Serbesti newspaper in the Second Constitutional and Armistice Period (1908-1920)

After the declaration of the Second Constitution, Serbesti which started publication on November 16th, 1908, became prominent among its peers as making a strong criticism. Serbesti approached thirty-three years of the pre-second constitutional era as bondage, and because of this approach criticized the period of Sultan Abdulhamid regarding the period as oppression. During the Second constitutional era, the Committee of Union and Progress which determined country politics directly or sometimes indirectly, became the newspaper's target of criticism. Its feracious criticism against the committee, being more severe and sharper, was retaliated with menaces. This opposition led to the murder of Hasan Fehmi, who is the first press martyr in the history of Turkey, and then triggered events leading to the March 31st Incident. Therefore, the editorial policy of Serbesti became an important milestone in the March 31st Incident. During the Balkan War, the Serbesti newspaper gave serious support to the army and soldiers. However, during the National Struggle, Serbesti acted in the opposite direction and strongly attacked the Kuva-yi Milliye, Mustafa Kemal Pasha and his companions, stood against the struggle for independence. Serbesti, becoming one of the most ardent defenders of Kurdish nationalism, made great efforts to create a new and independent identity for the Kurds; also worked passionately establishment of an independent Kurdish state. In addition to these, Serbesti has covered subjects such as education, justice, freedom, and fundamental human rights for more than eleven years in its publication life, and has given a lot of space to violation of laws and corruption in its columns. This study aims to explain the changes in the worldview of the Serbesti newspaper from its first day to its last issue and why it needs such fierce opposition. In this context, all the obtained issues of Serbesti are examined, and other newspapers and archive documents of the period are also evaluated. As a result, the main factors underlying Serbesti's opposition policy are revealed, and the extent of the influence of Serbesti on important events in history is explained.