ATATÜRK'S IDEAS ON THE PRESS              

Disaster Inan Tells;
Atatürk used to say that he was a student who was eager to publish a newspaper under the name of Mustafa Kemal in the military school of the tyranny period and attached great importance to it even at that time. As a requirement of that period, he hoped for great benefit from having his friends read his free ideas in the newspapers, which were duplicated, albeit secretly.

When he was born, he used to tell that he had attempted to publish the Minber newspaper in Istanbul. While he was a soldier, commander and President, those close to him know that he valued his fellow journalists very much.

In 1930, when I was teaching about civics, I was reading books on the concept of "freedom". For Atatürk, these issues were the most attractive field of conversation. I had gathered the theoretical information on this subject and the articles from the Press Law of that time, and prepared to give my lecture. Although Atatürk found this compilation helpful for the student, he made me write a note about "newspapers":

 “The words that we think can be said in this regard can be summarized as follows: The duties of the press (press) in public life and in the progress and evolution (maturation) of the Republic are high. It is noteworthy (value) that the press is kind in terms of full and guardian (widespread) freedom (freedom), good use (use for good). Prior to all kinds of legal restrictions (legal restrictions), an owner should pay attention and respect to the rights of citizens and the country's best interests (interests) above (over) all kinds of special considerations, as well as to knowledge, needs and their own political views (understanding). is a moral obligation. This is an obligation that can ensure public order (general order). store, The effective means (effective tool) that will eliminate the evils that will arise from the freedom of press (freedom of the press) are never the bonds that bind the freedom of press, as in the past (past). On the contrary (on the contrary), the means of removing the drawbacks that will arise from the freedom of press (the means to eliminate the drawbacks) is also the freedom of press (personally). 

Atatürk made many more explanations and gave examples on these basic ideas. He has repeated on every occasion that newspapers have an impact on public opinion. I always witnessed that he hardly followed the advice of the doctors that it was not right for him to read and get tired at the time of his illness. For this reason, he did not give up at least seeing the newspapers and listening to the summaries of some of them. Atatürk believed that newspapers would serve in our democratic structure in Turkey.  

Source: Atatürk  Hakkında  Hatıralar ve Belgeler, Afet İnan, 5.Baskıya Hazırlayan Arı İnan,Türkiye İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları 2007,ISBN:978-9944-88-140-1.(Sayfa:400-401)