‘Pro-Erdogan’ holding reportedly set to buy Hurriyet daily and CNN Turk

‘Pro-Erdogan’ holding reportedly set to buy Hurriyet daily and CNN Turk
Hurriyet head office in Gunesli, Istanbul. / Ra Bo.
By bne IntelliNews March 21, 2018

Turkey’s Demiroren Holding, an unlisted firm seen as backing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has agreed to buy the respected Hurriyet newspaper and broadcaster CNN Turk, an official of the holding told Reuters on March 21. The deal could consolidate media support for the government ahead of the next parliamentary and presidential elections.

Demiroren has agreed to buy the media arm of Dogan Holding, the official reportedly said, wishing to remain anonymous because the deal has not yet been made public. “The talks are progressing and an agreement has been made on the acquisition,” the official was quoted as saying.

The populist Erdogan has lately come under fire for new laws passed by the Turkish parliament that the opposition say will pave the way for possible fraudulent conduct in the elections—scheduled for late next year but possibly set to take place this year if a snap election decision is made—and allow the MHP nationalist allies of the ruling AKP party to gain parliamentary representation even if they do badly with voters and fail to make it past the 10% threshold. Erdogan and Turkey were, on March 20, urged by the UN human rights office to end the 20-month-old state of emergency that allows the president to rule by decree. It was introduced after the attempted coup in mid-2016. Brussels has accused Turkey of sliding towards the creation of an authoritarian state and has dismissed any idea of the country becoming an EU member in the foreseeable future.

Hurriyet also publishes an English-language newspaper, the Hurriyet Daily News.

Dogan Holding’s media arm and its octogenarian founder, Aydin Dogan, have long been seen as part of Turkey’s secular establishment. Erdogan has repeatedly accused the company of bias against his Islamist-rooted ruling AKP, something which the company has denied.

The deal marks an “increasing monopolisation of opinion”, Andrew Finkel, a veteran Turkey commentator and the author of “Turkey: What Everyone Needs to Know”, told Reuters.

“It is the end of an era. Dogan tried to do this balancing act of being sort of oppositional but not so much that the government would interfere,” Finkel said.

In 2009, Dogan Media received a $2.5bn fine for unpaid taxes. Government critics saw that as an effort to crush media criticism of Erdogan. Following the tax bill, Aydin Dogan was forced to sell the group’s Milliyet and Vatan newspapers to Demiroren.

Following the transaction, some 21 of Turkey’s 29 daily newspapers will be under the control of companies that back Erdogan, the left-wing Birgun newspaper reported, calculating that 90% of Turkey’s newspaper circulation will now be pro-government.

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