Witness behind Sept. 6-7
Güncelleme Tarihi:
by Vercihan Ziflioğlu
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Şubat 20, 2009 00:00
ISTANBUL - Gökşin Sipahioğlu, Turkey’s veteran journalist who is blamed for triggering the Sept. 6 and 7 events in 1955 and the founder and former owner of the world’s biggest news agency, Sipa Press, speaks about historical events of the time
During the events of Sept. 6 and 7, 1955, thousands of people gathered at Taksim Square, broke windows and looted shops that belonged to minorities. The riot was fuelled by exaggerated news about a bombing at the house in Selanik where Atatürk was born. The city suffered serious damage during the nine-hour riot. Afraid and desperate, minority Turkish citizens chose to leave their homeland en masse.
On Sept. 6 and 7, 1955, Turkey lived through the most painful and most turbulent autumn in the history of the Republic. Even though 54 years have passed and the background of events has been revealed, only one person could not make his voice heard despite all his evidence.
This person is Gökşin Sipahioğlu, Tuırkey’s veteran journalist and founder and former owner of the world’s biggest news agency, Sipa Press. Sipahioğlu, who is blamed for triggering the events, was the editor in chief for daily Istanbul Express in those times.
Sipahioğlu’s historical file
Last week, the Hurriyet Daily News & Economic Review called Sipahioğlu, who now lives in Paris. He accepted an interview on one condition. "I accept this interview but I have only one request. Please narrate the events to the reader with all details as I tell you without making any changes. So that this slander will not be remembered by me after my death."
Sipahioğlu came to Istanbul right after our phone call for a day or two and gave an exclusive interview as he promised. Sipahioğlu came with a large file concerning historical qualification. The file included newspapers published on Sept. 6 and 7, 1955, alongside various documents. He pointed to the headline of that day’s pale newspaper and said, "This controversial headline was not ’Atatürk’s house has been bombed’ as claimed; it was ’The house of our ancestor was damaged by a bomb’."
Sipahioğlu said he was blamed for planning the events months before with Mithat Perin, the owner of the newspaper, and Adnan Menderes, the leader of the Democratic Party, or DP. "Two years after the events, Israel and Turkey were to play a football match but Turkey did not attend and lost by forfeit. I asked Prime Minister Menderes at a press conference why we did not attend when I was a journalist. After that question, Menderes called Perin and had me fired on that day. Menderes hated me."
Sipahioğlu continued talking as if he was journeying through history and told what had happened hour by hour. He said the news on the bombing of Atatürk’s house was announced on the radio at 2 p.m. and there was restlessness on the streets.
"The radio started to broadcast the events and Anatolia news agency was also running the story. We called the Turkish embassy at 3.35 p.m. to confirm the event, and they did. We immediately printed a second edition. We published comments from all sides of the story and official statements from Greece," he said.
Sipahioğlu said he would do the same thing if it would happen today. "As a journalist, I conveyed the information from all resources like any journalist does. How could I ignore this story as a journalist? This event was the biggest disaster ever to happen to Turkey."
20,000 copies were printed, not 300,000
Sipahioğlu said there were rumors that the newspaper was printed before the incident. "The rumors were that we printed 300,000 copies of the paper days before the event. That was impossible because we were printing the paper with the machine of the historical Tan Printing house. The mentioned machine was broken for making communist propaganda. This machine could have printed 8,000 or 9,000 copies at most. It was not possible to print this number of copies even for the printing house of Hürriyet, Turkey’s biggest newspaper."
Siphaioğlu said 20,000 copies of the paper were printed, not 300,000 as was claimed. "It is said that the story in the newspaper triggered the event but the event was already critical at the time the newspaper had reached the readers."
Sipahioğlu mentioned another interesting point, saying "At that time, we were able to buy printing paper day by day. We were given one, maybe two rolls at most. We did not even have the paper to print 300,000 copies. We took on debt to buy the limited amount of paper for the second edition."
Sipahioğlu criticizes ’Güz Sancısı’
Sipahioğlu said trials were held after the events and told an interesting anecdote. "The kid sitting behind me in court was the one who set the Greek Church in Taksim on fire. This information was passed to the court by our newspaper’s photographer, who was also an eyewitness, but the kid was released."
