Forgetting to Forget, 1923–1944 right to open your mouth.’ Yet for three centuries my ancestors have taken
their place in the Turkish and Muslim community, people who always
spent their lives serving the state. How many other peoples could claim
this?”^45 He continues: “I heard the term Dönme very few times in my life.
Those using the term were always men whose interests were harmed in
the campaigns I started in the name of the national interests of the Turk-
ish nation.”^46 Thus he acknowledges being of the community, turns it to
a point of honor, and reveals that the term is derogatory and used as a last
resort, usually by those who were the targets of his journalistic exposés of
corruption.^47 Asserting that the Dönme had always served the state might
prove their loyalty, but it did not refute the claim that they were not sin-
cere Muslims; nor did the assertion solve the problem of Dönme religious
or racial identity. To solve these dilemmas, he would have had to argue
that the Dönme had been Muslim for three centuries and thus longer than
those whose ancestors had more recently converted to Islam.
But Nadi and other writers in Cumhuriyet continued the personal at-
tacks against Yalman. One writer claimed Yalman “never had the courage
to say, ‘I am a Turk,’ like a true citizen; he is a Dönme, he does not serve
the Turkish nation, rather, he sabotages it. This is why he was tried [by
the Independence Tribunal].” Afterward other writers put these words
into his mouth: “ ‘In accordance with the essence of my race, I did all of
this because I am Jewish.’”^48
For Sabiha Sertel, being accused of being a Dönme was a terrible, se-
rious accusation, and she sued Cumhuriyet. Atatürk wanted the dispute
between the two newspapers to end, and Yalman and Nadi agreed to
comply with the wishes of the leader of the nation.^49
During World War II, Vatan, reestablished by Yalman in 1940 , was closed
twice. The newspaper was shut down in 1942 for discussing Charlie Chap-
lin’s film The Great Dictator, which made fun of Hitler, criticized fascism in
stark language, and sympathized with the persecuted Jews of Europe. Again
in 1944 , the paper was indefinitely closed for criticizing the wealth tax.^50
The Wealth Tax, 1942 – 1944
After Fazlı Necip was banned from a career in journalism, he served as
a branch director of the state tobacco company. Other Dönme also con-
tinued to work in the same industry. According to interviews I conducted,
the reassembled members of the family descended from Hasan Akif were