[2] In 2007, the government of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan seized the newspaper, citing a legal document that had not been disclosed to authorities when Sabah was sold in 2001.

Some of the newspaper's staffers were fired, and the paper was then sold to the Turkuvaz Media Group belonging to Çalık Holding whose CEO, Berat Albayrak, is the son-in-law of Erdoğan and whose chairman, Ahmet Çalık, has been described as a "close associate" of Erdoğan.

[3] The $1.1bn sale aroused substantial controversy in Turkey, not least because it was partially financed by $750m of loans from two state banks, VakıfBank and Halkbank,[4] and was sold for the minimum price, with Çalık Holding the sole bidder.

[5] Before the 2007 seizing, it was a pro-Kemalist, liberal newspaper with its political position being close to centre-right.

According to Aslı Aydıntaşbaş, who was Sabah's Ankara bureau chief until the takeover, from then on the newspaper took on "an unwavering pro-government line.