История газеты «Хюрриет»: от основания до политических потрясений.

Turkish newspaper
the newspaper

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. On 13 January 1965 the paper was confiscated by the Turkish authorities shortly after the publication of the letter of the US President Lyndon B. Johnson to İsmet İnönü. In the letter Johnson overtly stated that Turkey should not organize any military intervention to Cyprus. In 2018, Hurriyet was bought by Demirören Holding, owned by the Demirören family who are considered to be close to President Erdoğan.

In February 2009, the newspaper received an 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 Hürriyet to 'BB−'. Executives at the Doğan Group expressed the opinion that the tax fine was politically motivated "intimidation", caused by Hürriyet 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.