Sipahioğlu also mentioned the recent movie by Tomris Giritlioğlu, "Güz Sancısı" (Autumn Ache), which tells the events of Sept. 6 and 7. "Foreign filmmakers talk to people who experienced such events. This is the saddest event in Turkish history. Imagine, everywhere from cemeteries to churches and synagogues were plundered; women were raped; there cannot be a movie like this."
On Sept. 6 and 7, 1955, Turkey lived through the most painful and most turbulent autumn in the history of the Republic. Even though 54 years have passed and the background of events has been revealed, only one person could not make his voice heard despite all his evidence.
This person is Gökşin Sipahioğlu, Tuırkey’s veteran journalist and founder and former owner of the world’s biggest news agency, Sipa Press. Sipahioğlu, who is blamed for triggering the events, was the editor in chief for daily Istanbul Express in those times.
Sipahioğlu’s historical file
Last week, the Hurriyet Daily News & Economic Review called Sipahioğlu, who now lives in Paris. He accepted an interview on one condition. "I accept this interview but I have only one request. Please narrate the events to the reader with all details as I tell you without making any changes. So that this slander will not be remembered by me after my death."
Sipahioğlu came to Istanbul right after our phone call for a day or two and gave an exclusive interview as he promised. Sipahioğlu came with a large file concerning historical qualification. The file included newspapers published on Sept. 6 and 7, 1955, alongside various documents. He pointed to the headline of that day’s pale newspaper and said, "This controversial headline was not ’Atatürk’s house has been bombed’ as claimed; it was ’The house of our ancestor was damaged by a bomb’."
Sipahioğlu said he was blamed for planning the events months before with Mithat Perin, the owner of the newspaper, and Adnan Menderes, the leader of the Democratic Party, or DP. "Two years after the events, Israel and Turkey were to play a football match but Turkey did not attend and lost by forfeit. I asked Prime Minister Menderes at a press conference why we did not attend when I was a journalist. After that question, Menderes called Perin and had me fired on that day. Menderes hated me."
Sipahioğlu continued talking as if he was journeying through history and told what had happened hour by hour. He said the news on the bombing of Atatürk’s house was announced on the radio at 2 p.m. and there was restlessness on the streets.
"The radio started to broadcast the events and Anatolia news agency was also running the story. We called the Turkish embassy at 3.35 p.m. to confirm the event, and they did. We immediately printed a second edition. We published comments from all sides of the story and official statements from Greece," he said.
Sipahioğlu said he would do the same thing if it would happen today. "As a journalist, I conveyed the information from all resources like any journalist does. How could I ignore this story as a journalist? This event was the biggest disaster ever to happen to Turkey."
20,000 copies were printed, not 300,000
Sipahioğlu said there were rumors that the newspaper was printed before the incident. "The rumors were that we printed 300,000 copies of the paper days before the event. That was impossible because we were printing the paper with the machine of the historical Tan Printing house. The mentioned machine was broken for making communist propaganda. This machine could have printed 8,000 or 9,000 copies at most. It was not possible to print this number of copies even for the printing house of Hürriyet, Turkey’s biggest newspaper."
Siphaioğlu said 20,000 copies of the paper were printed, not 300,000 as was claimed. "It is said that the story in the newspaper triggered the event but the event was already critical at the time the newspaper had reached the readers."
Sipahioğlu mentioned another interesting point, saying "At that time, we were able to buy printing paper day by day. We were given one, maybe two rolls at most. We did not even have the paper to print 300,000 copies. We took on debt to buy the limited amount of paper for the second edition."
Sipahioğlu criticizes ’Güz Sancısı’
Sipahioğlu said trials were held after the events and told an interesting anecdote. "The kid sitting behind me in court was the one who set the Greek Church in Taksim on fire. This information was passed to the court by our newspaper’s photographer, who was also an eyewitness, but the kid was released."
Sipahioğlu also mentioned the recent movie by Tomris Giritlioğlu, "Güz Sancısı" (Autumn Ache), which tells the events of Sept. 6 and 7. "Foreign filmmakers talk to people who experienced such events. This is the saddest event in Turkish history. Imagine, everywhere from cemeteries to churches and synagogues were plundered; women were raped; there cannot be a movie like this."