Hürriyet editor-in-chief quits

Enis Berberoğlu, editor-in-chief of daily Hürriyet, resigned from his post Aug. 8, ending his five-year tenure at Turkey’s leading newspaper and the corporate parent of the Hürriyet Daily News.

Berberoğlu, former Ankara representative of Hürriyet, replaced Ertuğrul Özkök, who kept the post for 20 years, as the daily’s editor-in-chief on Jan. 2, 2010. In his long journalism career, Berberoğlu also worked for Dünya, CNNTürk and Radikal.

"When I was appointed, I had told myself that five years of work here will be enough. Now it's almost five years. If I had waited for this decision until the time after the elections, it would lead to speculations that go beyond its purpose," Berberoğlu said in his farewell speech to the newsroom.

The paper also dismissed the allegations as "political scenarios" and said he left of his own accord.

"Enis Berberoğlu deliberately decided to announce his decision before the presidential election so that no political meaning was attributed to it. Despite his sensitive attitude, some media outlets created a series of scenarios about his departure. When these scenarios are listed together, it is seen that some of them are contradicting each other; some are pro-government and some are anti-government. All those scenarios are completely unreal," its statement said.

In the statement, Hürriyet vowed to continue its "independent editorial line that it has been keeping for the past 66 years."