''Cumhuriyet'' (; English: "

Republic A republic, based on the Latin phrase ''res publica'' ('public affair' or 'people's affair'), is a State (polity), state in which Power (social and political), political power rests with the public (people), typically through their Representat ...

") is the oldest up-market Turkish daily

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

. It has been described as "the most important independent public interest newspaper in contemporary

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

". The newspaper was awarded the ''Freedom of Press Prize'' by

Reporters Without Borders Reporters Without Borders (RWB; ; RSF) is an international non-profit and non-governmental organisation, non-governmental organization headquartered in Paris, which focuses on safeguarding the right to freedom of information. It describes its a ...

in 2015 and the Alternative Nobel Prize in 2016.TV5 Monde Prize ceremony
Reporters without Borders, 19 November. 2015 It is considered Turkey's

newspaper of record A newspaper of record is a major national newspaper with large newspaper circulation, circulation whose editorial and news-gathering functions are considered authoritative and independent; they are thus "newspapers of record by reputation" and i ...

. It has been known for its stance of publishing

anti-Islamist The ideas and practices of the leaders, preachers, and movements of the Islamic revival movement known as Islamism (also referred to as Political Islam) have been criticized by non-Muslims and Muslims (often Islamic modernists and liberals). A ...

titles and news at least since the 1960s. Established on 7 May 1924 by

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

Yunus Nadi Abalıoğlu Yunus Nadi Abalıoğlu (1879 – 28 June 1945) was a Turkish journalist and the founder of the newspaper ''Cumhuriyet''. He was known for his support for Turkish nationalism and his sympathies with the Nazi regime, publishing many antisemitic pro ...

, a confidant of the

Turkish Republic Turkish Republic may refer to: * Turkey, archaically the "Turkish Republic" * Northern Cyprus Northern Cyprus, officially the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), is a ''de facto'' state that comprises the northeastern portion of the ...

's founder

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Mustafa Kemal Atatürk ( 1881 – 10 November 1938) was a Turkish field marshal and revolutionary statesman who was the founding father of the Republic of Turkey, serving as its first President of Turkey, president from 1923 until Death an ...

, the newspaper has subscribed to a staunchly

secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin , or or ), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. The origins of secularity can be traced to the Bible itself. The concept was fleshed out through Christian hi ...

, republican course. In the past closely affiliated with the

Kemalist Kemalism (, also archaically ''Kamâlizm'') or Atatürkism () is a political ideology based on the ideas of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder and first president of the Turkey, Republic of Turkey.Eric J. Zurcher, Turkey: A Modern History. Ne ...

Republican People's Party The Republican People's Party (RPP; , CHP ) is a Kemalism, Kemalist and Social democracy, social democratic political party in Turkey. It is the oldest List of political parties in Turkey, political party in Turkey, founded by Mustafa Kemal ...

(CHP), the newspaper turned to a more independent course over time, advocating

democracy Democracy (from , ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which political power is vested in the people or the population of a state. Under a minimalist definition of democracy, rulers are elected through competitiv ...

, social liberal values and

free market In economics, a free market is an economic market (economics), system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of ...

s. Today, "being a Cumhuriyet reader has become synonymous with embracing democratic values and a pluralistic society". The newspaper's anti-government advertisements before the 2007 Turkish presidential election and

general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

caused controversy for "warning" voters against the AKP government with the message "Are you aware of the danger?". Notably, the newspaper has also broken the story on the treasonous 2014 National Intelligence Organisation scandal in Turkey, reprinted the scandalous cartoons from ''

Charlie Hebdo ''Charlie Hebdo'' (; ) is a French satirical weekly magazine, featuring cartoons, reports, polemics, and jokes. The publication has been described as anti-racist, sceptical, secular, libertarian, and within the tradition of left-wing radicalism ...

'', and reported on the

Panama Papers The Panama Papers () are 11.5 million leaked documents (or 2.6 terabytes of data) published beginning April 3, 2016. The papers detail financial and attorney–client information for more than 214,488 offshore entities. These document ...

and

Paradise Papers The Paradise Papers are a set of over 13.4 million confidential electronic documents relating to offshore investments that were leaked to the German reporters Frederik Obermaier and Bastian Obermayer, from the newspaper'' Süddeutsche Z ...

affairs while linking prominent Turkish figures to the documents. ''Cumhuriyet'' has been targeted throughout its history, such as with the assassinations of

Uğur Mumcu Uğur Mumcu (; 22 August 1942 – 24 January 1993)
um:ag was a

Bahriye Üçok Bahriye Üçok (1919 – 6 October 1990) was a Turkish people, Turkish academic of theology, left-wing politician, writer, columnist, and women's rights activist whose assassination in 1990 remains unresolved. Early life and education Born in ...

Ahmet Taner Kışlalı Ahmet Taner Kışlalı (10 July 1939 – 21 October 1999) was a Turkish professor, politician, and commentator. He served in the Parliament of Turkey in 1977 and was minister of culture in 1978 and 1979. Biography Kışlalı completed his pri ...

