Yunus Nadi Abalıoğlu Yunus Nadi Abalıoğlu ( 1879 , Fethiye – 1945 ) was a renowned Turkish journalist and founder of the newspaper " Cumhuriyet " . Yunus Nadi was born in 1879 in the Seydiler village of the south Aegean town Fethiye . After primary school in Fethiye , he was schooled on Rhodes . Later on , Yunus Nadi moved to Istanbul , where he graduated from the Galatasaray High School . He then graduated from the Istanbul University with a degree in Law . Yunus Nadi started to work as a journalist at the newspaper " " Malumat " " in 1900 . He was only 22 years old when he was sentenced to a three - years prison and exile due to an article he wrote in 1901 . Until the proclamation of the Second Constitutional Monarchy in 1908 , he lived in Fethiye . Returning to Istanbul , Yunus Nadi joined the newspaper " " İkdam ve Tasvir - i Efkar " " . In 1910 he became editor - in - chief of the newspaper " " Rumeli " " in Thessaloniki published by the Committee for Union and Progress party . At the age of 32 , he was elected Deputy of Aydın into the Ottoman Parliament in Istanbul in 1912 and was reelected for another five - years term in 1914 . The literary Yunus Nadi Prize competition , which is " the oldest surviving literary competition " in Turkey , has been named to his name and memorial . Turkish War of Independence . " Yeni Gün " was the only media to covered the Turkish War of Independence to the rest of the world . Yunus Nadi founded the newspaper " Yeni Gün " . Despite censorship and pressures from the invading forces , he continued to support Mustafa Kemal ' s independence movement , which was set up on May 19 , 1919 in Samsun . After the invasion of Istanbul by the British , French , Italian and Greek forces on November 13 , 1918 , Parliament banned him . He fled to Ankara in order to escape arrest . Yunus Nadi was welcomed by Mustafa Kemal with great enthusiasm on April 2 , 1920 . He started to publish his newspaper " Yeni Gün " again on August 9 , 1920 in Ankara . The printing machine used in Istanbul was dismantled and smuggled into Ankara in separated parts . Members of his family also followed Yunus Nadi to Ankara . Yunus Nadi established the news agency " Anadolu Ajansı " together with Halide Edip . Meanwhile , he was elected a member of the newly formed Turkish Grand National Assembly as Deputy of İzmir . His newspaper had to be moved to Kayseri because of the nearing Greek forces to Ankara during the Battle of Sakarya . During the summer months of 1923 , newspapers in Istanbul were sharply against the proclamation of republic . Yunus Nadi was working very closely with Mustafa Kemal and was the head of the parliament commission , which was working on the new constitution . On October 29 , 1923 Yunus Nadi read the new constitution in parliament after the proclamation of the republic . Republican period . Mustafa Kemal tried to convince some mild representatives of opposing newspapers of Istanbul in a meeting held in İzmir on January 5 , 1924 without success . These newspapers intensified their negative attitudes instead and attacked openly the regime in Ankara . This led Mustafa Kemal to commission Yunus Nadi to establish a new newspaper in Istanbul , to propagate and defend the principles of the republic and the democracy against the monarchy and the caliphate . The preparations continued until the end of April 1924 and the first issue of the newspaper was published on May 7 , 1924 . The newspaper was named " " Cumhuriyet " " ( literally republic in Turkish ) by Mustafa Kemal . " " Cumhuriyet " " has a current circulation of approximately 38 , 000 copies , and is a left - wing publicagion Yunus Nadi , who took the family name Abalıoğlu , owned the newspaper and was editor - in - chief until his death on March 28 , 1945 in a hospital in Geneva , Switzerland . The newspaper was owned later on by his eldest son Nadir Nadi and then by Nadir Nadi ' s wife Berin . Currently , the foundation " Cumhuriyet Vakfı " is the publisher . His remains were brought to Istanbul and buried at the Edirnekapı Martyr ' s Cemetery .