''Radikal'' () was a daily liberal

Turkish language Turkish ( , , also known as 'Turkish of Turkey') is the most widely spoken of the Turkic languages, a member of Oghuz languages, Oghuz branch with around 90 million speakers. It is the national language of Turkey and one of two official languag ...

newspaper, published in

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

. From 1996 it was published by

Aydın Doğan Aydın Doğan (born 15 April 1936) is a Turkish business magnate and investor. He is the founder of Doğan Holding, one of Turkey's largest conglomerates. Biography Born in 1936 as a member of a well-known family in Kelkit, Doğan went to el ...

Doğan Media Group Doğan is both a masculine Turkish given name and a Turkish surname meaning ''Falcon''. Notable people with the name include: Given name * Doğan Abukay, Turkish experimental physicist and academic * Doğan Akhanlı (1957–2021) Turkish-German w ...

. Although Radikal did not endorse a particular political alignment, it was generally considered by the public to be a

social liberal Social liberalism is a political philosophy and variety of liberalism that endorses social justice, social services, a mixed economy, and the expansion of civil and political rights, as opposed to classical liberalism which favors limited g ...

newspaper. Despite only having a circulation of around 25,000 (July 2013), it was considered one of the most influential Turkish newspapers. It was praised for its culture, arts, and interview sections, as well as having columnists such as M. Serdar Kuzuloğlu, Hakkı Devrim, Yıldırım Türker, Türker Alkan,

Tarhan Erdem Tarhan Erdem (1933 – 8 June 2022) was a Turkish politician who was the President of KONDA Research and Consultancy, an opinion polling company. He was a member of the Republican People's Party (CHP) and briefly served as the Minister of Indus ...

Cengiz Çandar Cengiz Çandar (born 1948) is a Turkish politician, journalist, senior columnist, and a Middle East expert. He is elected to the Turkish Parliament (TBMM) in May 2023, as Deputy of Diyarbakır from the pro-Kurdish, the Peoples’ Equality and De ...

, and

Altan Öymen Mehmet Altan Öymen (born 20 June 1932) is a Turkish journalist, author and former politician. Biography Öymen was born on 20 June 1932. He completed his secondary education at the Atatürk High School in Ankara. He graduated from the School ...

Hasan Celal Güzel Hasan Celal Güzel (1945 – 19 March 2018) was a Turkish journalist and politician. He was Minister of Education, Youth and Sport (1987–1989). He was leader of the Rebirth Party in the 1990s, a party he co-founded in 1992. He was a columnist ...

, former minister of national education, Murat Yetkin, and

Mustafa Akyol Mustafa Akyol (born 20 February 1972) is a Turkish writer, intellectual, and journalist. Notable for his advocacy on reform on blasphemy, apostasy and gender relations in the Muslim world, he has been called “probably the most notable Muslim mo ...

, son of Taha Akyol, also wrote for Radikal. On 22 March 2016, the newspaper announced it was shutting down at the end of the month due to financial reasons.

History

Radikal was founded in 1996, and "within a decade ... had become one of the most influential newspapers in the country, especially renowned for its top-drawer columnists and its coverage of intellectual debates". Its circulation, however, remained relatively low. In 2004 Radikal was awarded the Turk Democracy Associations "Democracy Media Award" (jointly with Zaman). In 2007,

Serkan Özkaya Serkan Özkaya (born 1973) is a Turkish and American conceptual artist whose work deals with topics of Appropriation (art), appropriation and reproduction. He typically operates outside of traditional art spaces and often makes multiple versions o ...

Orhan Pamuk Ferit Orhan Pamuk (born 7 June 1952; ) is a Turkish novelist, screenwriter, academic, and recipient of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature. One of Turkey's most prominent novelists, he has sold over 13 million books in 63 languages, making him ...

, and

Sezen Aksu Sezen Aksu (; born Fatma Sezen Yıldırım; 13 July 1954) is a Turkish singer, songwriter and producer. She is one of the most successful Turkish people, Turkish singers, having sold over 40 million albums worldwide. Her nicknames include the "Q ...

each became ''Radikal'' temporary editor-in-chief for a day. The Dogan Group's economics daily

Referans ''Referans'' was a daily Turkish language business-and-economics newspaper, published in Istanbul. It was taken over in 2004 by Aydın Doğan's Doğan Media Group, and in 2010 merged with the group's paper ''Radikal ''Radikal'' () was a daily ...

was merged into Radikal in 2010, with Referans

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held accoun ...

Eyüp Can becoming editor-in-chief of the combined paper, replacing

İsmet Berkan Ismet () is a Turkish form of the Arabic name Ismat which comes from Ismah. Along with Turkish, the name is also seen in Albanian, Bosnian, and Macedonian. The name means "honesty" or "purity" and in classical "infallibility", "immaculate", "impec ...

. Later in 2010 the paper moved to a

tabloid format A tabloid is a newspaper format characterized by its compact size, smaller than a broadsheet. The term originates from the 19th century, when the London-based pharmaceutical company Burroughs Wellcome & Co. used the term to describe compres ...

and introduced new columnists

Dilek Kurban Dilek is a Turkish word meaning ''wish'', ''request'' or ''desire''. It is used as a feminine given name as well as a noun and may refer to: Given name * Dilek Akagün Yılmaz (born 1963), Turkish politician * Dilek Gürsoy (born 1976), German he ...

