Doğan Holding sues columnist for slander

ISTANBUL

Doğan Holding has announced in a written statement that it is suing a columnist for “his imaginary, threatening and slanderous claims against Doğan Holding.”

A column by Yeni Şafak’s Cem Küçük, titled “The Turkish media’s Julian Assanges will pay a heavy price!” appeared on Oct. 12, and included accusations against a range of targets including the Doğan Group, which owns the Hürriyet Daily News.

“Such groundless accusations and allegations against a public company not only harm our business group, but also threaten the benefits of our more than 100,000 investors and the judicial security of capital in Turkey. We strongly believe that it is our responsibility to our precious shareholders to make the required legal applications to the authorities for this attempt at commercial slander. It is our duty to use judicial means to the point where the Turkish laws allow," Doğan Holding's statement reads.

"We want to emphasize that we strongly believe such slanders and blackmails should not be left unpunished by the authorities ...The mentioned column harms the social and commercial reputation of our group, and accusing our Honorary President Aydın Doğan with such a heavy charge as ‘treason’ is completely against journalistic ethics and is a violation of personal rights,” the statement adds.