Government not part of Doğan tax issue, says Erdoğan

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Saturday said news reports suggesting that a hefty fine imposed on Doğan Yayın Media last week for alleged tax evasion was triggered by a government initiative were untrue, saying he had not been involved in the Finance Ministry's audit decisions at any point and adding that he saw the allegations as an attempt of the Doğan Group to defend itself.
Last week Doğan Yayın Holding, a conglomerate of publishing companies under the umbrella of Doğan Holding, was fined TL 826.2 for alleged irregularities in its tax returns by the Halkalı Tax Office. Doğan Yayın officials announced that they would challenge the allegations in court.
Some newspapers, particularly those affiliated with the Doğan Media Group, published headline news pieces alleging that the fine was levied against Doğan through the efforts of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) administration in an attempt to curtail freedom of the press and free speech.
Speaking to journalists on Saturday while on a plane to Diyarbakır to take part in his party's municipal elections campaign, the prime minister said: "The government cannot tell the Finance Ministry to open an investigation or review certain files. The Finance Ministry conducts such audits periodically with its tax inspectors and controllers. Irregularities were detected when the Doğan group underwent such an inspection. This has happened before. They asked to negotiate and paid a fine at the end of that process. This is a standard Finance Ministry procedure and affects all media groups [equally]. Similarly, there are standard procedures of the Capital Markets Board [SPK]. This is an independent institution. Am I directing it, too?"

A response from tax inspectors
The Ankara-based Tax Inspectors Association (VDD) on Saturday warned that news reports suggesting that the fine for alleged tax evasion was ordered by the government would be a violation of principles of impartiality in the judicial process.
In response to the allegations, the VDD on Saturday released a statement, although the text avoided any direct reference to Doğan group newspapers. The VDD, in a statement referring to reports suggesting that the prime minister was behind the fine imposed on Doğan, said, "These reports, written by reporters after insufficient research and analysis, have deeply hurt our colleagues."
The VDD statement said alleging the prime minister's involvement in the Doğan affair amounted to execution without trial of the tax auditors who inspected the Doğan accounts. The text noted legislation in place and very tight inspections on the part of inspectors, adding that inspectors engaged in unethical conduct are never tolerated in the profession.
"Accusatory news pieces that belittle tax inspectors' duty and tax inspectors can also be described as 'execution without trial.' No one can be declared guilty without a confirmed court ruling. These baseless smears are hurtful and untrue and are a violation of the principle of presumption of innocence. They constitute the crimes of attempting to influence the independent judiciary, attempting to influence persons carrying out judicial duties and falsely accusing and smearing," the statement said.
"…We expect an end to be put to the baseless and false publications associating tax inspectors with [attempts to prevent] press freedom and criticism, and for the public to be correctly informed. Our association will pursue all developments related to publications that are unjust and incorrectly inform the public and take any actions necessary [to stop this]," the statement added.


[Sigma Contract Specification]

Sigma Forex provide the clients with the lowest spreads in Forex Market for the most traded pairs and Forex spots.

Trading Hours
Sigma Dealing Room operate 24/5 from Sunday 23:00 CET until Friday 23.00 CET.
You Can contact us directly: + 41 435 004 145

Margin Requirements
The margin requirements must be respected by Friday at 23:00 GMT and before holidays.
One of our dealers will contact you if you are below your margin requirements at that time. Your margin requirements will depend on the client's account equity. However, if you approach the level where the loss of your open positions approaches the balance of your account, you will be stopped out and your positions will be closed. Stop positions will be executed when there is only around 50% equity of the required margin left in your account.

Streamline Dealing
Clients will not suffer Price Re-Quote that you can buy and sell directly on real-time prices without a request for quote (RFQ).
Clients taking advantage of wrong price quotes in the Market Watch will be requoted.
Sigma Forex effort is taken to ensure correct pricing at all times. However, there are rare circumstances when wrong prices are given.

Stop Order Execution
Volatile market conditions can result in prices gapping, which may prevent the execution of stop orders (sell stop, buy stop, stop loss) at the price you initially requested. However, our dealers strive to execute all stop orders at the price, or failing that, at the best attainable rate the market allows.

Lot Types
Sigma Forex has generated an ultimate account type that allow you to trade Standard, Mini and Micro lot in the same account which is Sigma Account to make it more simple and easy for traders.

Multi Currency Denomination

Sigma offers the ability to set-up accounts denominated in the following currencies:

• United States dollar (USD)
• Euro (EUR)
• Great Britain pound (GBP)
• Australian dollar (AUD)
• Swiss Frank (CHF)

There is no minimum deposit for opening an account, in order to review the spreads, pip value & margin requirement choose the required pair, leverage & the lot type.

If you have any problem regarding Sigma Contract Specification click on the Live Chat button on the right hand side and our customer support staff will help you through the process.