'Hürriyet answers only to readers’ calls'

ISTANBUL

DAILY NEWS photo

Daily Hürriyet published the following editorial today after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s public criticism of “well-known newspapers and televisions” over their recent coverage of the graft scandal.

The full text of the editorial, translated into English by the Hürriyet Daily News staff, is as follows:

There is a place for everybody in the “World of Hürriyet;” [Hürriyet Dünyası in Turkish]

We are open to the voters of all political parties, all religions and sects and ethnic identities because as the World of Hürriyet, we are aware of the richness created by diversity; in fact, we love it. 

Yesterday, the esteemed prime minister criticized our headlines from the rostrum in Parliament. Afterward, he said, “They are taking orders and instructions.”

We declare that we are not taking instructions from anybody under any circumstances. 

We do not do that. 

Our effort is to inform our readers correctly; just that. For that reason, this paper gives confidence to its readers because it is independent.

They should not mistake us with the papers of the new media order. 

We live with the income of publishing; we are a publicly traded company. We give an account of what goes in and out of our coffers 365 days of the year.

Actually, we also have a critical hot line. But that hot line is connected to you, to our reader. 

We give our accounts there. 

Dear readers,

Unfortunately, election time has arrived again. 

Certain scenarios and certain clichés have been put into practice again. The aim is to put pressure on  Hürriyet, in order to deter it from journalism; to silence the comments. 

Journalism is the job we do…

As the pressures build up, we get to know our responsibility more and more. 

The esteemed prime minister is being unjust to us. He is trying to depict us to society as if we were anti-AK Party [the Justice and Development Party]. 

Whereas, we do not oppose or support any political party or any community. 

Our readers will not allow us to do that.

We want to conduct independent and impartial reporting under the guarantee of our Constitution and our laws. These guarantees are entrusted to our government, which has been elected by a big majority of our population. 

We want this trust to be used correctly; we do not want Hürriyet to be placed as the target of a lynch campaign. 

Like everybody else, the only thing we demand is justice. 

Again, just like everybody else, we want to live in peace in this country, conduct our job properly and receive the worth of our efforts. 

We want to deliver “hürriyet” [freedom in Turkish] to Hürriyet readers each and every day.