In the second half of 1945, public opinion in Turkey was witnessing the pen fights between Tan and similar opposition newspaper Vatan, and Akşam, Cumhuriyet, Tanin, and Ulus, which were known to be pro-government.
In the negotiations between Molotov and Sarper in June 1945, the security of the Straits was under joint Turkish-Soviet control, and the borders between the two countries, which were finally determined by the 1921 Kars Treaty, were subject to the fact that some of the lands that belonged to Georgia and Armenia historically remained in Turkey.
These two issues were discussed in the international and national public opinion under the name of the Soviet Union's territorial claims on Turkey and the Turkish Straits crisis.
On the other hand, the fact that high-level politicians such as Celâl Bayar, Adnan Menderes, Tevfik Rüştü Aras and Mehmet Fuat Köprülü, who resigned from the CHP and started to form a new party, Tan and the Sertels became closer.
[1] The fights that escalated and hardened in the press towards the end of the year reached its peak with the publication of the first issue of the magazine Fikirler (Opinions, dated 1 December 1945) on 24 November 1945.
Demands such as opposition to fascism, Soviet friendship, transition to a more democratic and free system, abolition of anti-democratic laws, and an end to one-party rule constituted the main theme of the magazine.
An emergency meeting was held by the CHP; dealers were instructed not to sell Tan and Yeni Dünya ile Görüşler, and not to let government officials and students read these publications.
An unsigned article titled "Kalkın Ey Ehli Vatan", written by CHP deputy and the newspaper's editor-in-chief Hüseyin Cahit Yalçın, accusing it of targeting Fikirler, ignited the attacks against Tan.
On the day the article was published, the Sertels received news that some university students would demonstrate in front of the printing house the next morning.
But after a while, the young people, who were ecstatic in the excitement of the society, attacked the firefighters, took the hoses from their hands and started to spray them on the firemen themselves.
On 5 December, the statement of Martial Law Commander Lieutenant General Asım Tınaztepe regarding the demonstrations was published in all newspapers:Yesterday (Tuesday 4.12.1945), some of the university students attacked two press houses and several bookstores, and the Government, who wanted to prevent these movements, committed the crime they designed by not listening to the police forces.
I declare and warn that these and similar actions will be met with violence and that such mass gatherings are prohibited.Despite martial law prevailing in Istanbul during the Tan Incident, none of the demonstrators were tried and convicted.
[citation needed] It is known that prominent names such as Süleyman Demirel, İlhan Selçuk, Celadet Moralıgil, Ali İhsan Göğüş, and Orhan Birgit were among those who participated in the raid.
[citation needed] Although no one responsible for the raid could be identified, lawsuits were filed against Zekeriya and Sabiha Sertel and one of the newspaper writers, Nail Çakırhan, who were exposed to this act of mass lynching and plundering because of their previously published articles.
In addition, the Tan Raid created an important opportunity for the government, which was trying to establish good relations with the US in the bipolar new world order and to benefit from military and economic aid such as the Marshall Plan to show that they were fighting the communist threat.