Dogan Media, which owns bunch of news outlets including Hurriyet and CNN Turk, has always been crucial in transforming Turkish politics, including bringing down governments.
It is owned by Aydin Dogan, Trump's business partner in Turkey. His media, including Hurriyet, played a significant role in creating a dystopian climate that eventually brought down an Islamist government led by Erbakan, Erdogan's former boss.
When Erdogan was jailed in 1998, Hurriyet ran a headline that read: "He even can't be a village head." This headline hurt Erdogan so much that he made it his mission to destroy the Dogan Media.
He started by slapping whopping $4.5 tax fine in 2009 and launched an investigation into 1997 coup, in which Dogan played a key role. Dogan immediately partnered up with Trump, opened twin towers in Istanbul and invited Erdogan to cut the ribbon. Tax fine dropped, probe halted.
Since then, Hurriyet and others have been a chameleon of a newspaper, remaking itself to satisfy Erdogan's demands.
The Erdogan government demanded Hurriyet hire pro-government columnists such as Akif Beki (Erdogan's former spox) and Abdulkadir Selvi (Erdogan's mouthpiece). The newspaper has significantly changed its position in the past few years.
A leaked audio tape revealed that Mehmet Ali Yalcindag, one of Dogan Media's chief executives, is a staunch Erdogan supporter. He later resigned and moved to Manhattan, just few blocks from the Trump Tower (and few months before 2016 elections).
While Hurriyet and Dogan's other media promoted the government and enabled Erdogan's increasingly relentless crackdown, Dogan executives toured capitals in the West and claimed that they're victims for their "independent journalism."
Hurriyet and its sister news outlets' pro-government line was so sinister that it skillfully posed as independent and critical, but in fact only enabled Erdogan's iron-fisted rule.
Until today, many people were wondering if Dogan Media was the government's tool or an independent media. Today, it is official. It is under Erdogan's thumb. Good bye.
Share this Scrolly Tale with your friends.
A Scrolly Tale is a new way to read Twitter threads with a more visually immersive experience.
Discover more beautiful Scrolly Tales like this.