Ihlas Media Holding
Established in 2003, İhlas Media Holding (also called İhlas Yayın Holding) was created to oversee all media assets owned by İhlas Holding. This conglomerate has a diverse portfolio of investments in sectors such as construction, real estate, manufacturing, trade, healthcare, education, and media.
İhlas Media Holding operates its media assets through a range of individual companies. Its portfolio includes the Türkiye newspaper (Türkiye Gazetesi), İhlas News Agency (İHA), television channels such as TGRT News (TGRT Haber), TGRT Documentary (Belgesel), TGRT EU, TGRT FM radio, and the news portal Netgazete.com. Additionally, the holding owns several cooking or food websites.
Media assets
Publishing: Turkiye Gazetesi
Television: TGRT News, TGRT Documentary, TGRT EU
News agency: IHA
News portal: Netgazete
State Media Matrix Typology
Ownership and governance
İhlas Media Holding (İhlas Yayın Holding) was formally established in July 2003 as the media arm of İhlas Group and began publicly listing its shares on Borsa İstanbul in November 2010, a move that increased transparency compared to most Turkish media companies, as it requires annual reporting and disclosure of shareholder structures.
As of 2024, İhlas Holding is the largest single shareholder, with a stake of around 24 percent in the media division. Approximately 74 percent of shares are freely traded on the stock exchange, while a small proportion is held by senior executives, notably Ahmet Mücahid Ören, who continues to serve as Chairman of the Board and remains the most influential figure in the company’s governance.
Day-to-day management is handled by Mustafa Erdoğan, who holds the dual role of Vice Chairman and General Manager, effectively functioning as the chief executive of the group. Other senior figures include Abdullah Tuğcu, responsible for finance and coordination, and Sait Eken, who oversees TGRT Haber and TGRT Belgesel. This governance structure has remained stable into 2025, with no significant changes in either ownership composition or executive leadership.
Source of funding and budget
Because İhlas Media Holding is publicly listed, it is one of the few major Turkish media conglomerates for which reliable financial data are available. According to the company’s financial statements, the media segment reported revenues of approximately TRY 2.48 billion in 2024, compared to TRY 2.56 billion in 2023, reflecting a slight year-on-year decline of around three percent. Despite the sizable revenues, the group reported a net loss of TRY 227 million in 2024, reversing earlier years of profitability.
Within the wider İhlas Holding structure, which generated TRY 10.3 billion in revenue in 2024, media remains a visible but financially pressured sector. These results suggest the company has struggled to maintain profitability under rising costs and changing advertising markets. Forecasts for 2025 and 2026 are not publicly available, although annual reports hint at continued investment in digital transformation and expansion of English-language products, which are expected to become central to the group’s financial strategy. Like other oligarch-controlled conglomerates, İhlas benefits from state advertising and other public contracts, but the extent of government-derived funding remains undisclosed.
Editorial independence
Editorially, İhlas Media Holding has consistently aligned itself with the government and President Erdoğan. While the company’s reports stress reliable and impartial journalism, independent observers interviewed for this report in May 2024 and March 2025 noted that its outlets, particularly Türkiye Gazetesi and TGRT Haber, adopt a staunchly pro-government line. This has often included campaigns against opposition parties, independent journalists, or rival media houses. One of the most striking incidents occurred in 2017, when columnists at Türkiye openly urged the government to seize the assets of the then-independent Doğan Media Group, a call that prefigured the government-backed takeover of Doğan the following year.
More recent developments confirm continuity rather than change in this editorial posture. In 2024 the company launched Türkiye Today, an English-language news outlet, presented as a step to globalize the group’s brand. However, critics consulted for this report in March 2025 argue that the new venture replicates the pro-government line of its Turkish-language outlets rather than offering independent or diverse perspectives. The company’s own messaging underlines its self-perception as a “responsible” voice in national debates, highlighting appreciation by state officials, but there are no independent oversight mechanisms or statutory protections for editorial independence within the group’s governance.
September 2025