AKIPRESS.COM - Turkey's largest media group said Thursday it is in talks with a business group close to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for the sale of its outlets, a development that further curtails independent journalism in the country that has taken an increasingly authoritarian turn under his leadership, ABC Newsreported.
In a notice to Turkey's capital markets board, Dogan Holding said it was negotiating the sale of outlets — including flagship Hurriyet newspaper, the mass-circulation daily Posta, CNN-Turk and Kanal D television channels and Dogan New Agency — to Demiroren Holding. Dogan Holding said the sale was worth $890 million.
Dogan news outlets were among the few relatively independent media in a landscape that is dominated by TV stations and newspapers allied with Erdogan. If a deal is reached, Dogan-owned media would be the latest outlets to end up in the hands of businesses close to the president.
"This will lead to the complete disappearance of the mainstream media and for the media to speak with just one voice," said Nazmi Bilgin, who heads the Ankara-based Journalists Association. "We are deeply concerned for the Turkish press and freedom of press."
There was no immediate government comment.