform, Revolution, and Republic: The Rise of Modern Turkey, 1808–1975 (New
York: Cambridge University Press, 1977), 216; Server Iskit, “Türkiye’de Matbuat İdareleri ve
Politikaları,” Ankara, 1943.
(23) Kenan Demir, “Osmanlı’da Basının Doğuşu ve Gazeteler,” Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi Sayı, no. 5
(Nisan / April 2014): 57–88.
(24) Ibid., 75. See Hüseyin Çelik, “Muhbir Gazetesi,” İslam Ansiklopedisi, 2006, c. 31, s. 32.
(25) Yalaman, The Development of Modern Turkey, 35.
and suspensions of many newspapers, especially during times of domestic
troubles, many editors decided to leave Istanbul and some fled to Europe,
especially London and Paris. From there, Suafi and his friends were able to
manage Muhbir with another, initially less important newspaper, Hürriyet
(Liberty), which was established in 1864.(26) From abroad, thousands of copies
were regularly sent to Istanbul and other cities, and the Ottoman government
could not intercept them all.
Upon the death of the Ottoman grand vizier (prime minister) Ali Pasha
in 1871, the government appointed Mahumoud Nadim (1818–1883) Pasha,
which brought about some public controversy due to his incompetence
and obedience to the Russian ambassador.(27) With these changes and new
appointees, the Ottoman government was successful in reaching a deal with
the Young Ottomans, most importantly Namık Kemal, such that many of
them, including Kemal, returned to their homeland in Istanbul. However, they
come back from London and Paris to oppose the government again although
indirectly. Upon his return, Namık Kemal established a new critical newspaper,
Ibret (Admonition). Although many newspapers and journals already existed
in Istanbul and other cities, none was as influential and as widely distributed
as Ibret because of two reasons: First, it was designed in the style of European
newspapers, which was seen as attractive by its readers, and second, it reported
on important topics such as social justice and equality, education reform,
and news of the Ottoman military and wars, among other sensitive issues
concerning political events in the eye of the Ottoman government.(28)
By 1871, almost all newspapers in the empire owned their own printing
presses and some modest publication equipment. This resulted in even more
publications and greater reach across various regions and citizens of the
(26) Ibid., 35.
(27) Ibid., 39.
(28) Ibid., 40; Demir, “Osmanlı’da Basının,” 82.
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empire in the following years. After 1875, with the resulting rise in public
engagement with the news and events in the empire due to these periodicals,
together with the legacy of the play Vatan Yahut Silistre (Fatherland), authored
by Namık Kemal, the Ottoman government put Kemal in jail, and felt the
need to start regulating the press.(29) Moreover, in order to pressure the press,
including its spread and readership, it introduced a duty stamp, which it
imposed on all political publications as a mean to decrease the spread of the
press.(30) Regardless of such severe measures, press consumption continued to
rise, as noted by Yalaman: “In 1876, there were forty-seven papers published in
Constantinople. Thirteen in Turkish. . . . The papers in non-Turkish languages
included nine in Greek, nine in Armenian, seven in French, three in Bulgarian,
two in English, two in Hebrew, one in German, and one in Arabic.”(31)
By this time, the Sultan Abdul Aziz (1830–1876) was weaker than ever, and
during his rule he overlooked the power of the state, religion, and the military,
which, in return, gave the Young Ottomans more power in their opposing
attitudes. The Young Ottomans, in turn, decided to escalate their criticisms of
the empire’s situation and the sultan’s policies, and to voice their admiration
of European culture and civilization. According to Yalaman, both the religious
community and the Young Ottomans and their communities played a part in
dethroning the sultan.(32) Sultan Abdul Aziz was dethroned by a fatwa, and
Murad V (1840–1904) became the sultan of Ottoman empire in 1876.(33) Only
three months after his succession (due to mental illness), another fatwa was
issued following consultation with Prince Abdul Hamid, who became the next
(29) S. Çıkla, “Tanzimat’tan Günümüze Gazete-Edebiyat İlişkisi,” s. 44; Yalaman, The Development
of Modern Turkey, 40.
(30) See Ipek K. Yosmaoğlu, “Chasing the Printed Word: Press Censorship in the Ottoman Empire,
1876–1913,” Turkish Studies Association Journal, 27, nos. 1–2 (2003): 15–49, www.jstor.org/
stable/43383672.
(31) Yalaman, The Development of Modern Turkey, 41.
(32) Ibid., 46.
(33) Ibid.
sultan for many years thereafter. (34) A new era of the empire began, marked by
more crisis both internally and externally, poverty, and abuse of the press, and
even a high number of assassinations of writers and critics.
First Constitutional Reform 1876–1909
Sultan Abdul Hamid II’s era is considered one of the most significant
periods of the last stages of the empire. As he witnessed the last period of
the Tanzimat (reforms) and the last two dethroned sultans, his rule promised
dramatic changes, and in his first year in power, he declared the First
Constitutional Reform (however, it was abolished after only three months). In
his era, the Ottoman Empire lost a huge proportion of its territories in Eastern
Europe, which was the first time that Ottoman territories fell under foreign
occupation. The situation of the press was different, particularly in the early
months of the reign of the sultan, as noted by Yalaman:
The history of Turkey [Ottoman Empire] between 1876 and 1908 is in
every aspect a Hamidian one. . . . The Sultan [Abdul Hamid] was more
than alarmed by this state of affairs. He always read the papers with great
care, and often sent extracts of articles that he was not pleased with to the
Sublime Porte, dictating the action to be taken against those concerned.(35)
Sultan Abdul Hamid II was different from other previous sultans in that
he tried to show himself to be more liberal and open. He promised various
reforms in the structure of the empire and its regulations and guaranteed more
freedoms, although not all these promises were kept. In addition, the sultan
even appointed some of the Young Ottomans to high positions in the Ottoman
government as a way to convince them to adopt his policies and take his
side. However, Abdul Hamid then decided to dissolve the Parliament and the
constitution, which resulted in him ruling as sultan of the Ottoman Empire for
(34) Ibid.
(35) Ibid., 54.
