Albayrak Medya

Albayrak Medya is the media arm of the family-controlled Albayrak Group, a Turkish conglomerate with interests in construction, manufacturing and logistics. Its outlets include the daily Yeni Şafak, the television channels TVNET and GZT TV, the GZT digital platform and a range of magazines. According to the media group’s corporate history, the parent group entered the media sector by acquiring Yeni Şafak in May 1998.

Media assets

Newspaper: Yeni Şafak.

Television: TVNET and GZT TV. GZT TV began broadcasting on 1 December 2024.

Radio: TVNET Radyo, launched on 1 January 2023.

Digital: yenisafak.com and gzt.com, including Arkitekt, Mecra, Zpor, Gazete Manşet, GZTMZT and Jurnal.ist.

Magazines: Derin Tarih, Nihayet, Gerçek Hayat, Z Raporu, Lokma, Cins, Skyroad, Bilge Çocuk, Bilge Minik and Post Öykü.

Other publishing and support businesses: Ketebe Yayınları, Birlikte Dağıtım, Reklam Piri, Piri Medya and İntrotema.

Ownership and governance

The media businesses are controlled by the Albayrak family. A KAP filing of the listed Albayrak affiliate Platform Turizm for the first quarter of 2026 identifies Albayrak Yayın Holding A.Ş. as the media holding and lists Yeni Şafak Gazetecilik A.Ş., which owns the newspaper, and Net Yayıncılık Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş., which broadcasts TVNET, among its affiliates. It identifies Mesut Muhammet Albayrak, a board member of the holding, as a director of Yeni Şafak Gazetecilik, Net Yayıncılık, Ketebe Kitap ve Dergi Yayıncılığı and Birlikte Dağıtım. GZT’s masthead names GZT Medya A.Ş. as its publisher, Mesut Albayrak as its legal representative and Net Yayıncılık as the operator of gzt.com.

The family’s longstanding connections with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the governing Justice and Development Party (AKP) are documented by the Media Ownership Monitor. Nuri Albayrak attended İstanbul İmam Hatip high school with Erdoğan, who was a witness at his daughter’s wedding in 2002.

Yeni Şafak reported in January 2024 that Nurettin Canikli had returned to the Albayrak Group as board vice chairman. The paper wrote that he had been a senior executive of the group in 1997–2002 and later an AKP member of parliament, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of National Defence and AKP deputy chairman. According to CNN Türk, Ömer Bolat had been the group’s general coordinator (chief executive) since May 2000 and was a member of the AKP’s Central Decision and Executive Board in 2012–2015. He became Minister of Trade in June 2023, as reported at the time.

Yeni Şafak’s masthead names Ahmet Albayrak as publisher on behalf of Yeni Şafak Gazetecilik, Mustafa Albayrak as executive board chair and Hüseyin Likoğlu as editor-in-chief. GZT’s masthead lists Doğukan Gezer as responsible manager and internet publishing director, and GZT’s own articles describe him as editor-in-chief.

Source of funding and budget

The group markets advertising through Reklam Piri and handles publication sales, subscriptions and distribution through Birlikte Dağıtım. A current consolidated budget or revenue breakdown for the media operations was not identified.

According to a report of the Press Advertising Agency (BİK) obtained by Deutsche Welle, Yeni Şafak received TRY 9.66 million in official notices and advertisements in 2020. No per-newspaper figures for later years were identified.

Public-sector business is significant within the wider conglomerate. In September 2021 BirGün reported, as relayed by Duvar English and Evrensel, that group companies had secured 437 public tenders worth approximately TRY 7 billion over the preceding eleven years. Duvar named group companies active in vehicle rental, construction and cleaning and did not attribute any of the tenders to the media outlets. More recently, Platform Turizm signed a personnel transport contract with the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality worth TRY 2.357 billion plus VAT from 1 April 2026, as reported by Paratic from a KAP notice. A KAP notice reported on 7 October 2026 announced a further personnel transport contract with the Istanbul water utility İSKİ worth TRY 1.098 billion plus VAT, starting on 1 November 2026.

Alport Alsancak Liman İşletmeciliği, described by Ekonomi Gazetesi and Yeni Asır as part of the Albayrak Group, took over operations at the cargo port of Alsancak in İzmir on 1 August 2026. According to a statement by the Türkiye Wealth Fund, reported by Milliyet, Alport runs the cargo port while ownership remains with the fund. Publicly available financial information does not establish how much income from the conglomerate’s other businesses is transferred to its media operations.

Editorial independence

Yeni Şafak maintains a strongly pro-government editorial orientation. Journalist Murat Yetkin described it in May 2025 as one of the staunchest supporters of Erdoğan and the AKP government, while analysing its criticism of Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek. In a column of April 2025, BirGün’s media ombudsman Faruk Bildirici counted anti-CHP news on Yeni Şafak’s pages on 13 of the first 15 days of that month, including eight lead headlines, alongside 34 opinion pieces against the CHP, Ekrem İmamoğlu and CHP-run municipalities. This is one columnist’s count rather than systematic monitoring.

Owner intervention is documented in an interview with Yeni Şafak, reported by Turkish Minute on 6 January 2022. Ahmet Albayrak said that during the coup attempt of 15 July 2016 he ordered the newsroom to publish an online report blaming “parallel” officers, the government’s term for the Gülen movement, and US support, after reporters told him there was no confirmed information. He also said he asked for a headline saying that Erdoğan was calling people onto the streets; the reporters refused that formulation and wrote an alternative. GZT carried a similar account on 15 July 2026.

No group-wide editorial independence charter was identified.

AI and digital policy

No publicly accessible group-wide editorial policy governing the use of artificial intelligence (AI) was identified. GZT’s editor-in-chief has nevertheless discussed AI-assisted journalism publicly. In February 2026, at a media-ethics camp for communication students in Antalya run by the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the Presidency’s Communications Directorate, Doğukan Gezer said that journalists can use AI as an assistant, for example for content ideas and for tracking trends, as reported by the Anadolu Agency and by GZT.

Classification rationale

Albayrak Medya retains the CaPr classification on the combined evidence of family control, longstanding links between senior group figures and the governing AKP, substantial public-sector business interests and documented owner intervention in Yeni Şafak’s journalism. SMM assesses these relationships and practices as mechanisms of indirect political influence over privately owned media.

October 2026