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Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan drew the ire of columnists, mainly from the Doğan Yayın Group, over remarks he made to a US daily early this week regarding a record fine imposed on Doğan Yayın, Turkey’s largest media company.
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Speaking to The Wall Street Journal, Erdoğan defended the demand for $2.53 billion in fines and penalties imposed on the company, comparing the case with the United States’ pursuit of gangster Al Capone on tax-evasion charges in the 1930s. Last month, the Finance Ministry slapped the record tax fine on Doğan Yayın, the Doğan Group’s publication wing, which runs newspapers such as Hürriyet and Milliyet, numerous magazines and TV stations. The fine of TL 3.76 billion ($2.53 billion), the highest ever imposed on a Turkish company, was issued for alleged tax evasion during the time period covering 2005, 2006 and 2007. Erdoğan said: “The issue here is of a routine tax examination. In the US, too, there are people who have had problems with evading taxes. Al Capone comes to mind. He was very rich, but then he spent the rest of his life in jail. ... Nobody raised their voice when those events happened.” While some columnists from Doğan Yayın argue that Erdoğan’s remarks show that the fine was imposed on them because of their publications against the government, others say his Doğan and Al Capone comparison was misunderstood. Radikal’s Akif Beki, who was a former aide to Prime Minister Erdoğan, clarifies what the prime minister meant to say with the Al Capone comparison, which drew strong reaction from Doğan columnists. Recalling a question posed by The Wall Street Journal’s Marc Champion, who asked whether the fine imposed on Doğan was a political decision aimed to crack down on a strong media group, Beki says Erdoğan answered not only the interviewer’s question but also everyone who was skeptical about the tax fine levied on Doğan. “Al Capone is a notorious gangster but Erdoğan seems not to be interested in this side. I infer this from his description of Al Capone as one of the richest persons in the United States. It is obvious that he compares Al Capone with the Doğan group in terms of power, influence, size and the opportunities they have. The prime minister’s message is that the great can also have tax problems. He strengthens his arguments by giving examples. I never thought Erdoğan’s comparison was in terms of personality or areas of business,” explains Beki. In other words, Beki says he does not see how Erdoğan’s remarks could be interpreted in any other way and drawing different meanings from his statements would be an injustice to Doğan Yayın as much as to Erdoğan. “In that interview, Erdoğan also focuses on something important and says that the way toward settlement or judicial challenge is open for Doğan. And this confirms that I drew the right meaning from his comparison because the cases of Al Capone and Doğan do not resemble each other,” adds Beki. Milliyet’s Hasan Cemal is very frustrated about Erdoğan’s comparison of Al Capone and Doğan Yayın and thinks this is a very desperate and unjust statement. “This comparison can neither be acceptable by law nor by conscience. No, esteemed prime minister, this comparison was very inappropriate. You got another bad mark in the ‘democratic culture’ lesson. I hope you will correct this mistake as soon as possible,” says Cemal. Another columnist from the Doğan Yayın Group, Radikal’s Murat Yetkin, is also critical about Erdoğan’s comparison and says this statement is a step backward on the issue of freedom of expression in Turkey.
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| 08 October 2009, Thursday |
| FATMA DİŞLİ ZIBAK |
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