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### Viewing cable 09ANKARA1425, GOVERNMENT VS. DOGAN GRUDGE MATCH CHILLS TURKISH JOURNALISM

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Reference ID | Created | Released | Classification | Origin
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
09ANKARA1425 | 2009-10-01 13:50 | 2011-04-09 12:00 | CONFIDENTIAL | Embassy Ankara

`

    VZCZCXRO9091
    RR RUEHAG RUEHROV RUEHSL RUEHSR
    DE RUEHAK #1425/01 2741350
    ZNY CCCCC ZZH
    R 011350Z OCT 09
    FM AMEMBASSY ANKARA
    TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0870
    INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
    RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL 6305
    RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC

` `

    C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 001425

    SIPDIS

    DEPARTMENT PLEASE PASS TO IIP AND EUR/PPD

    E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/28/2019
    TAGS: PREL PHUM PGOV KPAO TU
    SUBJECT: GOVERNMENT VS. DOGAN GRUDGE MATCH CHILLS TURKISH JOURNALISM

    REF: ANKARA 1327

    Classified By: Charge Douglas A. Silliman for E.O. 12958 Reasons 1.4(b) and (d).

    ¶1. (U) This cable is a joint Embassy Ankara/Consulate General
    Istanbul product.

    ¶2. (C) SUMMARY:  Despite international signals about the
    press freedom implications of record tax fines levied against
    the Dogan Media Group, the GOT has upped the ante in its
    battle with the beleaguered media giant by demanding USD 3.2
    million in collateral against the penalty, apparently
    pressuring a reshuffle of top editors at Dogan's flagship
    newspapers, and preparing a rumored additional USD nine
    billion in fines against four of Dogan's non-media holding
    companies.  The latest round in the grudge match between PM
    Erdogan and media mogul Aydin Dogan is having a chilling
    effect on Turkish journalists.  END SUMMARY

    ¶3. (SBU) The latest GOT moves against the Dogan Media Group
    (DMG), Turkey's largest non-governmental media conglomerate
    with 40 percent of the media market, have sent chills across
    Turkey's media industry.  On September 28, Turkish newspapers
    were awash in stories about a reshuffling of top editors at
    tax-beleaguered DMG's flagship "Hurriyet" and "Milliyet"
    newspapers.  Sources have confirmed that media mogul Aydin
    Dogan will transfer staunch AKP opponent Sedat Ergin from the
    chief editor slot at "Milliyet" over to "Hurriyet" as a chief
    columnist, and move other anti-AKP editors to less prominent
    positions or media outlets

    ¶4. (SBU) On September 25th, Turkey's tax authorities ordered
    DMG to pay a record $3.2 billion as collateral against an
    already record fine for back taxes of $2.4 billion.  The new
    demand, which the company has said it will challenge in
    court, calls for DMG to provide the requested collateral
    within 15 days. The same day, DMG formally waived mediation
    with the government offered by the Istanbul Stock Exchange.

    ¶5. (C) Reacting to these sudden developments, several media
    leaders told us the latest onslaught was a challenge to the
    entire media industry.  "It's definitely a warning," said NTV
    General Manager Omer Ozguner (protect), noting that leading
    NTV channels are recommitting to their policy of "keeping a
    distance from the government."  Respected "Hurriyet"
    columnist Sami Cohen agreed, seeing no hope in compromise.
    Cohen, who had vacationed with Dogan over the recent Ramadan
    Bayram Holiday, said the media mogul told him that "if a thaw
    was possible, it would have already happened."  In sharp
    contrast to his colleagues, "Sabah" political columnist
    Cengiz Candar said it would be a mistake to view the
    government's pursuit of Dogan as an attack against freedom of
    the press in Turkey.  It's an attack against Dogan alone,
    Candar said, though it may ruin his media empire.

