Daily Sabah


Daily Sabah 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.
Daily Sabah has been frequently called a propaganda outlet for the Turkish government and the ruling Justice and Development Party. It is owned by a friend of President Erdoğan, and part of his daily routine due to favorable coverages.

History

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, a religious civil society organization with some political aspirations, and the then-ruling Justice and Development Party, the Gulen movement's Today's Zaman turned into an ardent critic of the ruling AKP. In order 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

Daily Sabah 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, and more so a cheerleader for Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the current president of Turkey, and an advocate of Islamism.
According to the German Spiegel Online newspaper, Daily Sabah is very critical of the Gulen movement, 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. 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 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."

Columnists