.Political dispute over Turkey media group fine
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - Turkey's leading media association and the main opposition party accused the prime minister on Friday of trying to muzzle the press, after the government hit Turkey's biggest media group with a fine of about $500 million for an allegedly late tax payment.
Opposition lawmaker Atilla Kart said the fines of about 850 million Turkish lira ($500 million) handed to media mogul Aydin Dogan were an attempt to silence critics before local elections in March.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government has said the issue is about tax code violations, not press freedom. It said the Dogan group made a late tax payment on the sale of TV station shares to German publisher Axel Springer. The media group, which owns newspapers and television stations, said it paid the tax on time.
The secularist Dogan group has been a sharp critic of the Islamic-oriented government, which has implemented democratic reforms in an effort to join the European Union but is suspected by some of trying to impose religion on politics. The EU has said Turkey must improve press freedoms.
The Turkish Journalists' Association, which has members at hundreds of media outlets, said the fine reflects Erdogan's "anger about news that he dislikes."
"The practice is a solid sign of the government's use of its power against democratic traditions and its uneasiness about different voices," the association said.
Erdogan has urged supporters to stop buying newspapers belonging to Dogan group.
"They assume vilification, libel and telling lies to be freedom of expression," Erdogan said at a rally Saturday. "I once again tell you not to let this lying press in your homes."
Erdogan - who was jailed in 1999 for publicly reciting an Islamist poem at a political rally, and who sees himself as a champion of free speech - has sued several journalists who allegedly insulted him in articles and cartoons. He also has barred some journalists from covering him.
MyWay
Right out of the Obama handbook.
Opposition lawmaker Atilla Kart said the fines of about 850 million Turkish lira ($500 million) handed to media mogul Aydin Dogan were an attempt to silence critics before local elections in March.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government has said the issue is about tax code violations, not press freedom. It said the Dogan group made a late tax payment on the sale of TV station shares to German publisher Axel Springer. The media group, which owns newspapers and television stations, said it paid the tax on time.
The secularist Dogan group has been a sharp critic of the Islamic-oriented government, which has implemented democratic reforms in an effort to join the European Union but is suspected by some of trying to impose religion on politics. The EU has said Turkey must improve press freedoms.
The Turkish Journalists' Association, which has members at hundreds of media outlets, said the fine reflects Erdogan's "anger about news that he dislikes."
"The practice is a solid sign of the government's use of its power against democratic traditions and its uneasiness about different voices," the association said.
Erdogan has urged supporters to stop buying newspapers belonging to Dogan group.
"They assume vilification, libel and telling lies to be freedom of expression," Erdogan said at a rally Saturday. "I once again tell you not to let this lying press in your homes."
Erdogan - who was jailed in 1999 for publicly reciting an Islamist poem at a political rally, and who sees himself as a champion of free speech - has sued several journalists who allegedly insulted him in articles and cartoons. He also has barred some journalists from covering him.
MyWay
Right out of the Obama handbook.
posted by madtom at 6:15 PM
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