Muammer Aksoy Muammer Aksoy (1917 – January 31, 1990) was a Turkish lawyer, politician, columnist and intellectual who was assassinated. Biography Aksoy was born 1917 in İbradı, Konya vilayet (now Antalya Province) to the member of the Ottoman parliame ...

Ümit Kaftancıoğlu Ümit Kaftancıoğlu (1935 – 11 April 1980) was a Turkish TV producer, writer and columnist of the newspaper ''Cumhuriyet''. Life and career Kaftancıoğlu was born in Saskara village, Hanak, Ardahan Province. He graduated from Cilavuz Villa ...

Onat Kutlar Onat Kutlar (25 January 1936 – 11 January 1995) was a prominent Turkish writer and poet, founder of the Turkish Sinematek and cofounder of the Istanbul International Film Festival. Biography Onat Kutlar was born in Alanya, Turkey, on 25 J ...

, and

Cavit Orhan Tütengil Cavit Orhan Tütengil (1921 – December 7, 1979) was a Turkish sociologist, writer and columnist, who was assassinated. Biography He was born in Sebil, a village of Tarsus, in Mersin province of what was then the Ottoman Empire. Following ...

. More recent attacks include the 2008 molotov attack on the newspaper's headquarters in Istanbul's

Şişli Şişli () is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of Istanbul Province, Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 10 km2, and its population is 276,528 (2022). Located on the European side of the city, it is bordered by Beşiktaş ...

district and the

attempted assassination This is a list of survivors of assassination attempts. For successful assassination attempts, see List of assassinations. Non-heads of state Heads of state and government Gallery File:Arrestation Gregori.jpg, Arrest of Louis Gregori, th ...

Can Dündar Can Dündar (, born 16 June 1961) is a Turkish journalist, columnist and documentarian. Editor-in-chief of center-left ''Cumhuriyet'' newspaper until August 2016, he was arrested in November 2015 after his newspaper published footage showing the ...

in 2016. The newspaper has been described as "a high-profile target in the Erdoğan government’s crackdown on media". By the end of 2016, almost half of the paper's reporters, columnists and executives had been jailed.

History

The founding

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 editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held accoun ...

of ''Cumhuriyet'' was

Zekeriya Sertel Zekeriya Sertel, also known as Mehmet Zekeriya Sertel, (1890–1980) was a Turkish journalist. He is the first director of state press department and founder and editor of various periodicals. From 1950 to 1980 Sertel lived in exile. Early life ...

, a Turkish journalist. Following the death of Yunus Nadi on 28 March 1945 in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, ''Cumhuriyet'' was owned by his eldest son until his death on 20 August 1991. Nadir Nadi's wife Berin then published the newspaper. ''Cumhuriyet'' has been owned by the Cumhuriyet Foundation since the death of Berin Nadi on 5 November 2001. One of its publishers was the renowned political

columnist A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Column (periodical), Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the ...

İlhan Selçuk İlhan Selçuk (11 March 1925 – 21 June 2010) was a Turkish lawyer, journalist, author, novelist and editor. Biography Selcuk was born in the western Turkish Aydın Province in 1925. His mother, who was Armenian, hid her Armenian roots. He ea ...

, who was also chairman of the board of trustees and lead writer (from 1992) until his death in 2010. ''Cumhuriyet'' contributors such as

Uğur Mumcu Uğur Mumcu (; 22 August 1942 – 24 January 1993)
um:ag was a

, and

were assassinated between the 1970s and 1990s. During the

Gulf War , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...

, ''Cumhuriyet'' suffered a collapse in advertising revenue, and following an unrelated dispute over editorial policy, nearly 40 journalists and commentators walked out in November 1991: "Circulation fell by half, and it was saved only by an extraordinary campaign by readers to buy extra copies and even pay money into a special account."

Hasan Cemal Hasan Cemal (born 1944) is a Turkish journalist and writer. He was the editor of Cumhuriyet from 1981 to 1992, and of Sabah from 1992 to 1998. In 2013 he resigned from the Milliyet newspaper after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had criticis ...

, chief editor since 1981, resigned in January 1992 over the dispute: "I tried to widen the spectrum, to keep the balance. But they (old-guard intellectuals) always resisted, calling us plotters, tools of big business and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

".Hugh Pope, ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'', 12 May 1992
Media: It's News Vs. Nudes in the Turkish Press: The glitzy Sabah daily and the respected Cumhuriyet reflect clashing cultures at a continental crossroads
/ref> Since 17 October 2005, the newspaper's headquarters have been located in Istanbul's

district, after being the last newspaper to leave the traditional press district of

Cağaloğlu Cağaloğlu is a quarter located in the Fatih district of Istanbul, Turkey. Much of the publishing industry in Istanbul is located in Cağaloğlu. It is also famous for its ancient hamam, or Turkish bath, known as the Cağaloğlu Hamam. Name The ...

. The newspaper also has offices in

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

and

İzmir İzmir is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara. It is on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, and is the capital of İzmir Province. In 2024, the city of İzmir had ...