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a full thirty years. During this time, certain influential voices in the Ottoman
government were harassed, suspended from work and journalism practice and
exiled away from Istanbul, including the grand vizier Midhat Pasha (1822–
1883) and the liberal journalist Zia Bey (1825–1880), who advocated for
modernization, reforms, and freedom of the press and of thought.(36)
Another wave of press restrictions was imposed at the beginning of 1880
and censorship levels rose further in 1890 as well because the sultan felt the
agitation of the opposition press as well as that of some state bureaucrats and,
to a lesser extent, religious leaders.(37) These new measures resulted in the rise
of the Young Turks and their influence inside the state and popularity among
many proponents.(38) The new wave of the Turkish press took a different path:
Authors were not able to write overtly about politics due to the high degree
of the censorship, but instead tended to use a softer language and indirect
expression in their writings. The press began to enlighten people about social
matters and entertain readers with satirical and historical contents. For example,
the newspaper Vakit (Times) and Mehmet Murat Bey (1854–1917) in his paper
Mizan (Balance) both dared to satirize the sultan.(39) However, although the
sultan was able to control the press within the empire, other Ottoman writers
and papers were pouring into the Ottoman territories and the capital of Istanbul
from abroad. Some examples include the writings of Essaf Efendi from Athena,
Demetrius Georgiades from Paris, and Ahmed Riza Bey (1859–1930).(40)
(36) Ibid.
(37) Ibid.
(38) Yalaman, The Development of Modern Turkey, 54. The Young Turks group was founded by
some medical students and was joined by many members of the Young Ottomans, such that
the one can be considered an extension of the other. They are known for their activism the
in last period of the Ottoman empire specifically after 1908. However, most of historians,
particularly Europeans, prefer to use the term Young Turks instead of the Young Ottomans.
See Şerıf Mardin, Jön Türklerin Siyasi Fikirleri 1895–1908 (İletişim Yayınlan, 2008); see also
see Erik J. Zürcher, The Young Turk Legacy and Nation Building: From the Ottoman Empire to
Atatürk’s Turkey (London: I. B. Tauris, 2010).
(39) Yalaman, The Development of Modern Turkey, 54.
(40) Ibid., 66.
From 1891 onward, the Turkish press was forced to forgo all political content
and was only permitted to publish on literary matters. This caused Servet-i
Fünoun (Wealth of knowledge) to flourish and lead intellectual life during
the last decade of the nineteenth century in Istanbul, together with regional
newspapers including Mouktebes (Quotes) in Brusa and Mutalaha (Reading)
in Salonica.(41) This period also saw the establishment of a notable magazine,
Ijtihad (Struggle), published by the controversial figure Dr. Abdullah Jevdet
(1869–1932).(42) At the turn of the twentieth century, there were three daily
newspapers that had been able to survive: Ikdam (Perseverant effort); Sabah
(Morning) and Terjuman-i Hakikat (Interpreter of truth).(43)
In 1907, as a result of the exiled Ottoman press and journalists who kept
sending their critical letters and papers to their audiences in the empire, and
also as a result of the censorship of the local press, the situation became more
complicated. In addition to the spread of unrest in some Ottoman territories
far from the capital, like Macedonia, there was an increase in domestic
dissatisfaction among the people and the military specifically related to the
economic situation and salaries. In 1908 the CUP, which had been formed in
secret by some medical students in the last decade of the nineteenth century,
declared a revolution against the sultan.(44) The sultan found it difficult to crush
the revolution, and declared the Second Constitutional Reform.
Second Constitutional Reform 1908
The period from 1908 until the declaration of the Republic was much more
crucial than other periods in the history of the Ottoman Empire in the sense
that it witnessed the end of the rule of Abdul Hamid II, leading to two other
(41) Ibid., 77.
(42) Mardin, Jön Türklerin Siyasi Fikirleri, 225. See also Mustafa Gündüz, İçtihad’ın İçtihadı
Abdullah Cevdet’ten Seçme Yazılar (Lotus Yayinevi, 2008).
(43) Yalaman, The Development of Modern Turkey, 78.
(44) Ibid., 85.
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sultans who were too weak to take control of the internal and external affairs
of the empire. In addition, the empire began to lose some of its territories,
for example through the independence of Bulgaria, the annexation of Bosnia
and Herzegovina by Austria, and the Italian invasion of Ottoman territories in
North Africa.(45) The declaration of the Second Constitutional Reform had a
great impact on the Ottoman press in this period as it witnessed the foundation
of Ottoman Press Association by a number of journalists who were active in
1908.(46) In this period, the sultan Abdul Hamid II was exiled to Salonica and
the CUP, along with the parliament, took control; however, they appointed
Mehmet V (1844–1918) as sultan in 1909.(47) The CUP’s rising power in the
empire was for some a blessing and a promise of a more of open and European
style of modernism and freedom. Others doubted the strength of the CUP and
actually showed resistance both ideologically and practically. The new changes
in the press situation and political atmosphere meant that the CUP became
more influential than the sultan, and both newspapers and their readers were
clearly defined as either radical, liberal, moderate, or conservative.
In this period, the press saw a high degree of different kinds of newspapers
and journals and a rise in the readership and reach to various audiences, which
resulted in an increase in the number of the daily papers from three to as many
as fifteen.(48) Also, new trends in the press began to appear, like the newspaper
Ishtiraqtie (Communism), which advocated for a communist ideology.(49)
Other papers with various interests included Kadın (Woman), Demette (Bunch
of flowers), and Mehasin (Beauties), which all published content related to
women’s issues.(50) Other, more conservative papers began to attract attention,
(45) Erik J. Zürcher, Turkey: A Modern History (London: I. B.Tauris, 2017).
(46) Ibid., 86.
(47) Ibid., 88–90.
(48) Ibid.
(49) Ibid.
(50) Ibid.
like Cirat-i-Mustekim (Bridge of righteousness), which was interested in
religious affairs, plus other new artistic and humorous publications, such
as Ressimli Kitab (Illustrated magazine) and Kalem (Pen), which were both
devoted to publishing less serious news and content.(51)
In addition, other opposition papers, such as Yeni Gazetta (New gazette),
Sabah, Ikdam, Alemdar (Standard bearer), and Tanzimat, whose content was
critical of the government positions regarding internal and external affairs of
the empire, were harassed, maltreated, and threatened.(52) Another opposition
paper, Serbesti (Liberty), was established by Hassan Fehmi (1874–1909),
who later was mysteriously murdered.(53) On April 14, 1909, Istanbul awoke
to military conservative insurgents demanding the restoration of the former
Ottoman religious laws and powers to the sultan.(54) As of April 25 of that year,
the CUP was able to maintain the situation with the help of their affiliated armies
and the fatwa of Shaykh al-Islām that charged the sultan and later deposed him.(55)
Now that the thirty-year rule of the sultan had ended and another, less
powerful sultan had come to power; however, there was more power in the
hands of the CUP and parliament. The situation of the empire and the press
began to take a new and previously unthinkable path.
