Taraf

Turkish newspaper

For other uses, see Taraf (disambiguation).

Taraf

Type| Daily newspaper
Format| Broadsheet
Owner(s)| Başar Arslan
Publisher| Alkım Kitabevi
Editor| Ahmet Altan (2007-2012)
Neşe Düzel (2013-2016)
Founded| 10 September 2002
Political alignment| Liberal democracy
Cultural liberalism
Post-Kemalism
Gülenism
Language| Turkish
Ceased publication| 27 July 2016
Headquarters| Istanbul, Turkey
Circulation| 56571[1]
Website| taraf.com.tr at the Wayback Machine (archive index)

Taraf ("Side" in Turkish) was a liberal newspaper in Turkey. It had distinguished itself by opposing interference by the Turkish military in the country's social and political affairs.[2] It was distributed nationwide, and had been in circulation since November 15, 2007.[3] On July 27, 2016, the newspaper was closed under a statutory decree during the state of emergency after the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt, due to its links with the coup plotters' Gülen movement.[4]

## Overview

[edit]

Taraf has published a series of highly-controversial stories that revealed the involvement of the Turkish military in daily political affairs. The revealed documents, such as coup plans that involved the bombing of historical mosques in Turkey ("Sledgehammer" coup plan) and bombing of a museum (Operation Cage Action Plan), significantly damaged the social image of the Turkish military. The sources that leaked such critical insider information to Taraf are still unknown.[5]

The response of the Turkish military to Taraf included canceling the newspaper's accreditation from press releases at its headquarters.[6][7] A political journal, Nokta, had similarly published leaked military information (Sarıkız, Ayışığı, Yakamoz and Eldiven) and was closed down in 2007 due to pressure.[8]

The founder and owner of Taraf, Başar Arslan, dismisses accusations of bias and outside funding, saying that he has made a considerable loss in his mission to create what he calls the country's most prestigious newspaper.[9] He considers Taraf an investment that will eventually pay off.[10]

Some prominent names of Taraf, such as reporter Mehmet Baransu, columnist Emre (Emrullah) Uslu, and former columnist Önder Aytaç are known for their affiliation with the Gülen movement, although it has been denied that they act as quasi-official representatives of the movement.[11]

Taraf also served the interests of the Gülen movement in other ways, including silencing the allegations of cheating in compulsory public servants’ examinations in Turkey.[12]

## History

[edit]

In 2011 Taraf became the first Turkish partner of the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks, joining internationally known publications in signing a contract to publish the site's leaked documents firsthand. The Turkish daily was picked by WikiLeaks because it is "the bravest newspaper in Turkey", as described by the site's founder, Julian Assange.[13][14]

On 14 December 2012, founding editor-in-chief Ahmet Altan, his assistant editor Yasemin Çongar, columnists Murat Belge and Neşe Düzel stepped down from their posts at the newspaper. The next day, columnist Hadi Uluengin followed the leaving group of journalists.[15] Owner of the daily, Başar Arslan stated that the resignations resulted from difference of opinion that developed in recent times, and nevertheless, the newspaper will continue to be published.[16]

## Columnists

[edit]

