Sözcü refutes 6 accusations with 6 answers

• CLAIM NUMBER 1: Burak Akbay, the owner of Sözcü daily, spent his life in Gülen’s community homes while studying.

The one who asserted this claim is Fehmi Koru who was among the founders of Zaman daily, FETO’s (Fethullahist Terrorist Organization) media outlet, and spent the large part of his writing career in this newspaper. On 4 April 2010, Fehmi Koru wrote about this claim in Yeni Şafak daily where he transferred subsequent to Zaman under alias Taha Kıvanç. Then, on 20 March 2012, he repeated his claim Star daily where he transferred after Yeni Şafak.

• FACT: Owner of Sözcü daily, Burak Akbay has never been in touch with the Cemaat Movement. Burak Akbay was born in 1971 in Istanbul. He is the son of veteran journalist Ertuğrul Akbay who made great effort for Turkish media. Completing his first education in Maçka Primary School, Burak Akbay graduated from private Dost High School in Sarıyer and had undergraduate education in Switzerland where he studied marketing and executive management both in English and French. The name of this educational establishment is American College of Switzerland.

Burak Akbay returned to Turkey and got a start in business after higher education. He started to publish Turkish and foreign newspapers in his printing house. Establishing Sözcü daily in 2007, Burak Akbay owns the media group incorporating Sözcü, Korkusuz, AMK dailies and sozcu.com.tr which is the digital platform of Sözcü. The Daily Mirror, The Sun and The Sunday Times and Bild are still published in his printing house.