Turkish Forum

Author: Aylin D. Miller

  • AKP’s Confrontation with the Dogan Group

    AKP’s Confrontation with the Dogan Group

    A New Episode in the AKP’s Confrontation with the Dogan Group

    Publication: Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 6 Issue: 34
    February 20, 2009
    By: Saban Kardas

    Dogan media group (DMG), a conglomerate of various media companies owned by Dogan Holding, was fined on February 18 for tax evasion and accounting irregularities for the period from 2003 through 2006. DMG has been ordered to pay a total of TL 826.2 million ($484.3 million)—132.9 million in overdue taxes, 693.2 million ($407 million) in penalties, and a special irregularity fee of TL 165,000 ($97,000). DMG has 30 days to pay the fine or appeal the decision (Anadolu Ajansi, ANKA, February 19; Today’s Zaman, February 20).

    Soon after receiving the notice, DMG group announced that the fine “will be noted in Turkish finance history as the greatest injustice imposed on a company.” DMG maintains that the alleged unpaid taxes concerned the sale of some of its shares of the company to the German Alex Springer group in 2007. Negotiations for the sale began in 2006 and ended in early 2007. According to the DMG, under the Turkish Commercial Code the sale was finalized in 2007 and it acted in conformity with Turkish regulations and paid the taxes as of 2007. DMG claims that the tax authorities decided that “the sale took place in 2006 and that the resulting tax had to be paid the same year.” Since DMG believes that this is illegal, it will challenge the allegations in court. “We are committed to unmasking the true intentions and vindictiveness that rests behind this illegal and unconscionable fine,” according to the company (Hurriyet Daily News, February 19).

    The incident immediately sparked a nation-wide controversy. Supported by the main opposition party, the Dogan group launched a campaign to present this decision as a form of political punishment by the governing Justice and Development Party (AKP), while Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed that the DMG-controlled media was using freedom of the press to advance their bosses’ commercial interests. Since this is not the first public confrontation between the Dogan group and the AKP government, the harsh statements coming from both sides on February 19 might presage a new war of words in the Turkish political scene.

    In early September the group confronted the government over allegations of fraud raised by German prosecutors against a charity organization established by conservative Turks living in Europe. Deniz Feneri e.V. allegedly channeled donations to private corporations in Turkey, most notably to the Kanal 7 TV network, which is owned by close allies of the AKP. The media outlets critical of the government featured the German indictment in their headlines. DMG newspapers and TV stations led this campaign, which questioned the involvement of Erdogan’s associates and the government’s silence about this and other accusations of corruption. Erdogan took on the fight, warning the DMG publicly about the consequences of its coverage, and claimed that the Dogan group was trying to take revenge for the government’s earlier refusal to help its business interests (EDM, September 11).

    The Dogan group denied the allegations and accused the government of suppressing freedom of the press. Statements by Erdogan that he could reveal some documents proving inappropriate requests made by the Dogan group were interpreted by the DMG as blackmail to quash any allegations about AKP politicians and pro-AKP businesses and media outlets (Radikal, September 9).

    Following a war of words, including personal attacks, between Erdogan and Aydin Dogan, chairman of the Dogan group, a de facto truce was thought to have been reached when the two met at a wedding reception (www.habervitrini.com, October 25). Meanwhile, the investigation of various Dogan group companies, which predated the confrontation in September, continued; and the current showdown over alleged tax fraud has reheated this controversy. Both sides have returned to their entrenched positions, leveling more or less the same accusations against each other.

    Startled by the DMG’s charges, the Ministry of Finance released a statement defending its decision and arguing that the penalties levied on Dogan were based on careful investigation. The statement also criticized the DMG’s attempts to misrepresent the case and said that the Ministry would seek legal recourse for the DMG’s defamation campaign (Anadolu Ajansi, February 19). A statement from the AKP also noted that the investigation had started long before the conflict between Erdogan and Dogan and that Erdogan had not requested this tax examination. Noting that some AKP deputies were also being investigated on different charges, the statement claimed that the DMG was not being discriminated against (www.ntvmsnbc.com.tr, February 19).

    In its response to these statements, however, the Dogan group questioned the sincerity of the other investigations and maintained that by constantly scrutinizing various companies in the group over a long period of time, the government was seeking to intimidate the group’s independent reporting (Cihan Haber Ajansi, February 19).

