Cumhuriyet daily's Cumhuriyet Foundation has held a board election which resulted in Alev Coşkun becoming the new chair of board; the newspaper's new chief editor has become Aykut Küçükkaya.
[mks_dropcap style="letter" size="52" bg_color="#ffffff" txt_color="#000000"]C[/mks_dropcap]umhuriyet Foundation which is practically the owner of Cumhuriyet Daily has held a repeat of general assembly to elect a new board; after previous elections had been cancelled by court and the repeat elections have taken place today. After the previous board's term mostly has passed with court cases and imprisonment of the newspaper's journalists, Aykut Küçükkaya has become the new chief editor of Cumhuriyet instead of Murat Sabuncu whose 24 month long chief editor position's 17 months was spent in prison. NEW SEATS AT THE BOARD One of the accusers of the newspaper and its journalists in last year's trials, Alev Coşkun who has been a journalist writing for Aydınlık Daily -which is a publication related to ultra right Fatherland Party- and has had a 22 year experience with Cumhuriyet, has been elected as the chairperson of the board. Coşkun has spoken to Oda TV to evaluate the elections and stated that the transition has taken place peacefully, "Mr. Erinç has led the assembly peacefully and we have elected a new board through a lawful process." The seats that had been emptied on board after İlhan Selçuk and Cüneyt Arcayürek had lost their lives, Fatherland Party's nominee for parliament from top position in İzmir's Zone 1, Turan Karakaş has been elected to Cumhuriyet Foundation Board membership. Among the board members are also former chief editor İbrahim Yıldız and state broadcaster TRT's former chief executive producer Tayfun Akgüner. Among the new board of the foundation are Ali Sirmen as deputy-chair, Işık Kansu as general secretary and İrfan Hüseyin Yıldız as the bookkeeper of the foundation. NEW BOARD BRINGS BACK OLD NAMES Cumhuriyet Foundation Board consists of:

Alev Coşkun, chairperson Şükran Soner, İnan Kıraç, Işık Kansu, Ali Sirmen, Şevket Tokuş, Mustafa Balbay, İbrahim Yıldız, İrfan Hüseyin Yıldız, Prof. Tayfun Akgüner, Turan Karakaş.

WHAT HAD HAPPENED? T24 had summarized the process regarding repeat of Cumhuriyet Foundation General Assembly to elect a new board on April 2, 2013. "Supreme Court's 8th Legal Chamber had cancelled the April 2, 2013 general assembly meeting of Cumhuriyet Foundation. Upon this cancellation, the assembly has been ordered to meet again today with the same members of the time. Former board members of the foundation, Alev Coşkun and Şevket Tokuş and Mustafa Pamukoğlu as well as Mustafa Balbay whose column had been cancelled after starting active politics, had taken the assembly to court. The Istanbul 1st Legal Court has ruled that the assembly had been gathered against the constitution of the foundation and with inadequate participation. Court of Appeals has ruled on February 28, 2018 that the Istanbul 1st Legal Court's ruling is just and in line with the laws, opening the way for Supreme Court to appeal the decision."