UK court dismisses appeal by Çukurova in Turkcell ownership dispute

ISTANBUL - Reuters

A British court on May 13 dismissed an appeal by Turkey’s Çukurova Holding in a dispute with TeliaSonera over the ownership of Turkey’s biggest mobile phone operator Turkcell.

The UK Privy Council threw out Çukurova’s appeal against an order from a court in Geneva to pay $932 million in damages to TeliaSonera for failing to execute a 2005 agreement to sell its 53 percent stake in Turkcell Holding to TeliaSonera.

Çukurova appealed to the UK Privy Council to rule on whether the Geneva tribunal had the jurisdiction to make the demand for damages, which Çukurova disputes.

The Privy Council is involved because Çukurova Finance International is registered in the British Virgin Islands, part of the British Commonwealth, a grouping of countries which are mostly former territories of the British Empire.