Biography Wikipedia
Wikipedia:
Taraf ("Side" in Turkish) is an independent newspaper in Turkey. It has distinguished itself by opposing the interference by the Turkish military in the country's social and political affairs. It is distributed nationwide, and has been in circulation since November 15th, 2007.
Taraf has published a series of highly-controversial stories that revealed the involvement of the Turkish military in daily political affairs. The revealed documents, such as coup plans that involved the bombing of historical mosques in Turkey, significantly damaged the social image of the Turkish military. The sources that leaked such critical insider information to Taraf are still unknown.
The response of the Turkish military to Taraf included canceling the newspaper's accreditation from press releases at its headquarters.) A political journal, Nokta, had similarly leaked military information and was closed down in 2007 due to pressure.
The founder and owner of Taraf, Başar Arslan, dismisses accusations of bias and outside funding, saying that he has made a considerable loss in his mission to create the country's most prestigious newspaper. He considers Taraf an investment that will eventually pay off.
It has been speculated that the leak was related to the Ergenekon investigation.
Taraf has become the first Turkish partner of the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks, joining internationally known publications in signing a contract to publish the site's leaked documents firsthand. The Turkish daily was picked by WikiLeaks because it is "the bravest newspaper in Turkey", as described by the site's founder, Julian Assange.