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| The Grand Turk |
| We are not afraid of attacks, says Hurriyet chairwoman Vuslat Dogan Sabanci |
| 2015-10-04 |
| [Hurriyet Daily News] Our country is going through difficult times. We are hurt. Our hearts are tormented. Every day, dozens of people are being martyred. Every day we are losing our brothers, our sons, our dear ones. Violence is hitting the street, knocking our door, reminding us of the darkest days of our history. Unfortunately, a language that divides, targets and encourages violence has started to rule our country. Today, as the Dogan Group and daily Hurriyet employees, with millions of our readers and viewers, we are here to stand against this terror and this language of violence. As you all know, this building that we are standing in front of now was attacked on Sunday night. Our door was broken and there was an attempt to break inside the building. A crowd, among them the former head of a political party's youth organization and its current member of parliament, attacked our building. We were insulted and threatened. After the attack, they told us we should get used to such attacks. As individuals who simply try to their job and publish properly, we learned what we should get used to the next night. We were openly attacked again, for a second time. Why did it happen? There is one answer: Because we are being indicated as a target. My father, Aydin Dogan, and a number of journalists, writers and managers in our group, have been targeted for a long time with lies and slanders. Horrible slanders include claims that we "support terror." As a newspaper whose editor-in-chief was killed by faceless myrmidons and a newspaper that was targeted by terror attacks in the past, there is no need to explain where we have stood on this issue for the past 67 years. We always stand against PKK terrorism and we will continue to oppose it in any form, whatever its name is. What's more, nobody has a right to question our love for our country. Two separate attacks were organized against this newspaper within 48 hours. These attacks were a part of a systematic slander and intimidation campaign that has been ongoing against the Dogan family for a long time. As the Dogan Group, we have been in a great struggle for the past eight years. First, we faced an unprecedented tax penalty conspiracy. There are currently efforts to re-open legal cases that we have already won. They made a special effort to convict us with fictitious and fabricated allegations. Our family, which is among the top taxpayers in ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... , is being targeted with fictitious and fabricated allegations such as "oil smuggler," "tax dodger," and "terrorist." This is neither reasonable nor conscionable. We know the reason for these systematic attacks very well. The reason is our independent publishing stance, under very hard conditions. Our readers and viewers should know something well: Being targeted in attacks of intimidation by club-swinging and stone-throwing groups cannot and will not scare us. We are an independent publisher and we want to remain one. We have only one goal: To make every effort to provide our readers and viewers with the correct information in the quickest time. Nobody should doubt that we will continue our duty with the same decisiveness. For a democracy, a responsible, independent media with ethical values is like bread, like water. It is a light in the darkness. Everyone should protect it. |
| Posted by:Fred |