Turkish regulator to appoint two Turkcell board members in 1-2 weeks

ISTANBUL

Turkcell Chief Executive Süreyya Ciliv speaks during a news conference to present the T40 smart phone, the company's new product, in Istanbul August 20, 2013. REUTERS/Murad Sezer

Turkey’s Capital Markets Board (SPK) will appoint two members to the management board of the country’s leading mobile phone company Turkcell in one to two weeks, SPK chairman Vahdettin Ertaş told reporters Sept.3.

“The time given to shareholders for them to declare their candidates for the chair has run out yesterday [Sept. 2],” Ertaş said at the Islamic Finance Roadshow event hosted by Borsa Istanbul.

“Since there are foreign names among the nominated ones, you don’t know them that well,” he also said, without specifying any candidates’ names.

Two weeks ago, the SPK had appointed two more board members to the seven-member board, in addition to the previous three it had assigned in March.

It had also called each of the three major shareholders, Turkish Çukurova, Russia-based Altimo and Nordic Teliasonera holding, to propose the two candidates for the two remaining chairs and the time given ran out on Sept. 2.

Turkcell has been unable to agree the make-up of its board or pay dividends due to a dispute between major shareholders.