A new era had begun with the increased power in the hands of the CUP and
an Ottoman government that had shifted from what it had previously claimed,
especially with regard to the freedom of the press. This period witnessed more
control and censorship of the press in the sense that many papers were closed
and some journalists were ambiguously assassinated. The year 1909–1910
witnessed the murders of Ahmet Samim Bey (1884–1910), the writer of
(51) Murat Hani̇ lçe, “Orta Doğu’da Osmanli Vi̇ layet Gazeteleri̇ ne Bi̇ r Örnek: Zevrâ Gazetesi̇
(1869),” Türk Basin Tari̇ hi̇ (Ankara, 2018), 231–261.
(52) Yalaman, The Development of Modern Turkey, 104.
(53) Ibid.
(54) Ibid., 96.
(55) Ibid., 98.
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Sedayi-Millet (Voice of the people), and the journalist Cosmidis Effendi.(56) In
addition to these two journalists, the writer Zekki Bey (1869–1911), who was
a contributor of Alemdar, was also killed.(57)
From 1908 until 1922 the Ottoman Empire underwent some fundamental
events, including the rise of the CUP and the parliament over issues of state and
the laws, including the reintroduction of the Kanûn-u Esâsî (basic law), which
stated that the press was free, but without any tangible results.(58) The press was
under suspension due to internal instabilities and resistances to the CUP, the
counterrevolution in 1909, the coup d’état in 1913, reform policies in education
and religious affairs, the death of the Sultan Mehmet V, and external threats like
the war in the Balkans, the empire’s entry into the First World War, and later, the
declaration of National Independence and establishment of the Turkish Republic.
As the situation in the empire began to change dramatically due to the
aftermath of the First World War and internal and external developments,
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881–1938), “the Father of the Turks” and future
leader of the Turkish Republic, began to emerge as a progressive leader. Atatürk
was from a military background, and he became more influential and rose
among his peers in the empire while was in the military service. In 1920, with
his move to Ankara, and after his opening of the Grand National Assembly, he
established a nationalist newspaper and named it Hakimiyet-I Milliye (National
legitimacy).(59) Later, Atatürk also initiated and supported the establishment
of Anadul Agency in 1920 as the national news agency during the Turkish
War of Independence 1919–1922, with the hope that he could influence the
public and counter the press that was in favor of the Ottoman government.
(56) Haluk Duman and Cem Pekman, Türk Basın Tarihi (T.C. Anadulo University, 2014), Print No:
3113, 110.
(57) Ibid.
(58) Oya Dağlar, “II. Meşrutiyet’in Ilaninin Istanbul Basini’ndaki Yansimalari (1908),” İ. Ü. Siyasal
Bilgiler Fakültesi Dergisi, no. 38 (2008): 141–159, http://dergipark.gov.tr/download/article-file/5328.
(59) Fehim Kuruloğlu, “Bi̇ ri̇ nci̇ Dünya Savaşi’nda Türk Savaş Esi̇ rleri̇ ni̇ n Yayin Faali̇ yetleri̇ ne Bi̇ r
Örnek: Türk Varliği (1919–1920),” Türk Basın Tari̇ hi̇ (Ankara) 1 (2018): 533–557.
The press during these years was divided between the press of Istanbul, which
mainly supported the Ottoman government, and the press of Ankara, which
essentially sided with Atatürk. At the time, the local Turkish press rose and
supported the War of Independence (known in Turkish as Kurtuluş Savaşı),
until the declaration of the Turkish Republic in 1923 following the signing of
the Treaty of Lausanne in the same year.
The Press after the Establishment of the Turkish Republic
After the establishment of the Turkish Republic, the press was not
markedly different from the previous period in that the state politics and the
military’s influence had a major impact on the development of the press as
much as previous Ottoman sultans had had. For instance, Atatürk’s revolution
included the change of the Turkish written system from the Arabic to the Latin
script, which undoubtedly had huge consequences on press development and
readership. In addition, the military closed some newspapers, jailed opposing
journalists and writers, and led the country under one-party rule, which lasted
for almost two decades.
The One-Party System, 1924–1940
After the establishment of the Turkish Republic and the abolition of the
sultanate, the situation of the press began to develop differently, either as a
reaction to the internal political issues or as a result of the linguistic and legal
reforms. The Sheikh Said’s (1865–1925) rebellion for the sake of Kurdish
independence in the southeast of Turkey was viewed by Turkish nationalists
as a threat to the Turkish national government in the young Republic.(60) This
event caused the Turkish government to look for ways in which it could prevent
(60) Sheikh Said is a Kurdish descent religious scholar who was executed in 1925 by the Turkish government
due to his political activities concerning Kurdish independence. See Nadia Lahdili,”Sheikh Said
Rebellion (1925): The Controversy Between Nationalist &Religious Motivations.” International
Journal of Humanities and Social Science Invention (IJHSSI) 7.05 (2018): 13–19.
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the threatening revolution. With regard to the press, a high level of restrictions
was imposed over all the regions of the republic, most importantly, Istanbul
and Ankara. The Takrir-i Sükûn Kanunu (Act of Peace Law), which came
into effect in 1925, gave the Turkish government the legal basis to control the
press and impose a high level of censorship.(61) As a result, many opposing and
critical newspapers closed and some staff members were imprisoned or exiled.
For example, the Tanin (Resonance) newspaper and Resimli Hafta (Official
week) were closed, and the writers Zekeriya Setel (1890–1980) and Cevat
Shakir (1886–1973) both sentenced to life terms in prison.(62) Moreover, other
journalists who were accused and blamed for their connection to Sheikh Said’s
rebellion, including Valid Ebuzziya (1882–1945), Sadri Ertem (1889–1943),
Fevzi Lutfi (1990–1978), and Ilham Safa (1894–1954), were arrested and
tried.(63) In addition, it is important to note that it is this period that witnessed
the introduction of radio service to the Turkish public, which was a new and
crucial event in the development of the Turkish press.(64)
Another important development in the history of the Turkish press was the
“alphabet reform” in 1928 (known in Turkish as Harf Devrimi, which means
“alphabet revolution”), which caused chaos, illiteracy, and confusion for the
Turkish people. This adaptation changed the Turkish alphabet from the Arabic
to the Latin script. The sudden change, and later, the prohibition of the use of
Arabic letters by the press, caused an overall decline in the Turkish press based
on publication, production, distribution, and readership. To solve this problem,
the Turkish government tried to come up with solutions, which involved
educating readers as well as writers and journalists about the Latin script. In
(61) Necla Odyakmaz, Cumhuriyet Döneminde Anayasal Düzenlemeler ve Basın Özgürlüğü,
İletişim Fakültesi̇ Dergisi̇ , p.122, 2003, http://www.journals.istanbul.edu.tr/iuifd/article/
download/1019014504/1019013719
(62) Duman, Türk Basın Tarihi, 166.
