Turkey's energy watchdog EPDK hasn't rejected any application for building a refinery in the country, head of the regulator Hasan Koktas said late Monday, the Ihlas News Agency, or OHA, reported Tuesday.
Petrol Ofisi (PTOFS.IS), controlled by Turkish media to energy conglomerate Dogan Holding (DYHOL.IS) and Austria's energy firm OMV (OMV.VI), has applied to build a refinery in the Turkish Mediterranean oil hub Ceyhan, where the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline and Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline from Iraq meet.
Aydin Dogan owner of the country's largest media group, which controls around 40% of the advertising market, claims that the EPDK didn't grant a refinery license for Petrol Ofisi due to his media group's coverage of corruption allegations and alleged links between actors of the corruption and Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan.
On the other hand the Prime Minister claims that Dogan media group has launched a campaign against the government after Istanbul municipality, also controlled by the ruling AK Party, prevented Aydin Dogan from constructing larger buildings in valuable land at the center of the city