Without regularly reading Cumhuriyet, it is impossible to be accurately informed about what is happening both inside and outside of country.
Their excuses for not reading are always ready: lack of time, the newspaper being too expensive, or not being available.
Some also claim that reading online suffices for them.
While there may be some truth in these excuses, I believe the main reason for the low reading Cumhuriyet is laziness.
Cumhuriyet is not an easy newspaper to read.
It avoids sensational headlines and does not embellish news with unnecessary photos.
It either does not publish dubious news that it cannot substantiate or does so with caution.
Its goal is not to excite or entertain the reader but to inform them.
As has always been said, it is a serious newspaper. It is our most serious newspaper. Unfortunately, in a society increasingly dominated by frivolity, lack of seriousness, and ignorance, it is not easy for seriousness to find its place.
What saddens me the most in this regard is not the understandable difficulties faced by genuinely patriotic people with limited budgets in following Cumhuriyet, but the indifferent, unloving, and disdainful attitude of a snobbish, irresponsible, selfish, and yet arrogant segment of the educated elite towards Cumhuriyet.
People's attitudes towards the country's issues and the country itself are similarly indifferent and unloving.
For me, the fact that this newspaper, our newspaper, can appear every day with such rich content, commentary, and articles, without interruption, with a clear and bright face, overcoming many financial difficulties and all kinds of lies and threats, has always been a miracle and a mystery.
The explanation for this miracle and mystery lies in the dedication, hard work, and solidarity of all its employees, from the writer to the tea server, from the editorial staff to the consultants or transportation staff.
Because being a Cumhuriyet employee is a privilege.
Despite any problems or criticisms they may have about the newspaper, all Cumhuriyet supporters carry this sense of privilege within them.
As for me, I cannot describe the joy I feel when I see its beautiful name among the crowd of newspapers on the stands. It is the most joyful greeting of my mornings.
Although reading the news, comments, and columns may replace this joy with a sense of sorrow in the face of the country's realities, Cumhuriyet does not merely list the evils; it reveals the reasons and those responsible with realistic data and provides warnings and suggestions for ways out.
This is true journalism, and it should be like this.
Cumhuriyet newspaper is the conscience and mirror of society.
It is the leading publication in the struggle for a contemporary, modern, and civilized Turkey.