(63) Ibid.
(64) Ibid.
1931, the republic witnessed its first press law, which came to regulate press
activity according to the national, Turkish, and secular principles of Atatürk,
and has been updated many times starting in 1938.(65) This development and
establishment of a more modern legal basis for the press gave the national
government tighter control of the press, writers, journalists and cultural
activities all over the country.
Parallel to these changes, there were some developments that helped
establish and organize the role of the press and profession of journalism. For
instance, the first press congress was held on May 24, 1935 and resulted in an
acknowledgment that the press as a profession should be regulated. As a result,
the Press Union was founded in 1938 to create a basis for the regulation of
the press, the work of journalists, and ethical codes.(66) Furthermore, in May
1940, the republic founded the Basın Yayın ve Enformasyon Genel Müdürlüğü
(Directorate General of Press and Information) to bring the press and information
under one governmental body with the intent to tighten the national message
internally and externally. Those laws and bodies were tools with which the
government could keep a steady eye on the press and on journalists to avoid
any critical contents on the state as would be seen in the next sections.
The Multiparty Period of 1940–1960
After the break caused by World War II and by the end of the one-party
system in 1945, it was the turn of the multiparty system to influence the status
of the press in the Turkish Republic. Since the establishment of the Republic
and during the 1940s, Turkey began to align itself more with the West,
including denouncing Soviet ideology and abandoning its Islamic heritage.
Because of this, the position of the Tan newspaper, which advocated for a
more communist ideology and critiqued the corruption of the leading party,
(65) Ibid, 144–150. See the Constitution of the Republic of Turkey, Article 2.
(66) Ibid.
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the Republican People’s Party (CHP), became unsustainable. On December
4, 1945, many hundreds of angry students, activists, and Islamists raided and
destroyed the building of the Tan newspaper in Cağaloğlu in Istanbul.(67) Both
the newspaper and its magazine Görüşler (Views) were suspended. This event
is known as Tan Olayı (Tan’s Event).(68)
In spite of this event, there were more spaces for some different and
diverse newspapers to appear, such as the conservative Selamet (Peace) and
Sebilürrreşad (Way of wisdom), the liberal Hürriyet, and Milliyet (National).(69)
The latter two newspapers chose to be mainstream newspapers on the side
of the masses and not bound to any political party. The circulation of these
newspapers began to expand due to the advances in printing technologies,
along with an increased number of young people interested in the press
and in following international news and politics and the internal political
developments of the republic. In the 1950s, newspapers began to be printed
and published in runs of 100,000 copies, and in the 1960s Hürriyet became the
first newspaper to reach 1 million printed issues.(70)
When the Democratic Party (DP) defeated the CHP in the 1950 election,
the Turkish press entered another era. In the multiparty system, with DP as the
leading party, the Republic had to adopt to more democratic values and ways
of processing state affairs to a certain degree before finding other different
ways to censor, persecute any oppositions. This both directly and indirectly
impacted the development of the press.
Once the DP became the leading party of the Republic in 1950, it initiated
more liberal laws and granted journalists a social status to present itself as more
(67) Ali Ulvi Özdemir, “İkinci Dünya Savaşı Yıllarında Serteller ve Tan Gazetesi (1939–1945),”
Ankara Üniversitesi Türk İnkılap Tarihi Enstitüsü Atatürk Yolu Dergisi, (Bahar 2012): s. 179–216.
(68) Ibid.; see also Mithat Kadri Vural, “II. Dünya Savaşı Türkiye’sinde Bir Muhalefet Örneği
Olarak ‘Tan’ Gazetesi.”, Çağdaş Türkiye Araştırmaları Dergisi, VII /16–17, (Bahar Güz), s.
381–395.
(69) Duman, Türk Basın Tarihi, 145.
(70) Ibid., 151.
tolerant toward the press and journalists, yet it prepared other means to keep its
control over them. The Turkish government introduced more amendments giving
the state more control over the press, and in the 1950s many restrictions were
imposed and law suits and harassment increased against opposition newspapers.
As the economic situation of the country was worsening and many policies
of the DP were contested and harshly criticized by the press, further laws were
introduced to restrict the press. At this time, the Press Law was updated. As a
result, the newspaper Ulus (Nation) was closed and its writer, Hüseyin Cahit
Yalçın (1875–1957), was arrested.(71)
The situation of the press was also impacted by the event of September
6–7, 1955, in which Greeks and other minorities were severely attacked in
Istanbul and Izmir by some Turkish nationalist mobs.(72) The Turkish state
had been busy dealing with a social uprising inside the country, and the
Cyprus crisis was only an additional burden. In the midst of these challenging
times, the press claimed that Atatürk’s house and the Turkish consulate in
Thessaloniki had been bombed.(73) As a result of such rumors, the republic
witnessed attacks on Greek, Armenian, and Jewish minorities by some Turkish
activists and nationalists in Istanbul.(74) The Turkish government declared
(71) Ibid., 201.
(72) See Hasan İzzettin Dinamo, 6–7 Eylül Kasırgası, Istanbul, May Yayınları, 1971; Alfred de
Zayas, “The Istanbul Pogrom of 6–7 September 1955 in the Light of International Law,”
Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal 2, no. 2 (2007): Article 4.
(73) Ibid., 153. Sources have pointed that the event of September 6–8, 1955, was mainly caused
by a news story claiming the house of Ataturk was bombed. It was published in Istanbul in
Ekspres newspaper, which sold an extraordinary number of copies that day. See Dilek Güven,
“Riots against the Non-Muslims of Turkey: 6/7 September 1955 in the Context of Demographic
Engineering,” European Journal of Turkish Studies [online], April 12, 2011, 10.
(74) “After the population exchange [of 1923] there were between 100,000 and 110,000 Greeks in
Turkey, most of them in Istanbul and a smaller number on the islands of Imbros and Tenedos.
Today, the Greek community does not appear to number more than 2,500—about 2,000 in
Istanbul and about 480 on the two islands.” For details, see Human Rights Watch, “Denying
Human Rights and Ethnic Identity: The Greeks of Turkey,” Human Rights Watch, 1992, 8: “In
his 2000 report to the UN General Assembly, Special Rapporteur Abdelfattah Amor quotes
statistics of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, according to which there were between
3,500 and 4,000 Orthodox Greeks in all of Turkey at that time.” See also Alfred de Zayas, “The
Istanbul Pogrom of 6–7 September 1955,” p. 148.