    Regardless of the final ruling on the fraud allegations, this incident is likely to deepen political divisions. The critics will continue to view Erdogan’s aggressive attitude as yet another indication of his authoritarian leadership style and disrespect for democracy. Moreover, it will strengthen their belief that the AKP is intent on using state power to silence opposing views and consolidate the position of his own cronies in business and the media. Government circles will continue to present it as yet another victory against vested business interests, which have traditionally acquired their wealth through political influence.

    As an earlier EDM report concluded, however, this episode once again shows “the continuing paucity of impartial news coverage that has not been filtered through, and frequently distorted by, Turkish media owners’ political preferences and perceived business interests.” It is an example of how public attention can be diverted away from more pressing economic and social issues (EDM, September 11).

    https://jamestown.org/program/a-new-episode-in-the-akps-confrontation-with-the-dogan-group/

  • AN ARMENIAN PROPOGANDA AT RHODE ISLAND

    AN ARMENIAN PROPOGANDA AT RHODE ISLAND

     

    AS TURKISH FORUM.. WE ASK OUR LOCAL MEMBERS TO ATTEND THIS FREE ARMENIAN LECTURE AND INFORM US DETAILS OF THIS WELL OILED-FALSIFIED ARMENIAN BRAIN WASH TO COLLECT $$$$ IN TO THE USUAL BASKET OF GENOCIDE.COM

     

    “Remembering Our Past?


    Educating Our Future”

     

    is pleased to announce and introduce the

    Genocide Education Curriculum Materials


    Now Available on the Rhode Island Department of

     

    Education Website

     

    Curriculum Materials will be on Display

    Sunday, March 1, 2009 2-4pm

    Providence Marriott Hotel


    1 Orms Street, Providence, Rhode Island

    This event is made possible by the generous sponsorship of

    Aram Garabedian

    (Originator of the Genocide Curriculum Bill passed into law in 2000)

     

    Featured Guest

    Speaker and Author of

    “The Knock at the Door”
    Margaret Ahnert

    “The Knock at the Door” is Margaret Ahnert’s personal account of her mother, Ester’s, fi rsthand description of coming-of-age and survival during the Armenian Genocide of 1915. The book’s publication date of April 24, 2007, is notable as that is the date generally recognized Featured Guest Speaker and Author of “The Knock at the Door”     
    Margaret Ahnert and commemorated as the beginning of the Armenian Genocide. Ahnert was born in New York City. She received an MFA from Goucher College and a BA from Goddard College, and is a graduate of the Barnes Foundation. She has pursued a variety of careers including producing television documentaries, running a Pennsylvania hotel and resort, lecturing as a docent at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and teaching art appreciation through the “Art Goes to School” program in elementary schools. Married and the mother of two grown
    children and two grandchildren, she lives in New York City and Ft. Lauderdale.

     

    Refreshments will be served
    • Space is limited

     

    Educators receive priority seating
    Information regarding PDU’s available upon request

     

    Admission is FREE

    For more information or to reserve your seat, please contact:
    Esther Kalajian at 401-885-9116 or

    Pauline Getzoyan at 401-486-3776

    “Remembering Our Past, Educating Our Future” is generously supported by the Armenian Martyrs’ Memorial Committee of RI & the Armenian National Committee of RI.

  • Articles of Interest to Armenians

    Articles of Interest to Armenians

    Harut Sassounian’s Weekly Commentary

    Comments on Several Important
    Articles of Interest to Armenians


    Publisher, The California Courier
    Senior Contributor, USA Armenian Life Magazine

    In recent days, the international media published so many articlesof interest to

    Armenians that it has become impossible to readthem all, let alone comment on them!

    Here is a summary of some of the more interesting articles with a brief comment on each:

    – A senior Israeli general retaliated last week against the Turkish Prime Minister’s criticism of Israel. Major General Avi Mizrahiurged Erdogan to “first look in the mirror,” and reminded him of the Armenian Genocide, repression of the Kurds, and Turkey’s occupation of Northern Cyprus. In response, the Turkish Foreign Ministry angrily summoned Israel’s Ambassador and handed him a  diplomatic note of protest. In addition, a top Turkish official said he was offended by the Israeli General’s statement. Ironically, the murder of 1.5 million Armenians did not bother this official, but its mere mention did offend him!

    – According to the Turkish “Dogan Haber Agency,” Ali Ihsan Ozturk, President of the Teachers’ Association of Kayseri, and his colleagues, distributed halva (sweets) to passers-by in the main square of the town, “for the soul of Hitler.” Ozturk said he was doing this in reaction to the Israeli General’s criticism of Turkey. It is to be seen whether Israel’s leaders will swallow this bitter halva or retaliate with a protest note of their own!


