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CHP Submits Parliamentary Inquiry Against PM Erdogan Over His Role In Media Sale
 
CHP submitted today a parliamentary inquiry against Turkish PM Tayyip Erdogan over the sale of Turkey’s second largest media group Sabah-ATV to pro-AKP Calik Group managed by PM’s son-in-law. The opposition party is accusing the PM of abusing his authority, interfering in the sale process and for acting on behalf of the buyer. The shares of the media group were transferred to Calik last month following the payment of the purchase price of $1.1 billion. The assets of Sabah’s previous owner were seized by the government that later sold them to Calik who financed the purchase with public funds taken as loans from two state-owned banks.Calik also partnered with a newly founded Qatar-based media company who bought 25% of Sabah shares. Ahmet Calik, the owner and chairman of the buyer was introduced to Qatar’s Emir Hamad bin Khalifa by President Abdullah Gul during his January visit in Syria. It was reported that Calik also accompanied Gul in February and PM Erdogan in April when they visited Qatar. In recent months Turkey’s president, prime minister and eight other ministers had visited Qatar. Media reports had indicated that other consortiums that had initially shown interest in purchasing Sabah-ATV pulled out of the tender after PM Erdogan contacted them, leaving Calik the sole bidder. The motion submitted by the CHP is expected to be rejected and not discussed in the parliament due to AKP majority in parliament that will vote against it – just as they rejected another CHP motion this week, regarding the police violence on May Day. Source: Hurriyet, all Turkish dailies, Turkey, May 14, 2008
Posted at: 2008-05-14
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