Owner of Dogan Media Group responses to Turkish PM's claims

BIRAND : In recent days Mr. Prime Minister launched a war against our group and Aydin Dogan. This is something we haven’t seen before. What is your reaction to this?

AYDIN DOGAN : First of all I would like to say that I am surprised at this. I am not involved in this? The German media had discovered some irregularities related to Turkey. They mocked the poor people and collected money in the name of religion. They transferred the collected money in various ways to their companies, pockets and supporter media organs. This is where the German court prepared the indictment and filed a legal case. Our reporters there are following this case. They are writing things in the indictment. I didn’t say anything about this. The Prime Minister is angry with me? Why he is angry?

BIRAND : The Prime Minister says: “You are targeting me as if I had received money.”

AYDIN DOGAN: Now you raised an important issue. I did not publish things about you. Deniz Baykal told about those claims in a live interview on broadcaster NTV. We picked up the story from there. First he said this, and then he said Baykal is talking about our stories. I think the Prime Minister is mixing things up or they are giving him misinformation or he is trying to be a hero, meaning, trying to change the subject. He wants to change the agenda.

BIRAND : Prime Minister Erdogan’s insistence on the Hilton issue. What is this?

AYDIN DOGAN : This is a very cheap polemic. It is really disgusting for a country’s prime minister to be involvd in such cheap polemics. Yes I do have a demand on the Hilton issue. If I have asked them to do something illegal, then they shouldn’t admit it. I do not want anything illegal. However they are committing a crime if they are not doing something legal. Prime Minister Erdogan says I paid a visit to him over the Hilton issue. I did not visit him for Hilton.

BIRAND : The Prime Minister says you visited him. Didn’t you send somebody?

AYDIN DOGAN : He is confusing things. I went to the Prime Minister and said we have 2.5 billion dollars and we want to invest this in this country. I am not asking for incentives or credit. I just asked for a license. I told him we are going to employ 15,000 people and complete in three years, I am going to build a refinery. He asked the place of this refinery. I said Ceyhan. He said no. Our Calik Group wants that, we promised this to them. Calik is a developer and is constructing the Ceyhan-Samsun pipeline. I said let both of us do this. He said (Russian Prime Minister Vladimir) Putin, (Italian Prime Minister Silvio) Berlusconi, and ENI are involved and let’s talk about this issue on January. I said OK. Then he asked my plans about the Hilton. I told him that it should be renovated. He told me that he is going to talk to the mayor.

BIRAND : Did you demand anything from Prime Minister Erdogan?

AYDIN DOGAN: I did not demand anything from him. He asked me and I told him.

BIRAND : Another thing Mr. Erdogan underlines is your demands about CNN.

AYDIN DOGAN: We appealed to RTUK (radio, TV watchdog) to gain terrestrial broadcasting rights for CNN. They said it is not their job, but the Competition Board’s. We appealed to them and the board approved it. Now we are waiting for RTUK to approve our demand. I think the Prime Minister ordered them not to approve the demand.

BIRAND : Why is that you think?

AYDIN DOGAN: I really feel sorry about that. If I am guilty of something that (Erdogan) has been hiding, he should take this to courts. If he has and keeps it secret, that is the same as blackmail. Both are criminal. On the one hand you say, “Free Turkey”, and then say Europe and European Union. But on the other hand you tell the publishers “You see what I will do if you publish those stories.” Fraud, corruption is on the rise. In the last month the Saban Disli scandal emerged, then Gaziantep. Deniz Feneri and Batman followed those. We have a new scandal everyday. He is looking for someone to blame. And he found our group. Because it is the only group who is not in his close circle.

BIRAND : He accuses you of acting in line with the CHP.

AYDIN DOGAN: I feel really sad about this. Because I am the supporter of neither the CHP nor Ak Party. I am the free and objective media of this country. He should be proud of me. Instead he piles pressure on us saying “You wrote this, see what I am going to do to you. I will send inspectors” etc. However we did not reflect any of the pressure that the government place on us in our editorial line. But we cannot stand it any longer. I am with you when you do good things. But I have to write things that are not right. Therefore I tell Mr. Erdogan that such cheap acts are not befitting to you. You became the prime minister of this country at a very young age. You did good things in the country. Stop attacking us and take Turkey to the European Union. We would help you. If you want us to show the same culture with the obedient media organs, our media does not kowtow. Our culture does not include obeisance. Our institution has objectivity, freedom. You should follow the corrupt ones. What I am doing? There is something called Deniz Feneri and I am writing about that. You are trying to silence me instead of giving instructions to officials in Turkey. If you shut me down, would there be a democracy with a one-voice media? Mr. Erdogan you are a product of democracy. Democracy gave birth to you. If it is democratic and democracy exists in this country, then the press should be free. And (Erdogan) should respect the free and objective press. Not only respect, but also (Erdogan) should digest this. But he sees us as enemies. I am not a politician, nor a rival. I never involved people’s families into matters. But how can’t I now? Mr. Erdogan’s son-in-law and his brother are partners of a company. And this company is my rival. Everyday they are writing against me. By whose order? This is not logical. There is nothing like that in the world.

BIRAND: The prime minister draws this picture in his speech. You are opposing us all the time because we are not providing you sufficient advantage in your other business interests.

AYDIN DOGAN: But this is political blackmail. Can something like this be? How can you consider something like this?  Then he will stand in the same manner against anything we do. I have business with the state and government. The prime minister claims “He came to RTUK and applied and this is why he does this.” On the other hand, RTUK had not told us that it “would not give permission”and instead it had said that “it would”. We were thinking that the process had finished and we would continue. From this I understand that Mr. Tayyip gave instruction not to give this permission. This is neither the rule of law nor correct. As a matter of fact I want to learn if Turkey is being governed by a monarchy or by democracy.

BIRAND: What will happen from now on?

AYDIN DOGAN: The understanding of obeying does not exist in our media organs, we do not obey. I pray for Mr. Erdogan to digest the democracy, the free press and deal with the greater issues of the country. We will help him as much as we can in this mission. He criticizes a different political party in each party meeting. Go and criticize your rivals. What do you want from the media? Come, let's do our best to make Turkey enter the EU. Come, let's do what is necessary to solve Turkey's economic problems. We are ready to correct any mistakes, however if you do it with threats, blackmail, and pressure, then you can't call it a democracy. This can be named as nothing more than a dictatorship regime.