    – As if Prime Minister Erdogan had not angered Israel and American Jews enough, a Turkish prosecutor now has launched an investigation into whether Israel’s leaders committed “genocide and crimes against humanity” in Gaza. If charged, these Israeli officials would be arrested if they visit Turkey. Regardless of the legal merits of this case, Turkey should be the last country on earth with the right to accuse anyone else of genocide! What audacity! What hypocrisy! As they say in Turkish: “Hem Suclu; Hem Guclu.” (Guilty and Macho)!

    – Zeev Elkin, a member of Israel’s Parliament, recently announced that the Knesset would shortly consider recognizing the Armenian Genocide. Israel, after years of officially refusing to recognize the Armenian Genocide in expectation of political-strategic gains from Turkey, could be finally getting on the right side of this issue.

    – Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that Israel has suspended its flights to the Turkish resort town of Antalya, fearing terrorist attacks against its citizens. The Jerusalem Post reported that thousands of Israelis are boycotting Turkey because their “anger is both deep and palpable.” Could a ban on selling Israeli arms to Turkey be next?

    – Some American Jewish organizations are waking up from their deep moral coma, at long last! The American Jewish Committee (AJC) issued a press release on January 29, denouncing “Turkish Prime Minister’s shameful outburst at Davos.” On February 1, David Harris, Executive Director of AJC, issued an Open Letter to Erdogan, accusing him of using “vicious” and “inflammatory” words to criticize Israel. Harris even dared to remind Erdogan that Turkey “chose to close the border with landlocked Armenia from 1993 to today.” Will the AJC now desist from playing the role of designated liar for Turkey on the Armenian Genocide?

    – James Holmes, a former U.S. Ambassador to Ankara and President of the American-Turkish Council (ATC), told Hurriyet newspaper: “The American-Jewish community’s support for Turkey’s position on the Armenian genocide resolution is gone. They will not expend any political energy in blocking a resolution or a presidential proclamation.” Holmes should resign from the ATC rather than lobby for genocide denial for a fistful of dollars!

    – The Jerusalem Post quoted an unnamed official with “a leading American Jewish organization” as saying: “A deterioration in Israel-Turkey relations might prompt his group and others to reconsider” support for Ankara’s denial of the Armenian Genocide. In my opinion, some Jewish groups, seeing that the Armenian Genocide might be acknowledged by the Obama administration, are wisely abandoning the sinking ship of Turkish denial and jumping on the winning side before April 24!

    – David Plouffe, former campaign manager for Barack Obama’s presidential race, was offered $50,000 by Pres. Ilham Aliyev’s despotic regime to lecture in Baku on human rights and democracy and meet with Azerbaijan’s leaders. Plouffe was so embarrassed by criticism in the international media that he decided to donate his speaking fee to “groups that advocate democratization in the turbulent post-Soviet states of the region around the Caspian and Caucasus mountain range,” according to the Wall Street Journal. One can imagine the contortions on Aliyev’s face when he finds out that his money ended up with Azeri opposition groups or Armenians in Artsakh!

    – The Azeri Press Agency (APA) reported last month that the European Union supposedly paid millions of dollars to several prominent Turks to initiate a petition apologizing for the Armenian Genocide. APA alleged that professors Ahmet Insal, Halil Berktay, Murad Belge; journalist Mehmet Ali Birand, and writer Adalet Agaoglu had received $137,000 each; Prof. Ibrahim Kaboglu, $250,000; journalist Mine Kirikhanat, $90,000; Prof. Atilla Yayla, $575,000; Ertugrul Kurkchu, $1 million; “Mazlumder” group, $100,000; and Etien Mahchupian, Editor of Agos Armenian newspaper in Istanbul, $1.3 million. The Azeri press is even more notorious than Turkey’s for distorting the news! These Turks could truly make millions of dollars should they sue the APA for libel!

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  • Living Armenian Culture

    Living Armenian Culture

    The Theatre Group Behind Out Of The Cage:
    The Flagship of Diaspora-based

    Living Armenian Culture

    By Appo Jabarian

    Executive Publisher / Managing Editor

    USA Armenian Life Magazine

    Friday,  February 20, 2009

    On Sunday February 14, the folkloric hilarities of various cultures from – of all places – Pakistan, Japan, certain parts of the Middle East, of course Armenia and Lebanon, all the way to Glendale, came into a comical focus in Hollywood, USA.

