The runoff election shows the same picture as in the first ballot. The projections of the opposition and pro-government media in Turkey differ.
Ankara – No sooner are projections for the presidential election allowed to be published than you can see how much the numbers differ from each other. After 57 percent of the counted votes announced CNN Türkthat President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with 54.37 percent is ahead of his challenger Kemal Kilicdaroglu (CHP) with 45.63 percent. The news agency ANKAwhich is considered oppositional, sees Kilicdaroglu with 50.88 percent after 70 percent of the votes counted in the Turkey election, just ahead of incumbent Erdogan with 50.88 percent.
And the different numbers were to be expected. behind the transmitter CNN Türk is the Demirören Group, a conglomerate that also owns dozens of media outlets in Turkey. The CEO of the group is Yildirim Demirören. He is one of the businessmen who are close to Erdogan.
How media in Turkey change into pro-government hands
Demirören caused a stir with the purchase of the media group “Dogan Medya Grubu” in 2018, to which CNN Türk also the newspaper Liberty belonged. The purchase was made possible by a 750 million loan from the state-owned “Ziraat Bank,” said former mafia boss Sedat Peker from his exile in the United Arab Emirates. According to Peker, Demirören Holding did not have to repay the loan or the interest on it.
Also the familiar faces of CNN Türk stand out with their extreme closeness to Erdogan and his AKP government. In one of his videos, the investigative journalist Cevheri Güven told how the presenter Hande Firat (CNN Türk) met with Nuh Yilmaz, the then head of the press service of the Turkish secret service MIT, just one day before the attempted coup.
Connections to the MIT secret service became known by accident
The moderator’s connections to the secret service had become known by accident. On the night of the putsch, she switched on Erdogan live via her smartphone during her news broadcast and held her device up to the camera. In it, Erdogan called on the population to take to the streets. Firat received a call from the secret service agent during the live broadcast, but she immediately dismissed it.
Nuh Yilmaz’s name was clearly visible on the smartphone. “My video changed the whole issue in Turkey. It was just talked about for days,” said Güven in an interview with our editors at the time. Talking about MIT’s role in the attempted coup, however, crossed Erdogan’s red line, the journalist tells us.
Private and at the same time pro-government media
There are similar close ties between Erdogan and other corporations, which also own numerous TV stations and newspapers, including the Turquoise Mediato which broadcasters like news and ATV belong. The CEO there is Serhat Albayrak, the brother of Erdogan’s son-in-law and former Finance Minister Berat Albayrak. After counting more than 95 percent of the votes in the runoff election in Turkey, both the state news agency and CNN Türk and also ANKA Erdogan (52.18 percent / 51.48 percent) ahead of Kilicdaroglu (53.43 percent / 47.57 percent).
2023-05-28 18:33:12
#Extreme #differences #results #Turkey #election