. The newspaper'
advertisements
before the 2007 Turkish presidential election and

with the message "Are you aware of the danger?" were controversial. 's office in Istanbul was the site of a molotov attack in 2008. In 2010, the newspaper was one of the first up-market newspapers in Turkey to abandon the established

broadsheet A broadsheet is the largest newspaper format and is characterized by long Vertical and horizontal, vertical pages, typically of in height. Other common newspaper formats include the smaller Berliner (format), Berliner and Tabloid (newspaper ...

format for the midi-sized

Berliner format Berliner is a newspaper format with pages normally measuring about . The Berliner format, or "midi", is slightly taller and marginally wider than the Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid/Compact (newspaper), compact format, and is both narrower ...

. In January 2015, the newspaper reprinted cartoons from ''

'', a French satirical magazine which had depicted the

Islamic prophet Prophets in Islam () are individuals in Islam who are believed to spread God's message on Earth and serve as models of ideal human behaviour. Some prophets are categorized as messengers (; sing. , ), those who transmit divine revelation, mos ...

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

and been subject to a terror attack. As a result, ''Cumhuriyet'' received threats and was placed under police protection.Josh Levs et al (14 February 2015
Turkey bans Charlie Hebdo cover, newspaper gets death threats
CNN In 2015, it was awarded the ''Freedom of Press Prize'' by international

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

for making a stand against the AKP government's mounting pressure. On 22 September 2016 the newspaper was awarded the

Right Livelihood Award The Right Livelihood Award is an international award to "honour and support those offering practical and exemplary answers to the most urgent challenges facing us today." The prize was established in 1980 by German-Swedish philanthropist Jakob vo ...

for its "fearless investigative reporting and standing up for freedom of speech and opinion despite being subject to death threats, censorship and state prosecution". In 2016 the newspaper reported on the

and in 2017 on the

affairs, linking a number of prominent Turkish figures to those. The editor-in-chief of the online edition, Oğuz Güven, was arrested on 12 May 2017 in connection with an article on the "accidental" death of Mustafa Alper, the first public prosecutor to file an indictment about the Gülenist Terror Organization ( FETÖ). Güven was released pending trial on 14 June 2017. Today, the newspaper is struggling financially due to a low daily circulation figure that has fallen from more than 150,000 in the mid-1990s, in addition to plummeting advertising revenues as companies are not willing to advertise in media critical of the government.

MİT trucks scandal

Following the appointment of new editor-in-chief

, the newspaper on 29 May 2015 released detailed footage depicting trucks of the Turkish

National Intelligence Organization loction 39°54'25.0"N 32°39'59.3"E The National Intelligence Organization (), also known by its Turkish language, Turkish initials MIT or MİT, or colloquially as the Organization (), is an intelligence agency of the Turkish government tasked ...

(MİT) carrying weapons to

Syrian rebels A number of states and armed groups have involved themselves in the Syrian civil war (2011–present) as belligerents. The main groups were Ba'athist Syria and allies, Syrian opposition, the Syrian opposition and allies, Al-Qaeda and affiliate ...

in neighboring

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

. While the government faced calls to resign, an investigation began into ''Cumhuriyet'' for releasing the footage. Turkish President Erdoğan publicly targeted Dündar, stating: "I suppose the person who wrote this as an exclusive report will pay a heavy price for this." In spite of the threats, ''Cumhuriyet'' published further material on June 11, including photos and videos confirming that MİT trucks transported both weapons and militants between Turkey and various locations in neighboring

. In November, the newspaper was awarded the 2015 Reporters Without Borders Prize for its "independent and courageous journalism." Shortly thereafter, editor-in-chief Dündar and Ankara bureau chief Erdem Gül were arrested on charges of being members of a terror organization,

espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering, as a subfield of the intelligence field, is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information ( intelligence). A person who commits espionage on a mission-specific contract is called an ...

and revealing confidential documents, facing sentences up to

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence (law), sentence of imprisonment under which the convicted individual is to remain incarcerated for the rest of their natural life (or until pardoned or commuted to a fixed term). Crimes that result in life impr ...

Circulation and online edition

In 1924 Cumhuriyet sold 5,000-10,000 copies. On 7 May 1998, the newspaper launched its online edition. The print circulation figure was around 40,000 copies in May 2018.

Notable contributors (past and present)

Supplements

Supplements of the newspaper: *''Strateji'' (''Strategy''), Mondays *''Kitap'' (''Book''), Thursdays *''Bilim Teknoloji'' (''Science'' and Technology), Fridays *''Hafta Sonu'' (''Weekend''), Saturdays *''Pazar'' (''Sunday''), Sundays *''Gezi'' (''Travel''), every other Wednesday *''Tarım'' (''Agriculture''), once a month *''Yerel Yönetimler'' (''Local Governments'') *''Le Monde diplomatique Türkiye'' ('' Le Monde diplomatique Turkey''), the first Monday of the month (since February 3, 2020)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cumhuriyet 1924 establishments in Turkey Daily newspapers published in Turkey Mass media freedom in Turkey Newspapers established in 1924 Newspapers published in Istanbul Şişli Turkish-language newspapers