İstanbul Municipality Allegedly Spends 40 Million to Advertise on Pro-AKP Media in 2 Years

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Between the years of 2017 and 2019, the Metropolitan Municipality of İstanbul and its associates paid 57 million Turkish Lira (TRY) for advertising, except for sponsorships. It has been alleged by a columnist that 40 million TRY of this money was given to the pro-AKP media outlets.

Shortly after the pro-government dailies Star and Güneş were closed for economic reasons, the advertising expenditure of the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality has been brought forward by Murat Ağırel, a columnist for Yeniçeğ newspaper close to the İYİ Party.

Penning an article entitled "The money funnelled to the pool media* by the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality..." yesterday (January 1), Ağırel has shared details about the ad expenditures of the municipality.

Answering the question of Ağırel about the ad money paid by the municipality and its associates to media outlets, the Municipality allegedly made the following advertising expenditure in 2017-2019:

* 5 million 764 thousand TRY was paid to Türkmedya group, which is owned by Hasan Yeşildağ, a fellow inmate of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Star and Güneş newspapers were also owned by the group.

* 15 million 293 thousand TRY was paid to media outlets affiliated with Turkuaz Media.

* 9 million 127 thousand TRY was paid to media outlets owned by Albayraks, such as Yeni Şafak and TVNET.

* 3 million 008 thousand TRY was paid to daily Yeni Akit and Akit TV owned by AKİT group.

* 1 million 409 thousand TRY was paid to Kanal 7, Haber 7 and Ülke TV owned by Nokta Electronic Media Inc.

* 1 million 575 thousand RY was paid to İstanbul TV and İstanbul Ajans affiliated with MS YAPI MEDYA owned by Selahattin Aydoğdu.

* 1 million 189 thousand TRY was paid to daily Türkiye and İhlas News Agency (İHA) owned by İhlas Group.

* 689 thousand 647 TRY was paid to Demirören Media Group.

* 493 thousand 705 TRY was paid to Ciner Yayın Holding.

* 342 thousand 242 TRY was paid to the KRİTER magazine, the media outlet of the Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research (SETA).

* 55 thousand TRY was paid to Fikirname and Özçekim, the media outlets of the Turkey Youth Foundation (TÜGVA).

* 124 thousand TRY was paid to Hür Haber and www.hurhaber.com.

* 284 thousand 270 TRY was paid to www.superhaber.com.

* 340 thousand 900 TRY was paid to www.internethaber.com.

* 203 thousand 040 TRY was paid to Yeni Birlik newspaper and www.gazetebirlik.com

* 60 thousand TRY was paid to www.turkiyehabermerkezi.com.

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(EKN/SD)

* Pool media, or "havuz medyası" in Turkish, is frequently used to refer to pro-government media outlets in Turkey.