Type Daily newspaper Editor Sedat Ergin | Owner(s) Doğan Holding Founded 1948 (1948) | |
 | ||
Format Berliner (Broadsheet prior to 15 October 2012) Political alignment Mainstream
Liberalism
Secularism
Centre-Left | ||
Hürriyet ([hyɾːiˈjet], Liberty) is one of the major Turkish newspapers, founded in 1948. As of January 2017, it had the highest circulation of any newspaper in Turkey at around 334,000. Hürriyet has a mainstream, liberal and conservative outlook. Hürriyet's editorial line may be considered middle-market, combining entertainment value with comprehensive news coverage and a strong cadre of columnists.
Contents
Hürriyet has regional offices in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Adana, Antalya and Trabzon, as well as a news network comprising 52 offices and 600 reporters in Turkey and abroad, all affiliated with Doğan News Agency, which primarily serves newspapers and television channels that are under the management of Doğan Media Group (Doğan Yayın Holding). Hürriyet is printed in six cities in Turkey and in Frankfurt, Germany. As of January 2017, according to Alexa, its website was the tenth most visited in Turkey, the second most visited of a newspaper and the fourth most visited news website.
History
Hürriyet was founded by Sedat Simavi on 1 May 1948 with a staff of 48. Selling 50,000 in its first week, Hürriyet was Simavi's 59th and last publication.
It is considered a high-circulation newspaper in Turkey.
Tax fine controversy
In February 2009, the newspaper received a 826.2 million TL (US$523 million) fine for tax evasion by Doğan Group/Petrol Ofisi. Following this, the Istanbul Stock Exchange suspended Doğan Holding's shares, and Fitch downgraded Hurriyet to 'BB-'.
Executives at the Doğan Group expressed the opinion that the tax fine was politically motivated "intimidation", caused by Hürriyet's linking of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his political party, AKP, to a charity scandal in Germany. In March 2009, Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, expressed public concern about the fine, saying that it threatened "pluralism and freedom of the press."
In September 2009, Doğan Group was fined a record US$2.5 billion, related to alleged past tax irregularities.
The September fine caused further expressions of public concern from the European Commission, as well as the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. It also caused some critics and global investors to compare the fines to then-Russian President Vladimir Putin's use of tax-evasion charges to bankrupt oil company Yukos for allegedly political reasons. In an interview, Erdoğan denied this charge, calling it "very ugly" and "disrespectful" to both himself and Putin.