Turkuvaz Medya is a media company that is part of Zirve Holding. It publishes more than a dozen newspapers and magazines including Sabah, Takvim and Yeni Asir, and more than 10 radio and television channels.
Media assets
Publishing: Newspapers- Sabah, Fotomac, Takvim, Daily Sabah, Yeni Asir, Daily Sabah; Magazines- Bebeğim ve Biz, China Today, Cosmopolitan, Cosmopolitan Bride, Esquire, Forbes Türkiye, Harper’s Bazaar, HomeArt, House Beautiful, Lacivert, Otohaber, Para, Sofra Şamdan Plus, Vogue Türkiye
Television: ATV, a Haber, a News, a Para, a Spor, ATV Europe, minika, a2, Vav TV
Radio: a Haber Radio, a Spor Radio, Radio Turkuvaz, Vav Radio
State Media Matrix Typology: Captured Private (CaPr)
Ownership and governance
Turkuvaz Medya is fully owned by Zirve Holding, a company controlled by Ömer Faruk Kalyoncu, board member of Kalyon Group, a conglomerate that operates in construction, energy and infrastructure sectors. Kalyoncu incorporated Zirve Holding in September 2013 purposely to use the company for buying media outlets.
Turkuvaz Media was created with cash obtained from bribes that pro-government businessmen in Turkey contributed to the company via President Erdoğan. The funds were requested by the presidency as payment for receiving future contracts from the government. Some of the existing outlets controlled by Turkuvaz, including the newspapers Takvim and Yeni Asır were moved to Turkuvaz through turkey deals and arrangements, according to journalists in Turkey who investigated the group for a decade, interviewed for this report.
The owner of Turkuvaz Medya is known as a staunch ally of the President Erdoğan. Back in 2013, Erdoğan, Prime Minister at the time, personally organized the sale of a slew of media outlets that were owned by Calik Holding to oligarchs close to the government who were promised public orders in exchange for agreeing with these purchases. These media included the outlets run by Turkuvaz Medya.
Although it is privately owned, Turkuvaz Medya is under the strict control of the government, namely the Presidency. For example, the brother of the Minister of Energy, Berat Albayrak, son-in-law of Erdoğan, served for many years as vice-chairman of Turkuvaz Medya. The president routinely participates in family events of Turkuvaz’s owner, a sign of the very close ties between the President and the supporting oligarchy.
Turkuvaz was also reportedly involved in offering logistical support for the launch of Eha Medya, a news portal established in 2018 by Turkish intelligence services to promote the positions and views of the President Erdoğan.
Source of funding and budget
Turkuvaz Medya doesn’t release information about its funding. However, local journalists who follow the state spending in the Turkish media say that the outlets run by the holding receive substantial state financing. Much of that financing comes in the form of advertising either from the central government or local municipalities controlled by the AKP. The media run by Turkuvaz also generate important amounts of funding through ad sales.
Editorial independence
In most media articles and reports, the outlets controlled by Turkuvaz Medya are referred to as “pro-government” given their slanted coverage favoring the government and criticizing the opposition. Local journalists indicated that the media run by Turkuvaz are closely controlled by people loyal to the government, especially the Presidency. Some of the columnists at Sabah, for example, work as the president’s advisers.
There is no statute and no independent assessment/oversight mechanism that would validate the independence of Turkuvaz media outlets.
October 2023