ISTANBUL – Turkey’s largest media company, Dogan Yayin Holding, said yesterday an injunction on its bank accounts imposed due to a tax dispute had been lifted, giving it a slight boost in its battle with the authorities.
Dogan Yayin, embroiled in a tax row that has sparked fears about press freedom in EU candidate Turkey, said the injunction applied to 915 million lira (€422 million) in collateral sought by the tax office.
The injunction was lifted after it had presented a collateral guarantee letter to the tax office.
Dogan Yayin, which controls half of the Turkish private media market, has accused the government of singling it out because of critical coverage of Turkish prime minister Tayyip Erdogan’s AK Party government.
The government has accused Dogan newspapers and television channels of acting like an opposition party. It denies charges it is punishing Dogan for political reasons. Dogan Yayin also faces a demand for 4.8 billion lira in collateral from the tax office in a separate dispute.
Earlier yesterday, Dogan Yayin said the separate preliminary injunction on its bank accounts imposed over the 4.8 billion lira tax dispute had “no significant impact” on its financial accounts.
Its shares were up 1 per cent at 1.06 lira after the announcements.
There have been doubts about Dogan Yayin’s ability to pay the record fine over alleged tax irregularities without selling assets.
The European Commission has said the latest fine threatened press freedom in Turkey and could damage its bid to become the first Muslim member of the EU.
The 915 million lira collateral demand was linked to a tax penalty imposed over alleged irregularities in Dogan Yayin’s sale of a 25 per cent stake to German publisher Axel Springer for €375 million in 2006. – (Reuters)