Pro-government Demirören Holding’s credit arrears to state-run Ziraat Bank have exceeded 25 million dollars, a report by the Turkish Court of Accounts revealed. The company’s total debt to the bank due to this credit reached 920 million dollars as of December, 2022.
Demiroren Group owns staunchly pro-government Hurriyet daily, as well as a slew of other pro-government media outlets, all of which have lost readership or viewership and are reported to be bleeding cash. Mr Demiroren, also holds the concession rights to National lottery, and affiliated betting franchises, along with international partners. Opposition media has claimed that National Lottery is allegedly fixed and used for money laundering by businesses close to Erdogan family.
According to Duvar English, the credit arrears of Demirören Holding, Turkey’s largest media owner, to state-run Ziraat Bank have exceeded 25 million dollars at the end of 2022, according to the Turkish Court of Account reports.
The Holding failed to pay and interest on the loan in 2022 despite restructuring the payment twice, the online news outlet T24 reported on Dec. 28.
According to the Court of Accounts report, the Demirören Holding did not act in accordance with the credit payment plans, even though the 800 million dollar credit acquired from Ziraat Bank to purchase Doğan Media Group was restructured for 14 years.
While the Holding paid only 586 million liras during the year, its total debt to the bank due to this credit reached 920 million dollars as of Dec. 31, 2022.
Within the scope of the practice of not including company names in Court of Accounts reports, Demirören Holding’s name was not mentioned in the report. As in the 2021 report, April 5, 2018 was mentioned as the start date of the credit relationship with the company, which revealed that the report was about Demirören Holding.
Pro-government Demirören in 2018 paid $916 million for Hürriyet newspaper, broadcaster CNN Türk and other assets from Doğan Holding. The deal shifted the mainstream media overwhelmingly behind President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
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