Why did Yılmaz Özdil leave Sözcü 2 years ago?

While Yılmaz Özdil was one of Sözcü's most widely read columnists, he was tasked with establishing Sözcü TV, which shares the same name as the newspaper. Yılmaz Özdil began initiatives to launch the television station, bringing along television professionals such as Korcan Karar. The goal was for the channel to go on air before the 2023 presidential elections.

The goal was achieved, and Sözcü TV was established before the presidential elections. Shortly after its launch, the incident involving Meral Akşener's departure from the 'Table of Six' occurred. Immediately following the event, Yılmaz Özdil commented on a live broadcast, saying, 'To say that Meral Akşener broke up the table is journalistic immorality. Meral Akşener was pushed out of the table.' Following this, Yılmaz Özdil and the Sözcü group parted ways. Regarding his departure, Sözcü stated, 'Yılmaz Özdil was not fired; he left of his own accord.'

Afterward, Yılmaz Özdil launched a YouTube channel. Reaching over 570,000 subscribers, Yılmaz Özdil was watched by an average of 300,000 people every day.

Yılmaz Özdil dedicated his first video to the Sözcü TV incident. Özdil described the events surrounding the channel's establishment with these words: 'Sözcü TV was a television station that could not be established for 6 years. When I examined it a bit, I saw that the obstacle to the 6-year-delayed Sözcü TV was not actually RTÜK. Not even the AKP was an obstacle. Those who were actually blocking Sözcü TV were those who appeared to be in the opposition. We established the television station that could not be set up for 6 years in just 60 days.'

He also touched upon what happened after his comments regarding Meral Akşener: '48 hours after it was established, a campaign unprecedented in the history of Turkish media began. If you recall, Meral Akşener was pushed off the table by Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu... 4 million tweets were posted against Yılmaz Özdil in one night. The CHP's politburo organized it. A campaign began saying, "Do not buy the Sözcü newspaper, do not watch Sözcü TV, do not let them give advertisements to Sözcü." I did not establish this television station for it to be harmed. So, I left.'