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martial law, tightened its hold on the press, and introduced more laws that
would allow the state to arrest journalists if necessary without evidence if
they were under suspicion.
The multiparty period saw many other political parties come into existence
and form countless alliances and enemies. An important aspect of this period
was the increase of the competition of the right and left wings in Turkish
politics, which in return was reflected in the situation of the press. For instance,
the leftist Ulus and Cumhuriyet newspapers, along with the magazine Akis
(Reflection), were closed or suspended many times.(75) Another incident
that showed the danger of the political divides in the Turkish Republic and
reflected on the press was the January 6, 1959, bombing of the Tan newspaper’s
Matbaası (Printing House) building, in which more than forty people lost their
lives.(76) Things continued to worsen along with the socioeconomic situation of
the republic until the first military coup occurred on May 27, 1960. This coup
was then followed by two others: one in 1971 and one in 1980.
The Military Coups of 1960, 1971, and 1980 and the Role of the Press
The first, but not the last, military coup in Turkish history occurred on May
27, 1960. On that day the army toppled the DP, claimed power, and went on to
lead the country for many years. The next decades saw another military coup
in 1971, and after a similar length of time, yet another one, in 1980.(77) The
first coup resulted in the execution of president Celal Bayar (1883–1986) and
his prime minister, Adnan Mendrese (1899–1961), in September 1961.(78) The
Turkish political, economic, and social system, of course, reacted to such an
unforgettable event. As a result of such a shocking change and development, the
(75) Duman, Türk Basın Tarihi, 154.
(76) Ibid.
(77) Özgen M., Türk Basınının Gelişimine.
(78) Duman, Türk Basın Tarihi, 156. However, the sentence of Celal Bayar was reduced to life in
prison. He was, later, released in 1964 due to his sever illness, and died in 22 August, 1986.
press became more important than before because many academics, students,
and activists, as well as the public, began to be curious about the news, and
about the press and media, which was the main source of information about
the situation in the country.
The situation of the press was vitally impacted by these changes, and
the 1960s were considered to be the classic period of the development
of the Turkish press in which it witnessed a boom in both its contents and
production. However, the new constitution of 1960 brought with it many
new laws, especially for the press, including one stating that a journalist
could be fired without receiving compensation.(79) Another development
was the establishment of the Basın Ilan Kurumu (Advisory Board for the
Press), which monitored the advertising, financial policies, and resources of
the press institutions and organizations.(80) In addition, the 1960s witnessed
a development of technology that helped improve the production and print
quality of the publications.
This period of Turkish history witnessed the introduction of television into
the country.(81) It also saw the birth and flourishing of the classical newspaper
and the first family-based press businesses, for example that of the Simavi
family, who owned Hürriyet; the Karacan family, who owned Millyet; and
Yunus Nadi (1879–1945), who founded Cumhuriyet. These newspapers
became so influential that until the 1980s, they typified the style of the
traditional Turkish press. Also in the 1960s, the ideologies of both the left
and right became more competitive and enjoyed a greater reach; for instance,
(79) Ibid.
(80) Murat Özgen, “Cumhuriyet Döneminde Türkiye’De Mesleki Örgütler Bağlamında Basın Etiği
ve Uygulamanın Tarihçesi,” International Conference in Communication and Media Studies,
Ethics in Communication: Culture, Communication, Identıty…”; Magosa, Kuzey Kibris Türk
Cum., 5–7, 1, no. 1 (2004): 83–83.
(81) Television in Turkey was introduced in 1964 and was completely dependent on the state under
the name Turkish Radio Television (TRT) Corporation. This channel continued as the state
public TV. Moreover, private television stations were not licensed until 1984. Also, the TRT has
additional TV channels that broadcast in Kurdish, English, and Arabic.
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many newspapers, such as Yön (Direction) and Sosyal Adalet (Social justice),
came to represent more leftist ideals.(82) With respect to the right, a few papers
conveyed a more conservative tone, such as Bugün (Today), Yeni Asya (New
Asia), and the magazines Sebilürrreşad, Ittihad (Union), Büyük Doğu (Big
east), and Düşenen Adam (Thinking man).(83) In the late 1960s, the Turkish press
began witnessing a trend in which it became subject to political classifications
and ideologies based on the party a newspaper adopts in its policies or clearly
supports (left, right, nationalist, liberal, and so forth).
Another military intervention took place in Turkey on March 12, 1971,
and yet another one followed in the next decade. However, in the 1970s the
country experienced unstable social and political conditions that resulted in
insecurities and heightened polarization of the left-right ideologies in many
areas, including the press. During this period, the government changed many
of laws of the 1961 constitution, including some that related to freedom of
the press. The political situation of the country as well as that of the press
was in crisis, and conflicts between liberals, nationalists, conservatives, and
communists increased. As a result, on February 1, 1979, Abdi İpekçi (1929–
1979), a journalist and activist, was assassinated by what were thought to be
members of one of the Turkish right-wing groups (the Grey Wolves).(84) This
incident marked a dark day for the Turkish press and Turkish journalists as it
clearly signaled that no one was safe from being attacked or made to disappear
simply for their ideas or beliefs.
(82) Duman, Türk Basın Tarihi, 158.
(83) Ibid.
(84) Özgen M., Cumhuriyet Döneminde, 22. It was found that two people, Oral Çelik and Mehmet
Ali Ağca, were responsible of the assassination. Also, the latter, after fleeing his prison in
Turkey, was found guilty in attempting to assassinate Pope John Paul II on Wednesday, 13
May 1981, in St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City in Rome, Italy. See Mehtap Söyler, The Deep
State: Forms of Domination, Informal Institutions and Democracy, PERSPECTIVES Political
analysis and commentary from Turkey, Heinrich Böll Stiftung, 1/12; Daniel C. Scotto, “Pope
John Paul II, the Assassination Attempt, and the Soviet Union,” The Gettysburg Historical
Journal: Vol. 6, Article 7, 2007.
A military coup followed on September 12, 1980, in which brought in
a new government and another constitution that was applied from 1982.(85)
This coup changed the political economy system in the republic such that
its architect Turgat Özal (1927–1993), who initiated free liberal economic
policies that transformed and had major and acute effects on the Turkish
economy. In the 1980s the economic situation of the republic fluctuated and
the Turkish lira underwent many crises that affected the entire media industry,
which by that time witnessed the privatization of media capitals, which
came under management from the private sector, such as banks, firms, and
private institutions.(86) The most important thing about the 1980 coup was that
its success was first announced on Turkish television. As with the previous
coups, this one also influenced the press: Many journalists were jailed, and
many newspapers and magazines were ordered to close, often permanently.
