No country can underestimate Turkey’s international struggle to counter the threats to the country’s security, Doğan Group Honorary Chairman Aydın Doğan said on Feb. 15 at this year’s first meeting of the Doğan Media Group’s Publishing Principles Committee, a board supervising media ethics in all Doğan Holding-linked media outlets, including daily Hürriyet and the Hürriyet Daily News.
"No one can deny our right to self-defence. The fight against terror requires a comprehensive approach and everyone's cooperation," Doğan said.
He also referred to the "security threat" posed to Turkey by the Syrian Kurdish militant People’s Protection Units (YPG).
"Operation Olive Branch, launched by the Turkish military in Afrin on Feb. 18 to counter the threat from the YPG, is continuing with success. The utmost attention is paid in this operation to avoid any civilian casualties," Doğan said.
He also underlined the current tension between Turkey and the U.S and the "need for restoring trust between the two countries."
Among the attendees of the meeting were Fikret Bila, editor-in-chief of daily Hürriyet, Murat Yetkin, editor-in-chief of the Hürriyet Daily News, CNN Türk CEO Erdoğan Aktaş, Rıfat Ababay, the editor-in-chief of daily Posta, journalist Altan Öymen and Doğan Hızlan, Hürriyet’s publishing consultant.
A LOVE STORY: TURKISH AKP GOVERNMENT AND DOĞAN HOLDING
Doğan Holding, the largest media conglomerate of Turkey, incorporates several newspapers, broadcasting and online outlets, television and music production houses, and distribution, retail, printing, and publishing companies. The holding is also in energy, tourism, retail, industry, finance and real estate businesses.
Erdoğan had unprecedented support from the Doğan Holding, which became an important beneficiary of AKP government's privatisations. Doğan Media had taken over Star TV in 2005, making the Doğan Media Turkey’s dominant media organisation, which has already incorporated the TV channel CNN Turk and Doğan News Agency. The holding, which also has joint ventures with Turner Broadcasting, sold 25 percent of its shares to the German media giant Axel-Springer in 2007.
In February 2017, Doğan Media fired two journalists because they declared that they would vote "no" in the referendum for presidential constitution changes that would expand President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's powers. A Hürriyet columnist who wrote that he would vote 'yes' saved his seat.
While Turkey was completely focused on Iranian-Turkish gold trader Reza Zarrab’s trial carried out in the U.S., Doğan media group censored Zarrab’s testimony. Zarrab told jurors on Thursday in a federal court in New York that Erdoğan personally authorized a transaction on behalf of Iran.
CNN Türk censored the statement of a mourning parent of a victim of a blast in İstanbul, who says his son is not a martyr but a murdered one in opposition to Erdoğan and his government's discourse of martyrdom.
