As the only Turkish newspaper with global access, Hürriyet is a pioneer in Europe not only with regard to journalism but also social campaigning.

Operating in Europe from its editorial office and printing center in Mörfelden Walldorf, near Frankfurt, Germany, Hürriyet is the only Turkish newspaper with global access.

Hürriyet reached its first readers in Europe in 1960s with the start of Turkish labor migration to Europe. At present, Hürriyet is the Turkish newspaper to have served Turkish citizens living in Europe and people of Turkish origin for the longest amount of time. Printed in its modern printing center located in Mörfelden Walldorf, near Frankfurt, Hürriyet has been leading the pack in the Turkish newspaper market in Europe, for many years. In addition, Hürriyet is the only Turkish publication to be a member of IVW, an official circulation measurement company that monitors newspaper circulation and sales. Hürriyet’s European circulation is audited by this agency. Hürriyet is also the best known Turkish newspaper brand in Europe. 

Distributed to almost 20,000 sales points in Germany and 30,000 sales points across Europe through the Axel-Springer distribution network, Hürriyet is also printed in New York and marketed in prominent US states. It is dispatched to remote regions via subscription.

Hürriyet carries out operations beyond Turkey’s borders under the umbrella of Doğan Media International GmbH, founded in 1999 as Doğan Yayın Holding’s (DYH) gateway to Europe. Doğan Media International manages most DYH publications and broadcasts targeting Turks living in Europe. It plays an important role in enhancing DYH’s relations and dialogue with the leading media companies in their respective countries, thereby extending DYH’s market leader position in Turkey towards Europe.

Supremacy in journalism

For almost half a century, Hürriyet is the indispensable news source of the Turkish community in Europe. It has its finger on the pulse of current events with numerous news bureaus, representatives and correspondents across Europe. Whenever an event occurs in Europe concerning people of Turkish origin, Hürriyet is there to offer the news and photos to its readership in great detail the following day. In addition to successful journalism, Hürriyet offers people of Turkish origin living abroad, particularly in Germany, information on updates in daily life, legislation and retirement practices in the relevant countries and provides them consultancy services via experts. Moreover, it ardently supports Turkish immigrants’ integration to the host country and their participation to social, cultural and political life with various campaigns and events.

Leader in advertising

Hürriyet is a leading pioneer in Europe in terms of both publishing and advertising. Hürriyet established a network of advertisers via advertising agencies and representative offices located in major cities in Germany and Europe; it plays a crucial role in facilitating the promotion of Turkish companies, as well as their access to Europe. Aside from Turkish companies, Hürriyet is also the most important channel of access for German companies to consumers of Turkish origin. A special advertising service serves numerous well-known foreign brands. The advertising revenue of Hürriyet Avrupa newspaper was € 5.3 million for the year 2009.

Bilingual publication in German and Turkish

Hürriyet launched a German supplement, Hürriyet Europa, in 2001, thereby becoming the first Turkish newspaper with a regular German language publication in Germany. This supplement was renamed “Young Hürriyet” in 2007. Distributed together with Hürriyet on Thursdays, Young Hürriyet has become an indispensable source for youth of Turkish origin, especially in Germany.

Distributed as a complimentary copy with Hürriyet for many years, the cuisine supplement Ziyafet has been published bilingually in Turkish and German, since the beginning of 2009 under the name Türk Mutfağı - Türkische Küche; in 2010, it was renamed Lezzet Dünyası - Kulinarische Genüsse by diversifying its concept with practical cooking insights and various recipes prepared by chefs from famous European restaurants. The bilingual quality of the cuisine supplement is a contribution to intergenerational communication, as well as to harmonizing with German relatives, friends and neighbors.

From time to time Hürriyet also prepares special supplements for tourism, book fairs or other important events.

Another bilingual publication in German and Turkish is the www.anneyizbiz.de website. Published under the Hürriyet umbrella in Turkey, the website opened its window on Europe in May 2008. Serving Turkish mothers and prospective mothers in Europe, especially in Germany, the website arouses ample interest. This bilingual publication by Hürriyet is a breakthrough in Germany and points at Hürriyet’s diligent approach towards integration.

Internet journalism

Serving people of Turkish origin in Europe since the 1960s, Hürriyet is the first brand to adapt itself to new technology and launch regular Internet journalism in Europe. Inaugurated in 2004, www.hurriyet.de appeals to European Turks of all age categories. At www.hurriyet.de, readers can obtain news and events of the Turkish community living in Europe and write down their comments and share them with the society at large. It is possible to get subscribed to Hürriyet and e-newspaper versions via the website. In addition, classified ads published in Hürriyet can be monitored online. Companies in Europe can access consumers of Turkish origin via classified ads in Hürriyet and on www.hurriyet.de.

Subscription and e-newspaper
Readers can buy Hürriyet at newsstands and sales points or via subscription. They can also have the newspaper delivered to their homes by mail. European publications also reach the readership via e-newspaper subscription. This allows readers residing in places where the newspaper is not distributed to read the European publications in an e-newspaper format.

