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