Aydın Doğan calls on media to unite against terrorism

ISTANBUL - Doğan News Agency

DHA photo

Doğan Holding Honorary Chair Aydın Doğan called on the Turkish media on Jan. 5 to unite against terror, recalling that the media principles adopted by his group were strictly against such acts no matter where they come from.

“Let us unite altogether and become one against terror and protect this beautiful country. None of us have any other home to go,” said Doğan in a meeting of Doğan Media’s board of publishing principles. 

During the gathering led by him and attended by board members as well as Doğan Media executives and representatives, Doğan said terror aimed to take a grip on Turkey under different names and identities.  

“The fight against terror is of course not easy, but we will stand up and will not yield. Getting together as the nation, we will take care of our country, people, democracy and the rule of law...I want to emphasize this clearly one more time: our group’s media is strictly against terror no matter what its name, purpose and perpetrators are,” said Doğan.    

“On the night of July 15, the FETÖ establishment raided our daily and TV and fired bullets at it. In the face of this, we did not give up and served the national resistance. In the fight against FETÖ, we stood on the frontlines. And today, we support our country’s efforts to clean itself of FETÖ within the law. Just as how we stood against the FETÖ coup attempt, we are also standing against the attacks of PKK [outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party] and DEAŞ [outlawed Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant - ISIL] and other organizations with the same determination. Our publishing notion is against triggering rifts and polarizations in society. We defend democracy and are for pluralism,” said Doğan.   

He also recalled the remarks of both Prime Minister Binali Yıldırm and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in which they assured that the different lifestyles, faiths and thoughts of people were protected by the state. Doğan said, by noting this, “our commonalties that we need to unite on” are also expressed and those who wanted to “exploit differences in lifestyles” had also been warned.   

“Our country, our people do not need more division but more unification and coexistence within mutual respect. If we cannot unite, I fear more painful days are awaiting us,” said Doğan.  

He also touched upon the accusations that claimed the Doğan group had links to the Gülenist movement and said “it neither bore conscience nor has a logic to see our group and its members – whose fight against FETÖ is well-known in the public – related to this movement.” 

Commenting on the detentions of two Doğan Group employees and a former CEO, Aydın Doğan said he believed that they were not guilty. 

“I believe that our friends are not guilty. I see [this] as the slander of a confessor... We will continue to trust justice in spite of everything,” said Doğan.