Today in History – 30 September

The revenge of the Pasha

After a series of speeches he delivered in Anatolia, President İsmet İnönü returned to İstanbul and held a press conference highly anticipated by the media on September 30, 1949.

In his comments regarding internal and external politics, İnönü stressed that his real target was to draw closer to internal peace and ease the prevailing tension. At the end of the meeting, İnönü pulled journalist Ahmet Emin Yalman, who always challenged and opposed him since the inauguration of the Republic, to a corner, sat next to him, and explained how pained he was from the poisoning of the political atmosphere.

Just at that instant, the photo-flashes went off and all the cameras in the room focused on the two men. Having tolerated Yalman’s comments until then, İnönü turned to the journalist and said:

“I hereby take the revenge on your articles by putting you in front of this crossfire alongside me.”

This was the taste of the Pasha’s bitter pill of revenge.