Nefes Gazetesi columnists Deniz Zeyrek and Ümit Zileli respond to Sözcü columnist Emin Çölaşan

Nefes Gazetesi, founded by Metin Yılmaz who left Sözcü after serving as editor-in-chief for 17 years, began its publication life on December 19.

Sözcü columnist Emin Çölaşan, in his column titled "Who is behind the new newspaper?", drew attention to an advertisement for Rönesans Gayrimenkul that had been on the Nefes Gazetesi website for a week, without naming names, and wrote: "My dear readers, I am now asking a small and simple question. I request that they answer it honestly: 'Is Rönesans Holding, one of the right-hand men of the Tayyip family in the business world, along with the businessman named Erman Ilıcak, behind this newly launched newspaper that I wish success to, or not?' That is all."

Ümit Zileli and Deniz Zeyrek, who left Sözcü to join Nefes Gazetesi, reacted sharply to Çölaşan's claims.

'SÖZCÜ'S MANAGEMENT MAY SEE EVERYTHING AS PERMISSIBLE OUT OF COMPETITIVE AMBITION'

Zeyrek, conveying that Nefes executives stated the Rönesans ad was a 7-day advertising agreement, complained: "I understand that Sözcü's management may declare war on NEFES out of competitive ambition and see everything as permissible in this war. However, it is a great injustice for a journalist, especially a veteran journalist like Emin Abi, to be a tool in such a war, to imply that his own colleagues are 'working for Rönesans,' and to try to humiliate them in front of the readers."

'THE CALCULATED GAMES THEY RESORTED TO MADE ME SAY 'THANK GOODNESS'...'

Zeyrek, who explained that the reason for his departure from Sözcü was "economic conditions and income inequality among employees," implicitly criticized the behavior of the Sözcü management after he left; he wrote: "When I saw the calculated games they resorted to in order not to pay my six years of severance pay, and what was done to avoid paying the severance pay deserved by our colleagues who left or were fired from the newspaper, I felt 'thank goodness I left'."

'I WISH HE HAD ASKED METİN YILMAZ, WHOM HE WORKED WITH FOR 17 YEARS...'

Deniz Zeyrek continued his article as follows:

"I wish Emin Abi had asked our Editor-in-Chief Metin Yılmaz, with whom he worked for 17 years at Sözcü, about the subject he wrote about as if it were certain, based on a single advertisement.

I wish Emin Abi, while writing the article, had not forgotten the fact that the NEFES he was targeting is a new newspaper that provides bread to the homes of his colleagues with whom he worked for years, with whom he stood in solidarity when necessary, and with whom he sat in the defendant's chair in the same court.

I wish Emin Abi had not forgotten the fact that his colleagues, who have been writing, drawing, and paying the price for what they said on the same side and in the same newspaper as him for years, would never sell their pens to Rönesans or anywhere else."

'THIS ARTICLE DID NOT SUIT YOU AT ALL...'

Another Nefes columnist, Ümit Zileli, addressed Emin Çölaşan and said, "This article did not suit you at all, Emin Abi!"

He concluded his column, which he began by saying, “Sözcü newspaper columnist Emin Çölaşan, whom I have addressed as 'Emin Abi' for almost 30 years without failing in affection or respect, and who was even one of the few people I called before resigning from Korkusuz newspaper, wrote about NEFES in his column yesterday... It was a very polite article that beat us up on one hand while wishing us success and congratulating us on the other!” with these words:

“Now, if Emin Abi has not been able to recognize his friends, comrades, and brothers with whom he worked for many years (I was there for the last 9 years) and even stood trial together in the case opened against Sözcü Newspaper with the mud of FETÖ, it is truly a great pity...

No, if he does recognize them but is writing upon the order of the boss, it is an even greater pity!

This newspaper is a family, and every member is a person of such caliber that they will not let their honesty or honor be stained, and will fight until their last breath for a contemporary, secular, Kemalist Republic.

If necessary, they are reckless enough to hang themselves, to kneel before no one, and to burn all bridges if necessary against servitude... To get to the heart of the matter:

-This article did not suit you at all, Emin Abi...”