The Demirören Group, a diverse holding company with business interests across multiple industries, embarked on its media investment journey in 2011 with the acquisition of the Milliyet newspaper. Through strategic and well-executed acquisitions, including the takeover of Dogan Group’s media assets in 2018, the Demiroren conglomerate has emerged as one of the most prominent media owners in Turkey. Its expansive portfolio now includes five newspapers, notably Hurriyet, Posta, and Fanatik, along with several television and radio channels such as Kanal D and CNN Turk. The group also owns the news agency DHA.
Media assets
Publishing: Hurriyet, Milliyet, Posta, Hurriyet Daily News, Fanatik, Milliyet Sanat, Vatan
Television: Kanal D, CNN Turk, Teve2, Dream TV, Dream Turk, Euro D
Radio: Radyo D, CNN Turk Radio
News agency: Demiroren News Agency (DHA)
State Media Matrix Typology: Captured Private (CaPr)
Ownership and governance
The Demiroren family, consisting of Erdogan Demiroren and his children Fikret Tayfun Demirören, Yildirim Demiroren, and Meltem Oktay, constitutes one of the most influential oligarchies in Turkey. They have extensive investments across a variety of industries, including mining, energy, construction, and media. The family-owned Demiroren Holding is a vocal supporter of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), led by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Until his death in 2018, Erdogan Demiroren was the majority shareholder of the holding. Since then, his son Yildirim has taken over as the chair of the company’s executive board. Currently, the three Demiroren siblings co-own the company.
The Demirorens and president Erdogan share a long-standing family bond that dates back to the early 2000s. In 2003, when Erdogan was serving as the Prime Minister, he was a witness at Fikret Tayfun’s wedding. In subsequent years, the Demirorens reciprocated the honor by attending the wedding of President Erdogan’s daughter. To this day, the Demirorens and the President’s family continue to share in each other’s special family occasions.
In June 2023, Yildirim Demiroren, the chairman of the group, refuted rumors circulating in the market about the group’s intention to sell its media arm. He clarified that contrary to these speculations, the group is actually planning to expand its media business in Turkey.
Source of funding and budget
The Demiroren Group maintains secrecy regarding the financial details of its media operations. Despite generating revenue from advertising sales, local journalists interviewed for this report in March 2023 and May 2024 argue that the majority of the group’s media operations are primarily financed by the government. This is either accomplished directly through the allocation of state advertising, wherein the government purchases ads in pro-government media, or indirectly through a complex financing system.
This system incorporates loans used to acquire media companies, such as the purchase of the media assets owned by the Dogan Group. This deal, valued at approximately US$ 916m, was largely financed through a loan from the government-controlled Ziraat Bank. Additionally, funding has been redirected to media from companies within the Demiroren group, which operate in more profitable sectors like construction or mining. These sectors thrive primarily due to government-commissioned orders. Transferring government funds to the media through large conglomerates is one of the most intricate and opaque forms of media financing.
While definitive evidence detailing the precise proportion of government funding in each of the Demiroren group’s media outlets is absent, reports from independent NGOs and local journalists’ estimates suggest a substantial government influence in the financial backing of the group’s media division. Furthermore, these media outlets also amass considerable financial resources via advertising.
In 2023, Hurriyet newspaper reported a total income of TRY 741m (US$ 25m), with the majority of it, TRY 402m, generated through circulation and printing, as per the data from a report issued by the publisher.
In April 2022, Ziraat Bank declined to disclose information regarding whether Demiroren Group had initiated the repayment of a US$ 750m loan obtained in 2018 for the acquisition of media outlets. This follows allegations made in June 2021 by infamous mafia boss Sedat Peker, currently in exile in Dubai, in a YouTube video claiming that the Demiroren Group had not repaid any portion of the US$ 750m to the bank.
Editorial independence
All outlets within the Demiroren group are overtly supportive of the government, consistently endorsing the policies of the Erdogan administration while relentlessly criticizing the opposition.
Following the 2011 acquisition of the widely circulated daily newspapers Milliyet and Vatan by Demiroren, there was an immediate shift in their editorial stance, as they openly adopted a pro-government perspective.
A similar transformation occurred with the media outlets of the Dogan Media Group, which Demiroren acquired in 2018. This group included Hurriyet, traditionally the highest-circulating newspaper in the country, and Posta, another popular daily, as well as the widely viewed television channels CNN Turk and Kanal-D. The sale of Dogan Media Group was perceived by local journalists and experts as a significant blow to pluralism and independent journalism in Turkey’s mainstream media. For instance, CNN Turk has gained a reputation for pandering to AKP leaders. In the lead-up to the local elections last March, CNN Turk and other outlets under Demiroren’s control were accused of distorting statements made by opposition parties.
The intimate relationship between the owners of Demiroren and the President facilitates the government’s direct intervention in the editorial matters of the group’s media. Leaked recordings of phone conversations between Demiroren and Erdogan from years ago revealed the President’s overt interference with the group’s media editorial line. He was heard directly instructing the company’s owners on how to manage various topics and stories.
No independent assessment or oversight mechanism has been discovered to verify the editorial independence of the Demiroren-run media during the most recent research for this report. Instead, multiple reports evidence the stringent control exerted over these media outlets by government representatives. Instances of censorship within the Demiroren media group have been increasingly documented in recent years.
August 2024