An Important Case towards Turkish Press in the Early Republican Period: The Newspaper Aksam Case

Abstract

Aksam Newspaper that has an important place in the Turkish press due to its stance on the Republican modernization along with its support to National Struggle was the subject of three cases that attracted great attention of the public in 1927. These cases were respectively opened due to considering a young girl's suicide as obscene, perceiving a published caricature as an insult to the Turkish women and damaging the reputation of the prosecution office during a defense in the court. The cases were joined as Aksam newspaper case in time and the founders of the newspaper Necmeddin Sadik, Ali Naci, Kazim Sinasi along with the managing director Senih Muammer and the caricaturist Ratib Tahir were put on trial. Severe statements including reactionarism against the defendants were made in the bill of indictment of the prosecution, and the journalists other than Ratip Tahir were arrested during the case. The defendants were acquitted of the suicide case but found guilty due to the caricature and the insult to the prosecution and got fined and were sentenced to prison despite a comprehensive defense including the theme of the freedom of press against the allegations. The journalists were released on bail following the decision but the court reversed the judgment after a short while and deferred the punishments of the defendants as a result of the trials heard again. In this study, the case of Aksam newspaper has been examined within the framework of historical research method. In this regard, the course of the case has been evaluated along with its reflections on the public opinion. The press of the era has been studied by comparing and the required second hand sources have been accessed within this study.