* Oral Çalışlar (Sıfır Noktası)
* Murat Belge (Türkiye'nin Halleri)
* Roni Margulies (Solduyu)
* Oya Baydar (Vicdan Yazıları)
* Orhan Pamuk
* Ümit Kıvanç (Açın Türkiye'nin Önünü)
* Alper Görmüş (Medyaironik)
* Cengiz Aktar (Quo Vadimus)
* Cihan Aktaş (Sınır Yazıları)
* Hadi Uluengin (Modern Zamanlar)
* -David-Hidir Gevis (Öteki Amerika-The Other America)
* Demiray Oral (Vaziyet)
* İhsan Bilgin (Neredeyse)
* Sivilay Genç (Sivilay Abla)
* Halil Berktay (Okuma Notları)
* Lale Kemal (Bakış Acısı)
* Pakize Barışta (Kıyı)
* Rengin Soysal (Bu Yaka)
* Temel İskit (Yazı)
* Yıldıray Oğur (Manifestom)
* Sezin Öney (Yeni Avrupa)
* Markar Esayan (Arada)
* Telesiyej
* Sevan Nişanyan (Kelimebaz)
* Mehmet Güreli (Trapez)
* A. Esra Yalazan (Kameriye)
* Mithat Sancar (Meo Voto)
* Cem Sey (Uzak Batı)
* Erol Katırcıoğlu (Arayış)
* Pelin Cengiz (Kulis Tarafı)
* Ali Abaday
* Emre Uslu (Açılım)
* Cahit Koytak (Yoksulları ve Siviller için Tezler)
* Melih Altınok (Solaçık)
* Kurtuluş Tayiz (Dar Kapı)
* Ramazan Çanakkaleli (İş ve Güvenlik Dünyası)
* Gülengül Altınsay
* Ferhat Kentel (Yerin Yedi Kat Altı)
* Tuğba Tekerek (Söyleşi)
* Bülent Şirin (Gündem Dışı)
* Namık Çınar (Geç Kalmış Yazılar)
* Fatih Uraz (Ağların İçinden)
* Evrim Bunn (Okyanus Ötesi / Washington)
* Özlem Ertan (Operatik)
* Ali Fikri Işık (Kör Saatçi)
* Gürbüz Özaltınlı (Sağlı Sollu)
* Sibel Oral (Edebiyat Söyleşileri)
* Adrienne Woltersdorf (Çin Mahallesi)
* Serdar Kaya (Taraf Üniversitesi)
* Mehmet Baransu (Kozmik Köşe)
* Fatih Uraz (Kalecinin Seyir Defteri)
* Andrew Finkel (Pasatiempo)
* Numan Türer (Aniden)
* Abdullah Karatash (Dünya Piyasaları)
* Levent Yılmaz (Paralel Hayatlar)
* Ali Erden
* Sedat Tunalı (Hür ve Hesapsız)
* Haluk Çetin (Oyun Bozan)
* Gökhan Karabulut (Zamanın Ruhu)
* Esmeray (Cadının Bohçası)
* Kerem Altan (İmza)
* Ayça Şen (Şarzör)
* Hidayet Şefkatli Tuksal (Hemderd)

Cartoonist

* Tan Oral

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Tiraj | MedyaTava - Yazmadıysa Doğru Değildir". www.medyatava.com. Archived from the original on 11 March 2017. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
2. ^ Birch, Nicholas (16 September 2008). "Turkey: Arrests, Court Case Reveal that Turkey is Dangerously Polarized". EurasiaNet. Retrieved 2008-02-07. "...Taraf, a hard-hitting new daily that has had dozens of scoops since it started publishing in late 2007"
3. ^ Kılıç, Abdullah (2007-11-10). "Bâbıâli artık hiçbir haberi gizleyemeyecek". Zaman. Archived from the original on 2012-03-14. Retrieved 2010-11-03.
4. ^ "Taraf ve Zaman'ın yanı sıra 16 televizyon kanalı da kapatıldı". CNN Türk. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
5. ^ "Şimdi de 'eldiven darbesi'". Vatan (in Turkish). 2008-07-08. Retrieved 2008-09-24. "Powerpoint sunumu haline getirilen darbe planının Emniyet'ten 6 gün içinde sızdırılıp Taraf gazetesinin eline ulaştırılması ve bu gazetede dün özel haber yayınlanması dikkat çekti."
6. ^ "Yeni Şafak ve Star Genelkurmay'da". Türkiye. Radikal (in Turkish). 2008-09-10. Retrieved 2008-09-10.
7. ^ Önderoglu, Erol (2008-09-10). "Chief Of Staff Refuses Accreditation for Pro-Left Media". Bianet. Archived from the original on 2012-07-20. Retrieved 2008-09-11.
8. ^ "Turkey and the army: Paper soldiers". The Economist. 2008-06-26. Retrieved 2008-08-20.
9. ^ Kilic, Ecevit (2008-07-21). "Nokta gibi olacağız diye bir kaygım yok". Sabah (in Turkish). Retrieved 2008-10-22.
10. ^ Kilic, Ecevit (2008-07-21). "Sıkışınca borç alarak gazeteyi çıkartıyoruz". Sabah (in Turkish). Retrieved 2008-10-22.
11. ^ "CEMAAT HANGİ TARAF YAZARLARINDAN RAHATSIZ". Oda TV (in Turkish). 2012-01-09. Retrieved 2012-12-15.
12. ^ "Taraf'ın çelişen manşetleri". 4 September 2011.
13. ^ Turkish daily to publish WikiLeaks cables on Turkey Archived 2011-10-02 at the Wayback Machine, Today's Zaman
14. ^ Turkish newspaper Taraf signs contract with WikiLeaks, Hürriyet Daily News, 16 March 2011
15. ^ "Taraf'ta istifa depremi". Hürriyet Gündem (in Turkish). 15 December 2012. Retrieved 15 December 2012.
16. ^ "Ahmet Altan istifa etti". Sabah (in Turkish). 14 December 2012. Retrieved 15 December 2012.

## External links

[edit]

* Taraf at the Wayback Machine (archive index)