Milliyet came to publishing life at the Nuri Akça press in Babıali, Istanbul as a daily private newspaper on 3 May 1950.

On 1 February 1979, İpekçi was murdered by Mehmet Ali Ağca, who would later attempt to assassinate the Pope John Paul II.

[9] Since 1994, Milliyet has abandoned its stable, "upmarket" journalism established by Abdi İpekçi for a middle-market editorial line akin to that of Hürriyet.

Milliyet has been criticised for having self-censored a column that was critical of the Prime Minister's reaction to a press leak.

[13][14][15] In 2013, Milliyet fired columnists Hasan Cemal and Can Dündar, who had taken critical stances against the AKP government.