Demirören's credit arrears to Ziraat Bank exceed 25 million dollars, Court of Accounts reveals

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 continued not paying the credit in 2022 despite restructuring the payment twice, the online news outlet T24 reported on Dec. 28.

According to the Court of Account 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.