    The captivating theatrical ambiance at the Out Of The Cage comedy evening was multi-layered and multi-dimensional. The complexity and the diversity of the skits such as the farcical “Armenian Turkish Reconciliation,” the explosively comical “Japanese” and the “Triangle” sketches among several others, demanded commensurate talent. And there was certainly no shortage of that!

    The evening was topped by a colorful performance of “Peshawar Ensemble” exhibiting a refined artistic capability to embody an imaginary “lost” and “rediscovered” small Armenian community of musicians “living” in Pakistan and singing in their mother tongue Armenian, with humorously intertwined – also imaginary Pakistani-Armenian accent.

    The patron saints of this latest mostly homegrown Diaspora Armenian comedy, Vahe Berberian, Ara Madzounian and Vachik DerSarkissian, were adroitly supported by such respectable talents as Henrik Mansourian, Ara Baghdoyan, Sako Berberian, Maurice Kouyoumjian and Shahe Mankerian.

    As a young actor, Chris Bedian showed a commanding and convincing stage presence. Equally talented Harout Dedeian, Salpi Yardemian and Helena Gregorian joined him in completing the cast that so smoothly navigated through the evening thanks to its perfected artistic cohesiveness and excellent sense of timing in delivering the punch lines of each and every skit.

    The ultimate result was a parade of portrayers of a slew of hilarious characters who were adored by an electrified audience.

    This latest artistic endeavor came after four years of rewriting and recalibrating the sequence of “events” that culminated in the creation of a volcano of laughter in an otherwise still untapped terrain of Armenian theatre in America.

    Due to heightened demand, two more shows were slated for the second half of February in addition to the initial four. As of press time Monday Feb. 16, the new shows were also sold-out.

    Even though the Out Of The Cage satiated the thirst of connoisseurs of the Armenian comedy, it created an even bigger appetite for more.

    The theatre group behind this high quality and widely acclaimed Armenian theatrical achievement can be easily recognized as being the flagship of Diaspora-based living Armenian culture. Hats off to the director, the writers, the actors and the sound and stage technicians and their assistants.
  • Civil liberties villain of the week: Facebook

    Civil liberties villain of the week: Facebook

    The social networking site’s attempt to take advantage of its users’ content highlights the danger of granting a commercial entity access to your private life

    guardian.co.uk, Thursday 19 February 2009 11.47 GMT

    Drumroll, please: the first liberty central award for corporate privacy abuse goes to … Facebook, in recognition of its attempt to lay “an irrevocable, perpetual” claim to users’ original content.

    Under Facebook’s previous terms of service, the company’s right to your original content expired if you deleted your account. On February 4, it announced it had updated the terms of service. Sharp-eyed users quickly realised the new conditions retrospectivly granted the company the right to retain their old content – even if they closed their account, Facebook retained the right to market and licence their pictures and blogposts in perpetuity.

    Facebook defended the new terms, with its founder Mark Zuckerberg posting a blog titled On Facebook, People Own and Control Their Information, which could be crudely summarised as “trust us”. But yesterday, the company was forced to perform a U-turn, ditching the new stipulations in the face of heavy criticism from privacy campaigners, the threat of legal action and revolt by users. One Facebook group, People Against the New Terms of Service, grew to a membership of more than 109,000 in a matter of days. The company has now reinstated the old terms of service and has promised users more imput via a new Facebook group called the Facebook Bill of Rights and Responsibilities.

    Perhaps the real problem with Facebook is that it creates an illusion of privacy, while in reality your private thoughts will eternally reside in cyberspace. With a new study suggesting social networking sites can damage our health by reducing the time we spend building relationships face-to-face, perhaps its time we all log off and get a life?

    Nominate your civil liberties villain of the week in the comments below.

    Source:  www.guardian.co.uk, 19 February 2009

  • Brzezinski reviews US policy towards Russia

    Brzezinski reviews US policy towards Russia

    Zbigniew Brzezinski, former US National Security Adviser under Jimmy Carter, claims that bringing the Ukraine closer to the West is the key to assuring the democratization of Russia.

    In an interview for the French paper Le Figaro said that the West must work to reopen relations with Russia and that Georgia and the Ukraine must be part of that dialogue.

    Western nations, including Poland and the United States, must rework their relations with Russia in order to `slowly limit Russia’s nostalgia for imperialism and renew disarmament negotiations.`

    Brzezinski told the paper that initiating a new dialogue with Russia cannot happen at the cost of limiting the aspirations of those countries seeking NATO membership – such as the Ukraine and Georgia – especially because the Ukraine, as a NATO member opens up a transformative path to democratize Russia.

    Source:  The Georgian Times, 02.19.2009