Hidayet Karaca (b. 18 August 1963 ; Çankırı, Turkey ) was the general manager of the

Samanyolu Media Group "Samanyolu" (literally "Milky Way") is a Turkish melody which was a hit in 1968. "Samanyolu" was the theme music of a 1967 film with the same title. The melody became very popular and the composer Metin Bükey decided to release its record after ...

and chairman of the now-closed

Samanyolu TV Samanyolu TV was an international Turkish language TV station with its headquarters in Istanbul. Samanyolu TV was previously owned by Yayıncılık A.Ş. Yayıncılık A.Ş. is a media company that operates radio and television broadcasting, pub ...

About

Born on 18 August 1963 in

Çankırı Çankırı, historically known as Gangra (Greek: Γάγγρα), is the capital city of Çankırı Province, in Turkey, about northeast of Ankara. It is situated about 800 m (2500 ft) above sea level. History Çankırı was known in ...

in Central Turkey, Karaca completed his primary, secondary and high school education in Istanbul. In 1983, he entered the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at

Dokuz Eylül University Dokuz Eylül University ( tr, Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi) (DEÜ) is a university in İzmir, Turkey. It was founded in 1982 and is organized in 15 faculties. DEU is the first university which applied the problem-based learning method in Turkey, ...

in Izmir, and did his master's degree there. He completed his PhD at

Celal Bayar University Manisa Celal Bayar University or (MCBU) is a public research university located in Manisa, Turkey. CBU traces its root back to 1959 as an independent sports and teachers' college in Manisa. The main campus is in Muradiye district of Manisa. Th ...

. He worked as the Aegean Region Representative of Zaman Newspaper in Izmir. Later he worked as the Ankara Representative of the same newspaper for two years. From 1999 to 2016 he worked as the General Coordinator of the Samanyolu television channel (STV). He is a member of the High Council of the Press Council, Chairman of the Board of the Television Broadcasters Association and a member of the Izmir Journalists Association.

Lawsuit

Karaca was arrested on 19 December 2014 on charges of terrorism and membership of a group that conspired against the religious group Tahşiyeciler after

Fethullah Gülen Muhammed Fethullah Gülen (born 27 April 1941) is a Turkish Islamic scholar, preacher, and a one-time opinion leader, as de facto leader of the Gülen movement. Gülen is designated an influential neo-Ottomanist, Anatolian panethnicist, Isl ...

warned against them. An episode of a soap opera on Samanyolu TV also made allegations against the Tahşiveciler. On 8 June 2018, the court sentenced Hidayet Karaca to aggravated life imprisonment for "attempting to overthrow the constitutional order" via the failed coup of 15 July 2016. He is detained in

Silivri Prison Marmara Prison ( tr, Marmara Cezaevi) or officially Marmara Penitentiaries Campus ( tr, Marmara Ceza İnfaz Kurumları Kampüsü) formerly Silivri Prison is a high-security state correctional institution complex in the Silivri district of Ista ...

Personal life

Hidayet Karaca is married and has two children.

References

Turkish journalists 1963 births Living people Journalists imprisoned in Turkey Manisa Celal Bayar University alumni {{Turkey-writer-stub