Turkish Media Group Is Fined $2.5 Billion

Turkey's Tax Ministry this week imposed a $2.5 billion fine on a media group, Dogan Yayin, a conglomerate of newspapers and television stations that has been the most critical of the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's strong-willed prime minister. The fine was issued Monday, just months after a first tax penalty of more than $500 million was leveled against the group, whose holdings include CNN-Turk, a Turkish-language version of CNN that is jointly owned with the Time Warner broadcasting company. The group's parent organization, Dogan Holding, is owned in part by a Turkish businessman, Aydin Dogan, who has been an outspoken critic of Mr. Erdogan. Many of his papers portray Mr. Erdogan as pushing secular Turkey in a direction that is too Islamic. The fines are nearly as much as the value of the holding company, raising fears that Mr. Erdogan is trying to put the entire conglomerate out of business.