Tulin DALOGLU

The Decline of Freedom of Expression in Turkey

Şub 27, 2009 | The Decline of Freedom of Expression in Turkey için yorumlar kapalı

Turkey Analyst

Tülin Daloğlu

On February 16, Turkey’s largest media company, the Dogan Media Group, was fined nearly $500 million for an alleged late tax payment. Tax laws are complicated, and the exact circumstances of the matter are unclear. The troubling point is that this follows on five months of public bullying of the Dogan group by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Since September, he has repeatedly asked his followers to boycott DMG’s newspapers. The tax investigation into the Dogan group, moreover, began only a few weeks after the opening of a court case to close the governing AKP. Erdogan argues that the tax case is a matter not of press freedom but of tax evasion, yet the fine can hardly be defended as “business as usual.”

This Isn’t Your Mother’s Turkey

Şub 6, 2009 | This Isn’t Your Mother’s Turkey için yorumlar kapalı

Middle East Times

By TULIN DALOGLU

Anger is rarely seen as a virtue of leadership. There are exceptions. When Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan lost his temper and stormed off stage during a discussion on Gaza at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, many Turks thought him to be a hero. The Arab streets followed suit. It was almost as though Erdogan had rehearsed his clash with Israeli President Shimon Peres to gain attention in the Muslim world.

“When it comes to killing, we know how you do it well,” Erdogan told Israeli President Shimon Peres. Erdogan claimed his reaction was over the humanitarian situation in Gaza.