For example, in the years following the coup, and especially in 1983, many
cases were filed against the press, and the newspapers Tercüman, Millyet,
and Cumhuriyet, as well as the magazines Nokta (Point), Partizan (Partisan),
Arayış (Pursuit), and Bakış (Eye) were suspended.(87) Journalists and writers
were jailed, including Aziz Nesin (1915–1995), Bekir Yıldız (1933–1998),
Şukran Kurdakul (1927–2004), and Asım Bezirci (1927–1993).(88) Moreover,
Yalçın Kücük (1938–), who had authored a book entitled For a New Republic,
in which he advocated for communism, was tried and jailed.(89)
In this period the government of Özal was approaching a more Western
ideology, and it needed to curb some of the opposition, including some
(85) Özgen, Murat, “1980 Sonrası Türk Medyasında Gelişmeler ve Magazinleşme Olgusu”, 2nd
International Symposium, Communication in the Millenium: A Dialogue between Turkish and
American Scholars, İstanbul, Türki̇ ye, 17–19, 2004, vol.2, pp.465–477.
(86) Öngen, H.Betül, Devlet Güdümndeki Medyadan Özel Sermaye Medyasına Geçiş: Turgut Özal
Dönemi Medya Sermaye Yapısının Değişimi, Uluslararası Hakemli Sosyal Bilimler E-Dergisi,
Sayı: 59, Ocak - Şubat 2017, s.16–40.
(87) Duman, Türk Basın Tarihi, 173.
(88) Ibid.
(89) Ibid.
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communist, conservative, and religious groups. The Press Law was again
updated and now prohibited any newspaper to campaign or raise funds to run the
paper. Also, the price of papers rose by 33 percent in the first months following
the coup, and in 1984 it rose even higher.(90) Because of these continuous price
rises, newspapers, too, had to increase their prices, which served to directly
decrease sales to readers and the acquisition of new readers. Although the
press had been operating essentially from Istanbul, Ankara, and then Izmir,
in 1984–1986 the Turkish press witnessed the phenomenon that some leading
newspapers, including Hürriyet and Tercüman, tried to publish from the
eastern side of country in addition to Istanbul and Ankara. Nevertheless, this
situation only continued for a few years before ceasing due to lack of business
and low economic benefits in those poor parts of the country.
However, due to continuous changes and harsh economic policies that
agitated the public, many leading newspapers and journals began to reveal a
critical voice. In 1988, the conservative newspaper Tercüman was suspended.
The owner of Hürriyet, Erol Simavi (1930–2015), in his piece “Mr. President”
criticized government policies, and as a result, his newspaper was ordered
to close alongside others like the Günaydın (Good morning) newspaper and
the magazine Tempo.(91) Moreover, Sabah newspaper published “Hasbahçe’de
Sonbahar” (Autumn in Hasbahçe) as a serious critical piece on the state
economy and policies. It was sued by Özal, and even charged it later with a
fine of around 80 million Turkish lira.(92)
By the end of the 1980s, the press and media witnessed another development in
which it began to transform from family-owned businesses into more commercial
groups or holdings with more structured political agendas. An important incident
happened in 1988 when a Cypriot businessman, Asil Nader (1941–), acquired
(90) Ibid., 175.
(91) Ibid.
(92) Ibid., 176. It was reported in the Turkish press that Özal was known for describing newspapers
and journalists as lawyers of the devil.
the Veb Offset group and its eight daily newspapers.(93) In the following years,
Nader also bought Gelişim Yayınlarını (Publication of development) and Güçlü
Yaıncılığı (Strong publication) including the Güneş (Sun) newspaper.(94)
By the beginning of the 1990s, Turkey had undergone three successful
military interventions, each of which had political reasons and economic
consequences. These historical and political phenomena continued in
Turkey, and in 1997, a similar event happened. On February 28, the
decision of the National Security Council resulted in what was known as the
“Recommendation-like Memorandum,” which was also known as the postmodernist coup.(95) At that point, the military took over the government and
Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan (1926–2011) and his deputy, Tansu Çiller
(1946–), had to resign. The republic in the 1990s was reacting to the difficulties
of the 1980s such as the crisis of the Kurds and the side effects of Özal’s
economic reforms, and these too extended to the press. In this decade, many
journalists were murdered, including Çetin Emeç (1935–1990), Muammer
Aksoy (1917–1990), Tarık Dursun (1934–1990), Uğur Mumcu (1942–1993),
and Taner Kışlalı (1939–1999).(96)
Before and after the Military Coup Attempt of 2016
The Turkish Republic experienced economic crises in November 2000
and February 2001 that had serious repercussions on the country and its
development.(97) Also, in this period and as a result of the election of 2002,
(93) Ibid.
(94) Ibid.
(95) Yasemin Gülşen Yılmaz, Süleyman Hakan Yılmaz, and Muhammet Erbay, “The Analyses of July
15 Coup Attempt in the Turkish Press,” World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology
International, Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, vol. 10, no. 12 (2016), http://waset.org/
publications/10006125/the-analyses-of-july-15-coup-attempt-through-the-turkish-press.
(96) Duman, Türk Basın Tarihi, 178.
(97) B. Sümer, “The Turkish Media Landscape,” in Türkei: Medienordnung auf dem Wegnach
Europa?, Dokumentation der wissenschaftlichen Fachtagung Deutsche Welle Mediendialog,
April 2011, C. Schmidt ve R. Schwartmann (Ed.) (Bonn: DW-Akademie, 2012), 55–67.
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the Justice and Development Party (AKP) became the leading party, holding a
majority of seats in parliament. By that time there were many media monopolies,
including Doğan, Doğuş, Demirören, Ciner, Albayrak, Turkuvaz/Zirve/
Kalyon, İhlas, and Ethem Sancak, among other smaller ones. These companies
had other business activities that invested in various sectors, including banks
and financial services, besides the press. For example, as a result of the crises
in the banking sector in 2000 onward, the Banking Regulation and Supervision
Agency (BDDK) revoked more than twenty banking licenses.(98) Among the
affected businesses, many had large investments in the media, and due to their
high debts, the Turkish government, with the court’s order, took over some
media companies, including the media assets of the Aksoy Group in 2001,
the Uzan Group in 2004, and the Merkez Group in 2007 (which was owned
by Turgay Ciner [1956–] and included more than five newspapers, among
them Sabah).(99) Corruption cases were also brought to the courts against many
banks, some of which owned companies that had holdings in the media sector,
such as the media giant Doğan Group.
