Kıbrıs Türkleri adanın 1878'de İngiltere'ye kiralanmasından, 1974 Mutlu Barış Harekâtı'na kadar olan süreçte yaklaşık yüz yıl, adada var olma-yok olmama savaşı verir. Anakara ile olan bağını hiçbir zaman koparmayan Kıbrıs Türkleri, İngiliz sömürgesi altında olmasına rağmen 1919'da başlayan Kurtuluş Savaşı'nı maddî ve manevî desteklemiş, Türkiye'de cumhuriyetin ilânından sonra da Mustafa Kemal Atatürk'ün devrimlerini çabucak benimsemişlerdir. 1955'lerden itibaren adada başlayan EOKA tedhiş hareketlerinden sonra ise, Kıbrıs Türk şairyazarları yazdığı eserlerle adada ulusal konulu, millî, hamasî bir edebiyatı şekillendirmiş, doğurmuştur. Bu bağlamda Kıbrıs Türklerinin bu tavırlarının altında şüphesiz, Kıbrıs'ta 1890'lardan itibaren başlayan gazetecilikle birlikte Kıbrıslı Jöntürklerin, adada uyandırdığı "var olma, direnme, karşı duruş, hürriyet fikri ve Türklük" duygularının büyük bir payı olduğunu söylemek yanlış olmaz. İşte tam da burada Kıbrıs'ın ilk Türk gazetecisi olarak kabul edilen ve aynı zamanda bir Jöntürk olan, Ahmed Tevfik Efendi ile karşılaşıyoruz. Onun çıkardığı Kokonoz, Akbaba ve Mir'ât-ı Zaman adlı gazetelerinde yer alan yazı ve şiirlerinden, padişah II. Abdülhamid karşıtı ve koyu bir Jöntürk olduğunu görmekteyiz. Ahmed Tevfik Efendi'nin, özellikle Mir'ât-ı Zaman gazetesinde II. Meşrutiyet'in ilânı ile ilgili yer alan coşkulu şiirleri, onun ne kadar koyu bir Jöntürk olduğunun göstergesidir. Bu çalışmada Ahmed Tevfik Efendi'nin, Kıbrıs'ta Jöntürklerin öncülerinden biri olduğu ve Mir'ât-ı Zaman gazetesinde II. Meşrutiyet'in ilânı ile ilgili yazdığı bazı şiirler tespit edilerek incelenecektir

Turkish Cypriots struggled for survival on the island for almost a hundred years from the time of the British leasing of the island in 1878 to the 1974 Peace Movement. They never severed their ties with Ankara, and even though they were under the British colonial rule when the Turkish War of Independence began in 1919 they gave it their material and moral support, and following the declaration of republic in Turkey they quickly adopted Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s Reforms. However after EOKA terror activities on the island in the late 1950’s Turkish Cypriot poets and writers produced a nationalistic, enthusiastic nation-focused literature on the island. We can see such literary works still maintaining relevance in our days. In this regard we are safe in saying that besides the journalism which started in Cyprus from 1890’s the significant reason behind these behaviours of Turkish Cypriots was the emotions aroused by Cypriot Young Turks such as “existence, insistence, resistance, the idea of freedom, and Turkishness”. When the British administration was established on the island besides the colonial rule it also sought to substitute the Turkish identity with the Muslim one and thus applied restrictions to the national symbols. When the British colonial rule was aggravated by the extremism of Greeks on the island, the Turkish Cypriot intellectuals began to act. Thus when Young Turks were struggling for a constitutional management in the Ottoman Turkey against Abdul Hamid II, one of the places they travelled to was Cyprus. Young Turks came to Cyprus on their way as they were fleeing to Europe or Egypt, and they quickly found their supporters on the island with their emphasis on parliament, liberty, and Turkish identity, because the Englishmen were trying to establish the concept of Islamic community – Muslim Cypriots. The Liberty and Progress Club formed out of two clubs on the island was spreading and defending the ideas of the Ottoman Union and Progress administration. Among the main published newspapers which were under the influence of Young Turk movement or even known as Young Turk newspapers the following ones can be mentioned: Hacı Derviş Tüccarbaşı’s Zaman (1891- 1900), Ahmed Tevfik Efendi’s Akbaba (1897-1898) and Mirât-ı Zaman (1901-1910), and Seyf (1912-1914) owned by Bodamyalı-zâde Mehmet Münir Bey. Hacı Derviş Tüccarbaşı’sZaman newspaper – which is accepted as the first newspaper of Turkish Cypriots – may seem to be supporting Sultan, but in fact it was influenced by the writers supportive of Young Turks. The main principles of Zaman newspaper were: resisting the Greek press, Enosis, and British colonial rule, maintain national awareness and the connection to Homeland, and promote Turkishness. Here we can safely add to the list Ahmed Tevfik Efendi’s Akbaba which is known as a comic newspaper. We see that this newspaper joined Young Turk movement and mercilessly criticized Sultan Abdul Hamid II. The leading Cypriot culture and literature researchers Harid Fedai and Ahmet An share this opinion that the newspaper and its publisher were Young Turk supporters. Ahmed Tevfik Efendi’s weekly Mirât-ı Zaman newspaper which he published after Akbaba is also knows as one of the most important newspapers supporting Young Turks in Cyprus. Besides the criticism of Sultan Abdul Hamid II and the poems on national, libertanian, and Turkishness themes, the newspaper included articles of such Young Turks as Lokman Hekim Doktor Hafız Cemâl from Cyprus and Vizeli Rıza Efendi and İzmirli Saffet Bey from the Ottoman Turkey. And Seyf newspaper owned by Bodamyalı-zâde Mehmet Münir Bey should