End to Domestic Violence! Campaign

Hürriyet extended the End to Domestic Violence! Campaign, that it organized in Turkey, to Europe. Launched in Europe on May 22, 2005, the campaign reached thousands of people via events organized with the cooperation of Turkish-German healthcare donations. This led to the establishment of the first Turkish language emergency helpline in Germany, which aims to help and provide advice to victims of violence. The campaign was organized under the auspices of Maria Böhmer, Minister of State in the Federal Chancellery and Federal Government Commissioner for Migration, Refugees and Integration.

Hürriyet Yanınızda and HürDanış

In addition, Hürriyet lends an ear to the problems of people of Turkish origin with assemblies titled, Hürriyet Yanınızda (Hürriyet is on Your Side) and with the column HürDanış; Hürriyet makes these issues public via its publications and contributes to their solution. In Europe in centers with significant populations of Turkish origin, meetings are organized with the participation of hundreds of people. HürDanış on the other hand, provides guidance and answers to various questions on issues such as retirement via Hürriyet’s print and online versions. Columnists based in various European cities, pen regular articles exclusively for Hürriyet Avrupa. Hürriyet’s famous Güzin Abla (Agony Aunt) who seeks solutions to emotional matters reserves her column in the European editions exclusively to European readers.

Support for social campaigns

Via its publications, Hürriyet provides support not only to its own social campaigns, but also to social campaigns organized by various German or Turkish associations in Germany. Dual citizenship, Turkish courses, family reunions and integration are some of the issues taken up at these events. In addition, foundations such as the Türk-Alman Sağlık Vakfı (Turkish-German Healthcare Foundation), Tema and Lösev (Foundation for Children with Leukemia) are supported via film festivals, April 23 Children’s Day and theatre festivals organized in various cities. In addition, the Company supports Turkish, German or bilingual campaigns for fighting against violence, organized by ministries of federal and state governments, municipalities and various private associations; campaigns for the promotion of the German vocational education system to parents and youth, or for drawing the attention of Turkish youngsters to professions such as police; campaigns for prompting healthy nutrition, environment protection or heat conservation; campaigns for informing parents and children against children’s addiction to modern media such as TV, Internet, mobile phones or computer games.

Charta der Vielfalt/ Diversity as a Chance Charter and Campaign
Doğan Media International signed the Charta der Vielfalt charter under the auspices of Chancellor Angela D. Merkel in 2008. Based on the concept of Diversity as a Chance, the Charter aims to support women in the workplace, safeguard diversity in businesses, encourage people of foreign origin in working life, provide employment opportunities for disabled people to enable cohesion and improve efficiency. Hürriyet also participates in the Integration Summit convened for the last four years by Chancellor Merkel. In this summit, seeking ways of living together, Hürriyet serves as the voice of people of Turkish origin.

The Company also provides ample support to the activities of Foundation for Integration (Uyum Vakfı) founded in Germany in 2009.

Hürriyet Printing Facility

DYH’s European branch operates in the printing segment, as well as publishing. The printing facility that operates under the name, Hürriyet Zweigniederlassung Deutschland, produces 21 publications from four continents in seven languages.

Located in Mörfelden-Walldorf, near Frankfurt, the Doğan Printing Center is one of the largest Turkish investments in Europe. The facility has 5,282 square meters of covered space and all its printing, pre-press and insert machines are state-of-the-art.

In the pre-press section, two AGFA POLARIS XTV machines that can produce 100 plates per hour and a Nela VCP 2002 that can place data sent in PDF format from anywhere in the world onto a plate ready for print, without the use of film.

The facility counts three GOSS Universal printing presses, able to print 45,000 newspapers per hour (a total of 135,000 newspapers per hour). The machines possess a state-of-the-art in-feed system, remote ink control function, motorized compensator system, automatic registry, automatic lateral calibration and spray bar system. The folding process is carried out by Müller Martini Newsgrip conveyance and insert machines. Six different products can be placed as inserts inside a printed newspaper.

Aside from providing standard customer services, the printing facilities can apply perfumed ink, print on half cover pages or transparent paper and also stick CDs, DVDs, business cards or flyers to cover pages, albeit at a slower pace.

Newspapers printed

Endowed with the latest technology, the printing facilities can print the Group’s newspapers Hürriyet, Milliyet and Fanatik as well as international financial newspapers such as The Wall Street Journal and The Financial Times, the American daily Stars & Stripes, the German sports newspaper Sportwelt and Arabic newspapers Al-Ahram and Asharq Al-Awsat. Other periodicals include the Polish newspaper Info & Tips, Rhein Hunsrück from the Rheinland-Pfalz province, along with The German Times, The Asia Pacific Times and New Europe, seen as significant sources for opinion makers. Together with these publications, the total number of newspaper copies printed daily at this facility approach 300,000.

Published in 25 different facilities around the world and designated “World’s Best Economics Newspaper” in successive years, The Financial Times described Hürriyet’s Printing Center facilities as the most successful printing house in 2007, 2008 and 2009.