In the 2000s, and especially after 2005, discourse in the media was based
around two sides: pro-government and anti-government. With the AKP in
power, a coalition between politically conservative media groups appeared,
while the more liberal media groups also aligned themselves with other groups
that shared their political interests.
The Turkish press and media in this decade began to feature more
international coverage, particularly reports on the Middle East, for example,
on the war in Iraq, the 9/11 attacks, Afghanistan, and later the Arab Uprising
and an increased focus on Syria and Iraq. Furthermore, the situation began
to worsen around Turkey’s southern borders between 2012 and 2016, while
protests were on the rise over some issues. One example is the Gezi Park
(98) Ibid., 55.
(99) Ibid., 57.
antigovernment protest in 2013, and on another issue, some media reported in
2014 on the wiretap scandals, claiming that some Turkish government officials
had pressured several mainstream media outlets and intervened in their
coverage.(100) As Turkey and the AKP began to experience more challenges
following the Gezi Park antigovernment protest and the influx of refugees
from Syria, terrorist attacks increased and internal economic and political
issues were causes for harsher measures by the government as it attempted
to deal with the opposition. The press was not safe from such actions. For
instance, one of the most widely read newspapers, Zaman, which was known
for supporting the Gülen movement, was raided and shut down by the Turkish
police in March 2016.(101) The government of Erdogan has designated the Gülen
movement as a terrorist organization and persecuted and jailed any affiliated
services or groups in all fields, including education, religion, and the media.(102)
After a few months, on July 15, 2016, another coup attempt occurred,
which had an immeasurable impact on the social fabric of the country and
led to crucial changes in the political and economic system of the Turkish
Republic in regard to preserving democracy and the political choice of the
Turkish people. The government of Erdogan declared martial law.(103) The
coup attempt did not succeed, and the government, led by the AKP, took severe
measures in reaction to all the opposition media outlets, including the closure
of many print newspapers, radio stations, and TV channels. Together with court
convictions of some organizations having contacted and supported Fethullah
(100) BBC, “Wire-Tap Claims Worry Turkish Media,” February 25, 2014, https://www.bbc.com/
news/world-europe-26339533.
(101) BBC, “Turkey Seizes Control of Zaman Newspaper Linked to Gulen,” March 4, 2016, https://
www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35729114.
(102) Reuters, “Turkey Officially Designates Gulen Religious Group as Terrorists,” May 31,
2016, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-turkey-gulen/turkey-officially-designates-gulenreligious-group-as-terrorists-idUSKCN0YM167.
(103) Holly Ellyatt, “Turkey Lifts State of Emergency But Nothing Much Has Changed, Analysts
Warn,” CNBC, July 19, 2018, https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/19/turkey-lifts-state-ofemergency-but-nothing-much-has-changed-analysts.html.
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No. 46 Shawwal, 1440 - June 2019
Gülen movement, more than 160 media outlets were shut down.(104) More than
sixty of these were newspapers, thirty were TV channels, and thirty-two were
radio stations.(105) Not only this, but also the Turkish government launched
what could be described as a purge, at first arresting 70,000 Turkish citizens,
including military servicemen, judges, government bureaucrats, academics,
journalists, and artists; some months after the coup attempt, the number had
exceeded 130,000.(106)
Immersion of the Internet and Online Newspapers in Turkey
The development of the internet worldwide in the early 1990s had a crucial
impact on all aspects of life, including business, communications, education,
social developments, and information dissemination, including the press.
Turkey began to have internet service in 1993, and the first Turkish newspaper
to publish an online version was Zaman, which started in December 1995.
In October 1996, it was followed by Aktüel, the first magazine to go online,
then in January 1997 onward other newspapers began to go online, including
Hürriyet, Millyet, and Cumhuriyet, among other ones.(107)
According to the Turkish Statistics Center, in 1997 there were 228,885
internet users, but by 2009 this figure had risen to 8 million. It doubled
in the following year, and by July 2017, Turkey had more than 66 million
(104) Reporters without Borders, “Media Ownerships Monitor Turkey, Shutdown Media,” accessed
December 15, 2018, https://turkey.mom-rsf.org/en/findings/shutdown-media/.
(105) Ibid.
(106) Humeyra Pamuk and Ercan Gursesö, “Turkey Fires 3,900 in Second Post-Referendum Purge,”
Reuters, April 29, 2017, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-turkey-security-expulsions/
turkey-fires-3900-in-second-post-referendum-purge-idUSKBN17V0MH. According to Media
Ownership Monitor, in 2015, 172 national, 112 regional, and more than 2,400 local newspapers
were published, a total of more than 2,500. The total circulation of the daily newspapers was
over 5 million. However, a different source, Medyatava, found the daily circulation to be 3
million. It is interesting to note that of the content published in those newspapers and magazines,
more than half tends to be about politics. According to TÜIK, in 2005 there were more than
7000 publications of both newspapers and magazines, of which most content covered news and
politics (77 percent). In 2012 this had increased to 85 percent and in 2015 it was 86 percent.
(107) Duman, Türk Basın Tarihi, 238.
internet subscribers.(108) This shows that Turkey’s use of the internet increased
dramatically, particularly after 2009, and is still increasing today. According
to a Gallup/BBG survey, 75 percent of people in Turkey rely on TV for their
news.(109) Whereas 70 percent of 15–24-year-olds use the internet as their
primary news source, older age groups tend to depend more on the television.(110)
This suggests that in the future more people will rely on the internet as a
source of information and news. According to the Boston Consulting Group,
90 percent of internet users have Facebook accounts and 70 percent have
Twitter accounts.(111) This demonstrates how social media (mainly Facebook
and Twitter) represents a large share of online use in Turkey, which means that
people may not choose to receive their news directly from news websites but
rather may turn to social media networks and platforms. Nevertheless, there is
still a huge percentage (more than half) of the Turkish people continue to follow
the news by watching TV, which remains their primary source of information.
