Doğan Group to maintain impartiality in referendum: Aydın Doğan

ISTANBUL

The Doğan Media Group will “maintain its impartiality” ahead of the upcoming referendum on shifting Turkey to an executive presidential system, Doğan Group Honorary Chairman Aydın Doğan said during a regular meeting of the group’s Editorial Policy Committee on March 23. 

“Our people will express their choice on the charter change on April 16. We have respect for the outcome,” Doğan said at the meeting in Istanbul, expressing the group’s respect for both “yes” or “no” results. 

“We as the media are not a side in this process. Our job is to contribute to the correct informing of our people with objective publishing,” he said. 

“I believe that our people will make the correct decision with its well-known commonsense,” he added. 

The Doğan Group, which owns daily Hürriyet, the Hürriyet Daily News, and broadcaster CNN Türk, has always prioritized “impartiality” in its editorial policy, Doğan noted. 

He also criticized some European countries’ recent ban on Turkish minister’s speeches, which increased tensions between Ankara and the EU. 

“In particular, the treatment that our Family and Social Policies Minister Fatma Betül Sayan Kaya received can never be accepted. I condemn the Dutch authorities for their stance,” he said. 

“The rising xenophobia and Islamophobia is combined with racism in Eurrope, creating a disturbing atmosphere that threatens our common values. I invite everyone to work for democracy and human rights against this threat,” Doğan stated, vowing that the Doğan Group’s media companies will continue their policies against all kinds of racism and Islamophobia. 

“Hürriyet newspaper chairwoman Vuslat Doğan Sabancı is involved in a great struggle against Islamophobia in the U.S. and other Western countries,” he said, recalling her Feb. 21 speech at Columbia University’s World Leaders Forum panel, titled “Fostering a Better Conversation and Understanding of Islam: The Vital Role of Media.”

“Such efforts should be increased,” Doğan added. 

At the Istanbul meeting, members of the board expressed their ideas for an action plan against the increasing racism, xenophobia and Islamophobia in Europe, said member Volkan Vural, who is also a former Turkish diplomat.