Digiturk,
Turkey's largest digital broadcasting platform with its 3.3 million customers,
was purchased by Bein Media Group, owned by Royal Family of Qatar in July last
year. This acquisition, which wouldn't normally receive much news coverage, was
much more than a regular purchase. It was rather one of the most important
cornerstones of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's quest of dominating
the media using Qatari capital. Therefore, this acquisition requires a much deeper
look.
Digiturk was
founded by Mehmet Emin Karamehmet. one of Turkey's most prominent businessmen
15 years ago. Coming from a wealthy family, Karamehmet was a visionary
businessman. who turned Cukurova Holding into an multinational empire in a
short span of time thanks to investments in banking, telecommunication, energy,
shipping and media. In 2000, when Digiturk started broadcasting, Forbes
announced that he was the 42th richest man on earth with his personal fortune
of 8 billion dollars. His fame expanded beyond Turkish borders between 1990s
and 2000s.
Economic
crisis of February 2001 in Turkey shook Karamehmet's empire deeply. He has
initially lost his banks Yapi Kredi and Pamukbank. Then he signed an agreement
with the state to restructure his debt in January 2003, when officials have
found out that he used loans exceeding the legal limit from his own banks. He
managed to pay the debt of 2.1 million dollars in short notice to save his
companies in telecommunication, shipping and media from going bankrupt or a
state bailout.
Turkish
Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (SDIF), in charge of failed banks, detected irregular credit using by Karamehmet in 2008
and appointed interim board members to his companies. Furthermore, the
businessman has signed a new protocol with the government to pay this
unexpected debt of 398 million dollars.
Although the
media mogul was relieved once more with this protocol, this relief was not to
take long. Erdogan piled the pressure on Karamehmet, as his portfolio including
Turkey's largest telecommunication
carrier Turkcell, biggest oil producer in Northern Iraq Genel Energy, military
vehicle producer BMC and Digiturk kept many businessmen closely linked to
ruling Justice and Development Party wondering.
SDIF took
another step in May 2013 and seized Cukurova Group's companies in defense,
media and digital broadcasting on the grounds that they didn't meet the
conditions of the protocol signed in 2009.
Companies were granted to AKP
affiliated businessmen
Karamehmet's
tv channels and newspapers were sold to businessmen close to AKP by SDIF
without any tenders as it's generally the method.
BMC, the
defense company, was purchased by one of the closest businessman to AKP almost
without any relevant fee.
But
Digiturk's faith would become a critical juncture including many prominent
holdings. Turk Telekom, owned by Lebanese family of Hariris and Turkish media
mogul Aydin Dogan made official offers to buy Digiturk. Moreover, two other
media moguls Ferit Sahenk and Turgay Ciner have also taken an interest in the
platform.
SDIF hasn't
sold the platform with a market capitalization of 1.2-1.4 billion dollars in an
curious decision. Rumors suggested that Ankara hasn't allowed the acquisition
before the presidential and local elections in 2014 so that the ruling AKP
would keep the reins of the media through SDIF.
Erdogan came
up with decisive victories from both local and presidential elections. After
being elected as president, Erdogan's hardened stance towards the opposing
media and his new strategy turned out to
include Digiturk in a great way.
Digiturk was
sold to Qatari Bein Media Group in July 2005, when Qatari Emir Tamim Bin
Hamad El Thani carried out an official visit to Turkey.
Digiturk,
Karamehmet's most valuable asset, was sold sold to Qataris, Erdogan's most
powerful ally on international arena, without any tender as it was the case
with his other investments. Today, five months after the purchase, the price of
the acquisition is still undisclosed.
While the
deal is still pending regulatory licenses, something very critical has
happened.
Appointed by
the government, bureaucrats who were in charge of the administration of
Digiturk since May 2013, have made a curious decision. Some anti-government tv
channels have been eliminated from the platform citing anti-terror laws. This
decision angered Digiturk subscribers as many of them have opted out of their
subscriptions. The hashtag #sansurcudigiturk
(digiturk censorship) has become a trending topic on Twitter for many
days.
This
elimination has become a public relations disaster and it has hit the company's
market capitalization greatly. But since many people assumed Qataris were in
control of the company, they blamed it on Arabs.
Qatar: The largest sponsor of
pro-Erdogan media
Qatar, who
is the leading sponsor of Erdogan's rule, first became a player in the Turkish
media landscape in 2008. Calik Holding, where Erdogan's son in law has worked
as CEO, has bought Turkey's second biggest media group Sabah-ATV from SDIF. For
this 1.1 billion dollar acquisition, the holding utilized 750 million dollars
of loan from state banks and 250 million dollars of loan from a company linked
to Qatar's sovereign wealth fund. Calik Holding paid the rest of the sum from
its own resources. Qataris, owning 25 percent share in the media group with 250
million dollars, simply donated to pave the way for Erdogan to further dominate
the Turkish media.
Qataris, not
having big expectations from this partnership, were wiling to appear on Turkish
media with their own brand. For this goal, they started searching for ways to
set up a news channel under the Al Jazeera brand and support it with local
components. The new channel would have two main goals in introducing Erdogan
and Davutoglu's policies to Balkans, Middle East and Central Asia along with
competing Turkey's most prominent news channel Cnn Turk. Qataris' first step
towards this goal would be buying Cine 5 from SDIF in 2011.
There's been even a change in Turkish broadcasting law to simplify matters for Al Jazeera. Gurkan Zengin, the author of Davutoglu's biography, was appointed to lead the channel. The location chosen for the channel would be Davutoglu backed Istanbul Sehir University's campus and many executives from pro-Davutoglu think tank SETA were appointed to channel's board. One of the executives of Al Jazeera Turk was later appointed to one of Turkish intelligency agency's crucial units.
There's been even a change in Turkish broadcasting law to simplify matters for Al Jazeera. Gurkan Zengin, the author of Davutoglu's biography, was appointed to lead the channel. The location chosen for the channel would be Davutoglu backed Istanbul Sehir University's campus and many executives from pro-Davutoglu think tank SETA were appointed to channel's board. One of the executives of Al Jazeera Turk was later appointed to one of Turkish intelligency agency's crucial units.
Al Jazeera
Turk's web news portal became online in January 2014 and provided the
government with critical material to exploit in its election campaigns and
joined the defamation campaigns against opposition figures.
Turkish
media, under heavy pressure from court cases, arrests and interrogations, now
faces complete closure of tv channels and elimination from digital broadcasting
platforms as new instruments of censorship. Qataris', with their track record
that supported an Erdogan domination in Turkish media for the last seven years,
wouldn't surprise anyone by further accomplicing in attacks against media
freedom for the years to come.
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