Conclusion
This article has focused on the historical background and presented the
sequences of developments of the Turkish press from the introduction of the
printing press during the times of the Ottoman Empire to the present day. The
history of the press in the Republic of Turkey cannot be divided from that
of the Ottoman Empire, as the development continued through critical times,
including Tanzimat and the First and Second Constitutional Reforms in the
nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
(108) TÜİK, Sabit Telefon, “Cep Telefonu ve İnternet Abone Sayısı”, Turkish Statistical Institute, 2017,
www.tuik.gov.tr/PreIstatistikTablo.do%3Fistab_id%3D1580&sa=U&ved=0ahUKEwiA84
Pp5KfZAhWH6qQKHRyABmwQFggPMAQ&client=insternaludscse&cx=0152008512489
49254112:qaug18judny&usg=AOvVaw3RABvKDaBwJJDXAb7iTmra. This report indicated
the total number of active internet users in general, which it gave as 46 million.
(109) Gallup/Broadcasting Board of Governors, “Contemporary Media Use in Turkey,” 2014,
https://www.bbg.gov/2014/07/29/bbg-research-series-turkey/.
(110) Ibid.
(111) Ibid.
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No. 46 Shawwal, 1440 - June 2019
In the time of the Ottoman Empire, the introduction of the press was very
complicated, as many ulema and religious observers thought it would distort and
offend the intelligence of humans, so it was prohibited. However, it was later
accepted, and the nineteenth century is considered to be the birth of the Ottoman
press during the Ottoman Empire. It is nevertheless important to note the fact
that the first newspaper to be published in Turkey was not Turkish. The Young
Ottomans and their appearance in the nineteenth century was crucial to the press
as well as to the empire; the group later continued as the Young Turks and initiated
their journalism practices from abroad. The CUP was an important phenomenon
after the first and second Constitutional Reforms, as initiated by Abdul Hamid II,
who is a critical figure in both the history of modern Turkey and the Turkish press.
Moreover, in later years, after the declaration of the Republic, the Turkish
press witnessed more challenging times and suffered under the one-party
system in the 1920s, followed by the multiparty system in the 1940s, during
which the press began to be more politicized and witnessed an increase in
the arrests of journalists and suspension of many newspapers. Since then,
the military interventions in 1960, 1971, 1980, and 1997 and the 2016
government actions were all crucial in shaping press development and activity
by endangering the practice of journalism alongside increasing numbers of
persecutions, assassinations, and cases against countless prominent writers,
journalists, and thinkers. However, the history of the Turkish press is an
extension of the history of the Ottoman press, which remains in crisis as the
press, the practice of journalism, and writers have never been safe. This can be
seen in the names of some of the newspapers, the impact of the regimes and
the sultans of the Ottoman Empire and, later, the powers of political parties
in the republic, as well as the arrests, persecutions, and cases against media
organizations, newspapers, and journalists.
After the declaration of the republic, the development of the press was
faster than ever due to technological improvements, however, it could
not avoid censorship imposed by the government in the 1920s and after.
Furthermore, the military interventions were influential in deciding the
fate of media outlets. Each of these coups brought with them changes and
complication to the Turkish press. In the 1940s, when the multiparty system
existed, the government initiated laws and established a basis for the press, so
to monitoring any critical voices from any possible opposition.
The 1960s was the classical period for the Turkish press. Family-owned
papers began to appear, and some newspapers, like Cumhuriyet and Hürriyet,
were attracting a significant proportion of the Turkish readership. In 1980s,
the media industry coincided with Özal’s economic reforms for the country
and the press was impacted and again could not avoid censorship. The 1990s
and 2000s were the period in which companies and conglomerates entered the
media landscape, among these the big ones, which were the Doğan and Kalyon
groups. Also, this period witnessed the beginning of online newspapers and
some critical political developments in which many media outlets were closed.
After the 2016 coup attempt, the Turkish press went into a critical crisis
in which many media outlets were suspended, raided, or closed (like Zaman)
and thousands of Turkish people in various sectors, including journalism, the
military, government, and beyond, were jailed. It was a turning point in the
Turkish press as well as for the political atmosphere of Turkey. Yet Turkey is
one the most dangerous countries in the world for journalism and journalists,
who face severe difficulty, jails, and silence.
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About the Author
Mohammed Alrmizan holds a master degree in Journalism from Istanbul
University, and a bachelor degree in Media Studies from the University
of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. In addition, he earned an associate degree in
Materials Management from Institute of Public Administration.
His research interests focus on Saudi-Turkish relations, Middle Eastern
affairs, Gulf Arab States, migration studies, and journalism and media
management. Along with his mother tongue Arabic, he is fluent in English
and Turkish, and intermediate in French and Spanish.
Latest publications include:
(2018) Impacts of the Saudi Tourist Phenomenon on Turkey’s Tourism
Industry: Examples from Trabzon.
(2018) "An Interview with Erik-Jan Zürcher, the Turkish Studies
Professor at Leiden University by Mohammed Aldujayn, 26 February
2018, Amsterdam, The Netherlands." Journal of the Ottoman and
Turkish Studies Association 5, no. 1 (2018): 215-19. https://www.jstor.
org/stable/10.2979/jottturstuass.5.1.19.
(2017) Turkey's Regional Role in the Qatar-Gulf Crisis and
Repercussions on the Conflicts in Syria.
(2017) Turkey’s Attitude Toward Iraqi Kurdistan: Monday’s
Referendum Was Not Serious.
(2016) Turkish Migration Laws: Syrian Refugees or Turkish Future
Citizens – Istanbul – 2016.
King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies (KFCRIS)
The KFCRIS is an independent non-governmental institution based in Riyadh,
the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Center was founded in 1403/1983 by the King
Faisal Foundation (KFF) to preserve the legacy of the late King Faisal and to
continue his mission of transmitting knowledge between the Kingdom and the
world. The Center serves as a platform for research and Islamic Studies, bringing
together researchers and research institutions from the Kingdom and across the
world through conferences, workshops, and lectures, and through the production
and publication of scholarly works, as well as the preservation of Islamic
manuscripts.
The Center’s Research Department is home to a group of established and promising
researchers who endeavor to produce in-depth analyses in various fields, ranging
from Contemporary Political Thought, Political Economy, and Arabic Language
to Saudi Studies, Maghreb Studies, and Asian Studies. The Center also hosts the
Library which preserves invaluable Islamic manuscripts, the Al-Faisal Museum
for Arab Islamic Art, the Al-Faisal Institute for Human Resources Development,
the Darat Al-Faisal, and the Al-Faisal Cultural Press, which issues the Al-Faisal
magazine and other key intellectual periodicals. For more information, please
visit the Center’s website: www.kfcris.com/en
P.O.Box 51049 Riyadh 11543 Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Tel: (+966 11) 4652255 Ext: 6892 Fax: (+966 11) 4659993
E-mail: research@kfcris.com