    INDUSTRY INSIDERS PREDICT MORE FINES ON THE WAY

    ¶6. (C) While the escalation in punitive measures sent shivers
    across the industry, several pro-government media insiders
    predicted further actions were on the way that would seal
    Dogan's fate.  Government-leaning Star Newspaper/Channel 24
    Chief Editor Mustafa Karaalioglu was adamant that the initial
    fines were the result of an ambitious tax official who
    wrongly interpreted the PM's election campaign condemnations
    against "Hurriyet" as a way to curry favor with the AKP
    government.  Karaalioglu, a longtime AKP confident who helped
    launch the Islamist-oriented "Yeni Safak" newspaper, talked
    openly about his concern that the moves are damaging press
    freedoms in Turkey but predicted that up to USD nine billion
    in additional fines would be levied against four of Dogan's
    non-media holding companies.  His words echoed true when the
    GOT tax authorities later in the day proceeded with an
    additional USD 39 million demand in back taxes and fines from
    two DMG companies involved in foreign trade.

    ¶7. (C) Meanwhile, "HaberTurk" TV and Newspaper executives
    told us September 24 that the Dogan Group and its stable of
    newspapers would not be missed.  "No one will cry for Aydin
    Dogan in Turkey," said Editor in Chief Fatih Altayli, a
    former 17-year veteran with "Hurriyet." "There's a
    discrepancy in Dogan's public and private face," he noted,
    and wondered how the company pulled off a "rags to riches"
    ascent from "nothing" to USD 8 billion in just 10 years. "The
    Dogan Group steals," he commented, but worried that "if the
    government can do this to Dogan, it can happen to anyone.  No
    one is free in Turkey, no one is clear.  They can seize your
    paper and do anything."

    ANKARA 00001425  002 OF 002

    ¶8. (C) Akif Beki, the PM's former spokesman who oddly now
    holds jobs as a columnist at DMG's liberal "Radikal"
    newspaper (a recent appointment) as well as a new appointment
    as Channel 24's Executive Editor, adamantly maintained that
    the PM was not involved in any way and that rumors
    circulating of a GOT-directed "hit list" against DMG's top
    journalists were false.  Such activities, he said "are just
    not the PM's style and not the way things are done in
    Turkey."

    JOURNALISTS' MORALE WAIVERS

    ¶9. (C) Some young Dogan Media Group journalists are using
    blogs, Facebook entries and other new media devices to bump
    up morale and speculate on the future.  Several young
    e-journalists told us that Dogan will most likely sell off
    Turkey's historic -- but profit-starved -- "Milliyet"
    newspaper, soften editorial lines, and make more personnel
    changes.  "Hurriyet On Line" editor Zeynep Gurcanli said an
    alleged government "hit list" was the most discussed
    development in new media and blogs in Turkey.  She described
    those on it as "dinosaurs," and accused the AKP of keeping
    tally of the number of negative statements these columnists
    had made against the government.  Hilal Koylu, a popular
    blogger and "Radikal" diplomatic correspondent, predicted
    that the ill-matched Beki is "here to stay" as a columnist at
    "Radikal," saying that she is convinced Beki specifically
    chose his job as a columnist at "Radikal" in order to "keep
    an eye on people for his friends in the government."

    ¶10. (C) Liberal Milliyet columnist Kadri Gursel told us that
    there was an urgent need for continued international pressure
    to help stem the anti-press freedom tide. "These murderous
    policies say much about the government's orientation.  If
    they are allowed to proceed without a signal, it will be a
    shame."  Gursel argued that without continued pressure,
    Turkey's democracy will shift radically and newspapers will
    pursue self-censorship as a way to survive.  Noting that all
    media groups are owned by "charging capitalists," he
    nevertheless stressed that Dogan Media "still represents the
    only independent voice with power in the country."

    COMMENT

    ¶11. (C) The government's actions against the Dogan Media
    Group, which is Prime Minister Erdogan's leading Turkish
    media critic, look increasingly like a concerted campaign to
    de-fang the most powerful anti-AKP press outlets and has
    already engendered concerns about media freedom among EU
    officials.  Noting the NTV leadership's pledge to remain at a
    distance from the AKP and Erdogan government, we fear that
    the sheer size of the potential fines and collateral could
    ruin the Dogan Group and convince other media outlets to
    exercise greater self-censorship in criticizing the
    government.

    SILLIMAN

`