If you are big, it is only natural you seek to become bigger. But what if you are already huge? You cannot grow anymore, right? If you are huge, you only eventually attract envy and jealousy.
Nowadays, this is the fate of Doğan Media Holding (DMH), the biggest media group in Turkey, which publishes the most influential newspaper in Turkey, Hürriyet, as well as many other daily papers and a large number of magazines. DMH also owns two of the highest-rated TV stations (Kanal-D and Star-TV) as well as a 24-hour news station (CNN Türk).
As you can surmise from its name, DMH''s CNN Türk is co-owned by CNN International. In many of its publications, DMH has forged alliances with foreign publishers. Recently, it sold some of its most valuable titles'' shares to the Axell Springel Co. of Germany.
DMH is a subsidiary of another huge holding company: Doğan Holding (DH). DH''s interests extend from oil to tourism. It had a financial institution, too, but DH found it convenient to sell it to a foreign interest, Fortis Bank. DH has its eye on a new oil refinery if it can get permission from the government. It also owns Turkey''s first five-star hotel, the Hilton İstanbul, which is located in a jewel-like setting overlooking the Bosporus.
This is the success story of a single man with a humble beginning. Aydın Doğan was not a household name before he became the owner of Milliyet, a respectful center-left daily, most famous for its legendary Editor-in-Chief Abdi İpekçi, who fell victim to a political assassination in February 1979. The owners, after İpekci''s demise, decided to get rid of the paper, and Aydın Doğan volunteered to buy it. I myself had never heard Aydın Doğan''s name before he became Milliyet''s owner, as I did not indulge in automobiles and had never dropped by his dealership showroom.
He is a family man, and his four daughters help him run his huge media companies, each at the helm of one of the newspapers or TV stations owned by their father. A daughter of his is the current president of TÜSİAD, the highly influential Turkish Industrialists and Businessmen''s Association, and another serves as a board member for IPI, the International Press Institute, headquartered in Vienna.
DH and DMH are both huge companies, colossal even, so they of course attract envy and jealousy.
I myself envy the power they exercise in many fields. Mine is of course an unimportant sentiment that won''t hurt their chances of success in business. But some see the hand of this huge conglomerate in every unorthodox development in the country.
Right before the general elections for instance, DH''s oil-distribution company, POAS, had been bestowed a tax reduction to the effect that the Finance Ministry wrote off almost four-fifths of its debt and penalties for tax-evasion tactics; the naysayers used this event to criticize the practice as well as its consequences.
The same jealousy becomes evident whenever the papers and TV stations owned by DMG start criticizing the government. Some people attribute the negative banners and shocking headlines of the papers to DH''s extraordinary demands directed secretly at the government.
We are now going through sensitive times in Turkey. The ruling party is trying to introduce a brand new constitution, prepared by a panel of respected jurists that will be adopted after a discussion period predicted to last a minimum of six months. So what should you expect from the papers owned by DMH, whose main shareholders are Aydın Doğan and his four daughters, one of whom is the president of TÜSİAD, the businessmen''s association that has promoted a constitutional change for years?
No, your conclusions are wrong. The newspapers, together with DMH''s TV stations, are doing everything in their power to stop the ruling party from going ahead with its intentions of giving Turkey a new constitution; the first civilian constitution in at least 45 years, drawn, prepared, adopted and ratified by civilians. The last two constitutions of Turkey were accepted after the military interventions of 1960 and 1980, and they both represent a strict code of conduct in almost all sectors of public life. A popular government with almost half of the electorate''s backing is now an opportunity to introduce a new constitution.
DMH''s publications won''t allow this to happen. They are creating a smokescreen to prohibit a healthy public discussion and aim to compel the ruling party to back down on its intention of going forward with the brand new constitution. They use every opportunity in their offensive attacks with little regard for civility. If you live in Turkey, you may not want to venture out into the streets after reading its publications or watching its TV stations, paralyzed with the fear that Turkey has become an intolerant country overnight. If you are a recent visitor keeping in touch with Turkey through the media, you may have the impression that the Turkey you knew now is a different country altogether.
Turkey has not changed a bit; the country is as modern as before, even more so, and its inhabitants are as civil and tolerant as they always were.
When I got into his taxi, a cabby, right before the elections, asked me with bewildered eyes, “What does Aydın Doğan want from us?” Although I''m envious about the group''s immense power, I replied with soothing sentences. I now am afraid to cross paths with the same cabby, fearing that he will ask me the same question again.
I do not know what Aydın Doğan wants from us. If you, dear reader, have the answer, please let me know.