be mentioned as one of the closest to Young Turks’ publications in Cyprus. This newspaper promoted national ideas despite the British administration and its title-logo was “national”. The logo of Seyf newspaper consisted of the word ‘Seyf’ (which means ‘sword’) written in the old Ottoman letters in the form of a sword with a moon and a star on its tip. At the right top of the newspaper’s front page the following was written for the contact information and the place of printing; “In Nicosia, Cyprus, in the presence of Shariah Court, a special office adjacent to the Liberty and Progress Club”. The newspaper also contained news, information and images related to the Union and Progress leaders. At this point it will be appropriate to touch on Ahmed Tevfik Efendi who is accepted as the first Turk journalist in Cyprus and at the same time a Young Turk. From the articles and poems in the newspapers Kokonoz, Akbaba and Mir’ât-ı Zaman published by him we can see that he was an opponent of Sultan Abdul Hamid II and a serious adherent of Young Turks. Ahmed Tevfik Efendi’s enthusiastic poems dedicated to the declaration of the Second Constitutional Era – especially in Mir’ât-ı Zaman newspaper –indicate that he was a serious adherent of Young Turks. The goal of this research is to present Ahmed Tevfik Efendi as one of the most important pioneers of Young Turks in Cyprus and to introduce his poems dedicated to the declaration of the Second Constitutional Era which were published in Mir’ât-ı Zaman newspaper. In this regard, considering the insufficiency of studies on Young Turks in Turkish Cypriot culture and literature despite the intensity of Young Turk movements which started in Cyprus in 1890’s with the declaration of the Second Constitutional Era and continued afterwards covering a significant historical period, the results of this research will at least slightly reduce this insufficiency and provide the contribution for further studies. In summary, Young Turk movement which emerged in the Ottoman Turkey after 1865 spread to Cyprus in the time when the island came under British administration. While the Ottoman Reading House built by Young Turks in 1881 formed the first political structure of Turkish Cypriots, it also led to the beginning of Turkish Cypriot journalism. Cypriot Young Turks – who used their pens as weapons against the Sultan with the beginning of journalism in Cyprus since 1890’s – promoted the emotions of insistence, resistance, the idea of freedom, and Turkishness” on the island. The names of the following Young Turks should be mentioned in the first place in this connection: Ahmed Raik Efendi, Lokman Hekim, Ahmet Tevfik Efendi, Bodamyalı-zâde Mehmet Münir and the Young Turks who came to Cyprus from the Ottoman Turkey such as Şair Eşref and Vizeli Rıza Efend We see that besides the significant place in the Turkish Cypriot journalism Tevfik Efendi was also a very powerful literary critic. He authored the first piece of theatre printed in Cyprus as a book Hicran-ı Ebedi (1895), the first known story “Bir Manzara-i Dil Güşa”, and he is also known to be the first satiric poet. Another aspect of his significance is in his being a Young Turk. In 1891 he began working in Zaman newspaper and had a disagreement with the newspaper’s owner Derviş Paşa on the matter of his articles criticizing the Sultan; in 1896 he published his own newspaper Kokonoz which was the first comic newspaper in Cyprus. However his writings in the newspaper began to disturb the Sultan and after 22 issues he changed it to a newspaper with another name –Akbaba. We see that unlike Kononoz this newspaper was fully involved in the Young Turk movement, and Tevfik Efendi fiercely attacked the Sultan with the arrows of criticism and fearlessly continued his publications. However Tevfik Efendi was able to publish only 23 issues of Akbaba as it was connected to the Young Turk movement, and the newspaper was banned from entering the Ottoman lands. In 1901 Tevfik Efendi began publishing a weekly Young Turk newspaper Mir’ât-ı Zaman which he was able to keep publishing for 9 years. He released 368 issues of this mewspaper. The newspaper’s importance was increased by the articles of Young Turk writers who came from the Ottoman lands such as Vizeli Hoca Rıza Efendi and İzmirli Saffet Bey. The triumphant atmosphere which prevailed in the Ottoman lands at the declaration of the Second Constitutional Era is also seen in Cyprus. And Ahmet Tevfik Efendi in Mir’ât-ı Zaman published articles supporting the declaration of the Second Constitutional Era. In his poems dedicated to the declaration of Constitutionalism he seems to be celebrating the victory after the long years of struggle. Besides, Tevfik Efendi wrote and published a piece of theatre titled Belâ-yı İstibdat (1909) which means “The Autocracy Disaster” and is a criticism of autocratic regime as the title suggests. Ahmed Tevfik Efendi was a true intellectual who endured all kinds of pressure and hardships for 14 years – from the time he began his journalist activity in 1896 until 1910 – as he fought in the rear with the weapon of his pen. His articles and poems which he published in his newspapers bear witness to the first national feeling and sense of Turkishness emerging on the island.