TESEV The Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (, TESEV), based in Istanbul, is Turkey's leading think tank. The Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV) is an independent non-governmental think-tank, analyzing social, political ...

Cüneyt Özdemir Cüneyt Özdemir (born 8 February 1970) is a Turkish journalist, television host and producer. Özdemir is the anchorman of the leading local and foreign affairs program 5N1K, broadcast on CNN Türk Television for 20 years now. Career ''32. G� ...

, and

Sırrı Süreyya Önder Sırrı Süreyya Önder (7 July 1962 – 3 May 2025) was a Turkish film director, actor, screenwriter, columnist and politician. Elected to parliament in 2011 as an independent backed by the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), he later joined the p ...

. The newspaper stopped printing on 21 June 2014 and was published only digitally, before it was shut abruptly shut down in March 2016. On 4 April 2016, its columnists published their farewell articles on its webpage, reflecting on Radikal's past 20 years. In July 2022, the domain of the newspaper was deserted, resulting the online archive to wipe out.

Demirören Holding Demiören is a Turkish word meaning ''iron braider'' and may refer to: Company * Demirören Group Demirören Group is a Turkish conglomerate company. Its properties include Milangaz (a liquefied petroleum gas distributor with 9% share of the Tu ...

, the rights owner, did not make any disclosure about the shutdown.

Sections

The paper had the following sections, among others: *Türkiye - usually with domestic news *Yaşam () - usually with health and entertainment articles from Turkey and the world *Politika - with political news, focusing on domestic *Dış Haberler - with foreign news *Yorum - opinion pieces, editorials *Ekonomi - economic news *Spor - sports news *Kültür/Sanat - with cultural and art news *"Sıcak Haber" (), online edition with the printed articles The paper also published four supplements: *"Kitap" (), weekly book reviews, out on Fridays *"Cumartesi" (), weekend entertainment and news, out on Saturdays *"Radikal 2", op-eds, mostly on social-democracy or current political issues, out on Sundays *"Genç" (), op-eds submitted by college students, out every other Tuesday.

Notable contributors

İsmail Saymaz İsmail Saymaz (born 11 July 1980, in Rize İletişim Yayıneviİsmail Saymaz/ref>) is a Turkish investigative journalist and writer for the newspaper ''Sözcü''. He has published articles and books on the Turkish deep state and Ergenekon, in ...

(investigative journalist) *

Ezgi Başaran Ezgi Başaran (born 20 January 2003) is a Turkish recurve archer. Sport career Ezgi Başaran won the silver medal in the women's team recurve event at the 2022 European Archery Championships The 2022 European Archery Championships were held ...

(investigative reporter and website managing editor, awarded the Müşerref Hekimoğlu Award 2012)

International Press Institute International Press Institute (IPI) is a global organisation dedicated to the promotion and protection of press freedom and the improvement of journalism practices. The institution was founded by 34 editors from 15 countries at Columbia Universit ...

, ipiworldcongress.com
IPI World Congress 2013
*

Ertuğrul Mavioğlu Ertuğrul Mavioğlu is a Turkish journalist. He worked at a number of newspapers and television networks for 30 years. From 1980 to 1991, he spent eight years imprisoned for political reasons. He received two awards from the Progressive Journalis ...

(news co-ordinator) *

(columnist) *

Orhan Kemal Cengiz Orhan Kemal Cengiz is a Turkish lawyer, journalist, novelist, and human rights activist. He earned his law degree from the University of Ankara in 1993. In 1996, he was appointed director of the Human Rights Center at the İzmir Bar Association. F ...

(columnist) *

(columnist) * Ümit Kivanç (columnist) *

Yiğit Bulut Yiğit Bulut (born 1 January 1972, in Keşan, Edirne) is a Turkish journalist, conspiracy theorist, and since July 2013, a senior advisor to president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. He was editor-in-chief at news channels Habertürk TV (2009–2012) and ...

(columnist, 2001–2007) *

Perihan Mağden Perihan Mağden (born 24 August 1960) is a Turkish writer. She was a columnist for the newspaper ''Taraf''. She was tried and acquitted for calling for opening the possibility of conscientious objection to mandatory military service in Turkey. ...

(columnist, 2001–2008) *

Oral Çalışlar Oral Çalışlar (born 14 December 1946 in Tarsus) is a Turkish journalist and writer, currently columnist for ''Radikal'' and '' Serbestiyet'', after briefly working as editor-in-chief of '' Taraf''. He was previously a columnist for ''Cumhuriye ...

(columnist, 2008–2013) *

(columnist, 2010–2011)

References

External links

* {{Dogan Medya Grubu 1996 establishments in Turkey 2016 disestablishments in Turkey Newspapers published in Istanbul Defunct Turkish-language newspapers Newspapers established in 1996 Publications disestablished in 2016 Doğan Media Group Defunct newspapers published in Turkey Online newspapers with defunct print editions Daily newspapers published in Turkey