Oct. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Turkish businessman Aydin Dogan, who is fighting the government over $3.9 billion of tax bills, is seeking buyers for stakes in businesses owned by the country’s largest television and radio company.

Dogan will seek a partner for Dogan Yayin Holding AS or sell stakes in its assets, which include television channels, radio stations and newspapers, according to a filing at the Istanbul Stock Exchange late yesterday.

The tax demands, issued this year, cast doubt on a bid by Turkey to join the European Union because they threaten press freedom, the European Commission said Oct. 14. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan denies they are politically motivated after Dogan’s newspapers and television channels linked his party with an Islamic charity in Germany accused of fraud. The tax office is independent, Erdogan said.

Germany’s Axel Springer AG is a partner in the radio and television businesses of Dogan Yayin, which had a market value of 1 billion liras ($713 million) based on the share price at the close of trading in Istanbul yesterday.

Austria’s OMV AG said yesterday it had put on hold a planned purchase of shares in Dogan’s fuel retailer Petrol Ofisi AS until the “dust settles” on the tax issue.

Dogan Yayin is seeking a settlement with the tax office over a demand for 4.8 billion liras of back taxes for mergers between its units, the company said Oct. 22. The company also faces a bill of 915 million liras related to the sale of shares to Axel Springer.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Bentley in Istanbul at mbentley3@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: October 24, 2009 08:31 EDT