Every year since 2009, the prominent Sabanci Foundation has been naming “Turkey’s Change Makers” winners. The foundation then releases “the extraordinary stories of unique people” who contribute to social development. The awards are given in categories of civic participation, economic development, education, environment, health and social justice. On Dec. 15, Dogruluk Payi (Share of Truth), Turkey’s first and only political fact-checking website, was announced as the fourth Change Maker of the seventh season.

An initiative of the Dialogue for a Common Future Association, Dogruluk Payi was launched in June 2014. Its young founders were concerned about Turkey’s polarized culture and the truthfulness of political statements.

Dogruluk Payi founders Baybars Orsek and Ferdi Ferhat Ozsoy met during their internships in Washington, in the summer of 2011. While observing American politics, they came across the concept of fact-checking. “The politicians were constantly using factual arguments in their speeches and there were organizations such as PolitiFact that fact-checked those statements. That’s when we got the idea. This was definitely a critical approach to polarized and tense political rhetoric,” Orsek told Al-Monitor.

The aim is to work objectively and independently from political influences and make political actors in Turkey more responsible, while at the same time provide a reliable source for the voters to obtain factual information. The staff is made up of three people who work full time and four part-time editors. Most of them have graduate degrees in political science or economics. None of them have a background in journalism, which, according to the founders, ensures a scholarly approach — one of the crucial elements of Dogruluk Payi’s neutrality and independence.