Turkey's post-coup crackdown reaches media giants
The few remaining opposition newspapers still able to report on Turkey's economic floundering are losing their own foreign investors in a dramatic demonstration of the trend the ruling Turkish party is trying to suppress.
Mounting terror threats, massive purges, shrinking press freedom and government pressure on the business world are beginning to take their toll on Turkey, including its media bosses.
Axel Springer SE, one of Europe’s biggest publishers, will not be making new investments in Turkey, the group’s chief executive officer announced Nov. 3. Mathias Dopfner added that the Berlin-based media giant will sell its remaining 7% stake in Turkish broadcaster Dogan TV. In a call with reporters, Dopfner didn’t mince words: “Press freedom is being trampled upon,” he said.
The decision came after Monday’s raid on the left-wing daily Cumhuriyet, which ended in the detentions of 15 members of the newspaper’s staff, including its editor-in-chief Murat Sabuncu, on thinly supported charges that they colluded with the July 15 coup plotters.
In January, Axel Springer shed its 2.3% stake in Dogan TV. The partnership struck in 2007 between Dogan and the German outfit was a source of pride for Dogan CEO Aydin Dogan. He had previously partnered with Turner Broadcasting to set up CNNTurk. The news channel drew sharp criticism when it aired a documentary about penguins as police brutality spiraled out of control during the 2013 Gezi protests.
