Türksat removes Zaman, 3 others from ad list


Date posted: February 13, 2014

İSTANBUL

The Turkish Satellite Communications Company (Türksat) has removed Turkey’s best-selling Zaman and three other dailies from its advertisement list in a sudden decision.

Türksat had contracted to have advertisements for the new Türksat 4-A satellite published in 12 different Turkish dailies, including Zaman.

Zaman, whose daily circulation is 1.2 million in Turkey, said it learned on Thursday that Türksat was requesting that the ads not be published. Türksat officials were unavailable to comment on the issue. The company’s general manager, Özkan Dalbay, is currently in Kazakhstan.

Türksat will launch its Türksat-4A satellite from the Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan on Friday. The satellite is designed to offer telecommunication and TV broadcasting services throughout Turkey, as well as in Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

Türksat withdrew its ads from three other dailies as well: Bugün, Taraf and Radikal, all of which have published articles that criticized the government’s efforts to cover up an ongoing investigation into alleged corruption claims.

The Zaman advertising department has said that it learned that the ads will instead be featured in Yeni Akit, a pro-government paper.

Other public entities have also cancelled their advertisement contracts with dailies critical of the government in an apparent solidarity with the Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government, which is now enmeshed in a number of corruption and bribery allegations. Erdoğan earlier said: “Those who have acted with international conspirators to take down his government will pay for it.” Erdoğan has accused the Gülen movement, affiliated with Zaman, of being in league with an international conspiracy seeking to topple his government.

The state-run construction firms Emlak Konut GYO, the Housing Development Administration of Turkey (TOKİ) and the Privatization Administration (ÖİB) have also recently removed Zaman from their advertising plans.

The government has also exploited inspection mechanisms and bureaucratic procedures to put pressure on political dissent. A number of private companies seen as affiliated with the opposition have recently been slapped with fines and audits and other tools at the government’s disposal.

Source: Todays Zaman , February 13, 2014

Tags: | | | | |


Related News

Hizmet and March 30 elections: What happened? (I)

Erdoğan has rejected the evidence of corruption that has been substantiated or he has presented this proof as being part of a conspiracy. He promoted the idea that Israel and the US were external components of this conspiracy and that the Hizmet movement was the domestic component. Propaganda centers have worked to this end.

Michael Rubin: I realize I may have misread the Gülen movement

I have often been suspicious of the Gülen movement, although as I reflect, I realize I may have been misread the movement. While this post will be lengthy, the topic remains relevant and intellectually interesting to those interested in Islam and reform, and so I hope to address why I was suspicious, and why I have slowly been changing my mind.

NATO Insiders Suspect Turkey Coup Was Staged by Erdogan himself

In the 8 months since Turkey’s government weathered a potentially destabilizing coup, allegations continue to swirl about who was actually behind the surprising flare up of violence. In an unsubstantiated leak to Aldrimer.no, “Senior NATO sources” currently believe the coup was staged by President Erdogan himself.

As Turkey’s war on Gulen escalates, so does impact on Africa

While critics say that Gülen is at best a cult figure, he is considered by many the legitimate spiritual leader of an Islamic movement that is focused on humanitarian service – hence the common name Hizmet – as well as interfaith dialogue and education.

‘We won’t stop the witch-hunt’ AKP parliamentary group deputy chair says

Speaking to reporters in Parliament on Saturday, AKP deputy Bulent Turan was responding to criticism from opposition parties accusing the AKP government of enforcing decrees during the ongoing state of emergency merely to silence dissident voices. “We won’t stop hunting [dissidents] merely because of criticism that there is witch-hunt [against dissidents],” Turan said.

GYV President Yeşil decodes the Gülen movement

MUSTAFA EDİB YILMAZ Mustafa Yeşil, the chairman of the Journalists and Writers Foundation’s (GYV) executive board, a Turkish NGO undertaking projects that emphasize mutual understanding and tolerance to establish global peace, described the movement named after the GYV’s honorary president, Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, as being faith based, pacifist, pluralist, colorful and pro-democratic. Gülen […]

Latest News

Turkish inmate jailed over alleged Gülen links dies of heart attack in prison

Message of Condemnation and Condolences for Mass Shooting at Bondi Beach, Sydney

Media executive Hidayet Karaca marks 11th year in prison over alleged links to Gülen movement

ECtHR faults Turkey for convictions of 2,420 applicants over Gülen links in follow-up to 2023 judgment

New Book Exposes Erdoğan’s “Civil Death Project” Targeting the Hizmet Movement

European Human Rights Treaty Faces Legal And Political Tests

ECtHR rejects Turkey’s appeal, clearing path for retrials in Gülen-linked cases

Erdoğan’s Civil Death Project’ : The ‘politicide’ spanning more than a decade

Fethullah Gülen’s Vision and the Purpose of Hizmet

In Case You Missed It

Victims of forced disappearance in Turkey

TV series shooting banned over controversial scene depicting the Prophet Muhammad

Reps urge Federal Govt to intervene in Nigerian students’ detention in Turkey

4 Turkish charity organizations on OCHA’s Nepal list

US Professor Carter: Gülen struggles for peace against poverty and terrorism

Local NGOs urge Georgian gov’t to avoid returning Turkish teacher back home

Arrested Turkish TV chief writes an open letter from his jail cell

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News