Press freedom must be protected without exception: Hürriyet chairwoman

ISTANBUL

HÜRRİYET photo

Freedom of the press must be protected in Turkey without any exceptions, Vuslat Doğan Sabancı, the chairwoman of daily Hürriyet, told a meeting held to mark the 67th anniversary of the newspaper on Sept. 1. 

“Today we started the day with news about operations conducted against a media group. This should make all of us stop and think. Parallel structures within the state cannot be permitted, but struggling against these structures must not be used as a means to silence dissidents and remove freedom of the press,” Doğan Sabancı said in a speech in the garden of the Hürriyet HQ in Istanbul’s Bağcılar district. 

“We believe this country has to have ‘hürriyet’ [‘freedom’ in Turkish], standing independent and free, in order to be modern and democratic,” she added.

Hürriyet celebrated its 67th anniversary as Turkey’s paper of record at the ceremony in Istanbul. Along with Doğan Sabancı, Doğan TV Holding Chairwoman Arzuhan Doğan Yalçındağ, Doğan Holding Chair Begümhan Doğan Faralyalı, and Doğan Online Founding Chairman Hanzade Doğan Boyner were also present at the ceremony, where several journalists were presented with badges for their longtime work at the daily.