Media boss: ’I don’t take sides’

Doğan, in an interview with daily Taraf reporter Amberin Zaman published yesterday, said he had a history of good relations with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan dating back to the mid-1990s when Erdoğan was mayor of Istanbul. He said he met often with Erdoğan until September 2006.

Erdoğan’s early calls for more democracy was a value shared by the DMG and its publications and was constantly supported. "They only had certain reservations on the principles of the Republic. I am very sensitive about the tenets of the Republic but I have tolerance. We did not face huge problems with the government at the time. We criticized them but also praised them when necessary," said Doğan. In their regular meetings, he asked Erdoğan to be more tolerant when it came to criticisms voiced about the government, Doğan said.

"I told him newspapers could not be all for or against government policies. Sometimes he was satisfied with my explanations and other times not so much. But our relations were fine," he said, adding that at times columnists in the Doğan dailies may have gone too far but he expected tolerance from Erdoğan. "I couldn’t have told our columnists to write one way or another," he said.

"I used to tell him he was very successful and Turkey was growing. I told him that if I were him, I would be proud that the whole world was watching us. I would have told Europeans that I am the prime minister of a democratic country with a free press. He said I confused criticism with insult. I too am against insults but he believed certain things crossed the criticism threshold," Doğan said.

"He started to go cold toward us before September 2008," Doğan said, adding that after that date, when Doğan newspapers started reporting on the Deniz Feneri corruption allegations, Erdoğan’s animosity toward Doğan Holding grew exponentially.

Lighthouse e.V., a charity organization based in Germany, was accused of collecting donations and then sending the money to Turkey to be used by people seen to have close links to the government. Late last year, Lighthouse e.V executives were found guilty of corruption by a German court, which also said that the real culprits were in Turkey.

Knew of false reports

Erdoğan knew the reports that appeared in some newspapers and on Internet sites about his involvement in efforts to topple the government were totally false, said Doğan. "My publications published reports at critical times, opposing the closure case filed against the AKP. In my private conversations, I said to everyone, how could a party chosen by the people be closed down? I was never part of an effort to topple the government," he said.

When asked how fine relations with the government and the prime minister had turned into animosity, Doğan said: "There was a sudden growth of an extremist group, or rather an interest group around him that is anti-Doğan. One was the pro-government media."

He said pro-government media were against his close relations with Erdoğan. After the Lighthouse e.V. case, he faced a surprising reaction from the government. "The prime minister started to target me at party rallies. AKP supporters chanted slogans against me."

Doğan said he had nothing against the AKP or any other party. "This is what is necessary to remain independent and impartial."

Doğan said the 826.3 million Turkish Liras fine imposed on DMG by the Treasury for alleged carriage of receipts from a 2006 sale, of a 25 percent share in Doğan TV to a German media group, into 2007 as a means to avoid taxation was a huge injustice.

"The fine has no technical or legal basis," he said. "Every time I speak about the fraud charges, I turn red. There can be no crime of fraud when the tax is paid. Fraudsters don’t pay taxes. They can tell me, ’You were supposed to pay the tax Feb. 17 and instead paid May 17.’ They can collect the difference with interest. However, one cannot be accused of fraud just because one paid the taxes on one day but not the other," Doğan said. He said all his companies were under intense scrutiny from the Finance Ministry. "Eighteen tax inspectors, five accountants, one customs inspector and 20 others inspecting them have been pressuring our group for the past eight months." He also said he sent a letter to the prime minister a few days ago, asking him not to portray him as being close to one party or the other. When asked if he had received a response, Doğan said; "I didn’t. I knew I wouldn’t."

Doğan said he hoped the prime minister’s attitude might change after the local elections March 29. "I tell all my television channels not to pick sides. I tell them to write their reports carefully."

When asked about his relations to past political leaders of the country, Doğan said; "I was close to [former prime minister of the mid-1990s] Mesut Yılmaz. Still, we used to argue every time we met. I believe people who are running for public office should be more tolerant of criticism. Those in government should not rise up and try to exploit state resources to go after those who criticize them. He said his relations with Turgut Özal, prime minister for much of the 1980s and then the president, were also good initially. "However, he later got angry too and then they imposed more taxes on me in 1986. I went to court and it took a decade, but in the end I was validated," said Doğan.

The Daily News is a Doğan Media Group publication.