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TELE1 announced that the Radio, Television, and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) asked them to pay the fines that have not yet been finalized, within two weeks.
It was said that if the fines are not paid, the channel will be shut down and its license will be sold.
With the debt that has not been finalized yet, the total penalty amount is 1 million 800 thousand lira (≈ 105,030 dollar / 1 dollar ≈ 17,14 lira).
Merdan Yanardağ, TELE 1 Editor in Chief stated the following during a TV broadcast on Monday evening (Jun 6).
"There has been a conspiracy against TELE 1. RTÜK handed over the penalties to the tax office. Some debts have not been restructured, debts left from the period before us."
"They combined these debts, charged interest, and started a foreclosure against TELE1. They announced that they would put the license of TELE1 up for sale if we do not pay the stipulated 1 million 800 thousand lira within two weeks. They could not fear us with political pressures and threats, they could not silence us with penalties, now they are threatening us with selling our license."
Stating that the debts in question are all disputed debts, Yanardağ said:
"We are objecting to that. They claim that a notification was sent to us via e-mail and the time has expired. We have time until the 22nd of June. It is a threat against us."
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(HA/TB)