The ''Daily Sabah'' (lit. "Daily Morning") is a Turkish pro-government daily, published in Turkey. Available in English, Arabic, and owned by Turkuvaz Media Group, ''Daily Sabah'' published its first issue on 24 February 2014. The editor-in-chief is Ibrahim Altay. The newspaper has been frequently called a

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...

outlet for the Turkish government and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). It is owned by a friend of

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician serving as the 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as prime minister of Turkey from 2003 to 2014 and as mayor of Istanbul from 1994 to ...

History

The ''Daily Sabah'' was established in 2014 when a highly-antagonistic political climate reigned in Turkish politics. After the conflict in December 2013 between the

Gulen movement is a municipality in the southwestern part of Vestland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Sogn. The administrative center of the municipality is the village of Eivindvik. Other villages in Gulen include Brekke, Byrknes, ...

, a religious civil society organization with some political aspirations, and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), the Gulen movement's '' Today's Zaman'' turned into an ardent critic of the ruling AKP. To balance the critical discourse against the AKP by ''Today's Zaman'' and '' Hürriyet Daily News'', a secular critic of the AKP, ''Daily Sabah'' emerged as a supportive voice of the AKP in the English language.

Editorial policy and viewpoints

The newspaper describes itself as "committed to the democracy, the rule of law, human rights and liberty". Despite this official description, ''Daily Sabah'' is a mouthpiece of the AKP. According to the German newspaper ''

Spiegel Online ''Der Spiegel (online)'' is a German news website. Before the renaming in January 2020, the website's name was ''Spiegel Online'' (short ''SPON''). It was founded in 1994 as the online offshoot of the German news magazine, '' Der Spiegel'', w ...

'', ''Daily Sabah'' is very critical of the

, which the AKP government accuses of trying to overthrow the government in an attempted coup d'état in 2016. ''Daily Sabah'' has been described as using transparent and ill-formed, Turkish-style propaganda to advance the AKP government's version of events.

Criticism

Freedom of expression

In March 2017, a Dutch member of the European Parliament called ''Daily Sabah'' "hate press" and tried to prohibit the distribution of ''Daily Sabah'' in parliamentary sessions. The European Parliament has made accusations about the lack of freedom of speech and expression in Turkey, and ''Daily Sabah'' defends the AKP government's human rights record. ''Daily Sabah'' has said the decision to prohibit its distribution was a violation of the freedoms of the press and expressions. Meanwhile, the EU Affairs Minister for Turkey

Ömer Çelik Ömer Çelik (born 15 June 1968) is a Turkish journalist and politician. Between 24 January 2013 and 28 August 2015 he served as Minister of Culture and Tourism. He served as the Minister of European Union Affairs and as the Chief Negotiator f ...

said the following about the issue: "The European Parliament's ban on the freedom of press is a tragic event for the future of Europe."

Notable columnists

Burhanettin Duran Burhanettin Duran (born 1971) is a Turkish political life scholar best known as author of academic studies on the transformation of political Islam under the rule of Justice and Development Party in Turkey. He is a former member of the Department o ...

* Ibrahim Kalin

References

External links

* {{Newspapers in Turkey in languages other than Turkish 2014 establishments in Turkey Daily newspapers published in Turkey English-language newspapers published in Turkey Newspapers published in Istanbul Propaganda organizations Publications established in 2014