ISTANBUL, Turkey, November 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Turkcell (NYSE: TKC, ISE: TCELL), the leading technology and communications company in Turkey, announced today that its Chief Executive, Sureyya Ciliv, was last night named CEO of the Year at the prestigious 'World Communication Awards' ("WCA") for 2009.

Sureyya Ciliv received this award for his considerable contribution to the development of the communication and technology sector in Turkey and for his leadership in making Turkcell such an innovative and successful company during the years 2008/2009.

Receiving his award from BBC reporter Jeremy Vine at a ceremony held at the Hilton Park Lane Hotel in London, Sureyya Ciliv said:

"I am delighted to accept this award on behalf of all Turkcell employees, retailers and associates, all of whom work incredibly hard to ensure that Turkcell continues to set the highest standards in everything we do. This is an award not for a single person but for a big team. In the field of communication and technology, I have always said that Turkish people have great potential and are willing to work hard to prove that the sky is the limit, now I believe this award firmly endorses that claim."

Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was the first person to call and congratulate Sureyya Ciliv for the 'CEO of the Year' award.

The "CEO of the Year" award is a new WCA category for 2009. The WCA drew up a shortlist of 11 CEOs, all of whom made a real difference to their business and helped develop their sector during 2008/2009. Votes were cast from all over the world for the "CEO of the Year" - other nominees included the CEOs of Zain, Portugal Telecom, Etisalat and Orange Business Services. The WCA said "Sureyya Ciliv is really passionate about what he does...He is result oriented, but also supports his people to innovate, even when it's risky."

In 2008 the WCA made Steve Jobs, Chairman of Apple, its "Person of the Decade." The WCA's "Most Influential Person" award was previously given to Viviane Reding (EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media) in 2007, Eric Schmidth (Chairman of Google) in 2006, and Ben Verwaayen (Chairman of BT Group) in 2005.

Turkcell was short - listed in 5 categories

This year there were 17 WCA categories and Turkcell was short-listed in 5 of them. In addition to "CEO of the Year", Turkcell was nominated in the "Best Content" category for its SMS Call service, in the "Best Device Strategy" category for its Blackberry Bold campaign, in the "Best Change-Maker" category for its Turkcell Mobile Marketing team, and in the "Green Award" category for its Izmir Water Distribution Monitoring System.

At the 2008 WCA, "gnctrkcll", the youth club of Turkcell,won the "Best Brand" category.

About Sureyya Ciliv

Sureyya Ciliv was born in Zonguldak, Turkey, in 1958. In 1981 he graduated from Michigan University Computer Engineering and Industrial Engineering departments. In 1983 he received his MBA degree from Harvard University.

His business life started as a Software Development Engineer in the Metagraphics Company in Massachusetts. Later he was promoted to International Sales and Marketing Director at the same company.

Sureyya Ciliv established Novasoft Systems in 1987 and took the role of Chief Executive and Chairman over the following decade. He returned to Turkey in 1997 as Microsoft Country Manager. After being appointed to the Microsoft head office in the USA in 2000, he occupied various positions as a senior executive in the Microsoft Global Sales, Marketing and Services Group until 2007.

Since January 2007, Sureyya Ciliv has been Chief Executive of Turkcell, the leading communication and technology company in Turkey.

ABOUT The World Communication Awards The World Communication Awards recognise the companies and individuals responsible for the innovations, achievements and great new services that are helping to build tomorrows industry. The Awards are open to all communications providers, whether they are traditional carrier, service provider, multimedia content provider or another organisation providing a communication service.

ABOUT TURKCELL

Turkcell is the leading Mobile operator in Turkey with 36.0 million postpaid and prepaid customers as of September 30, 2009 operating in a three player market with a market share of approximately 56% as of September 30, 2009 (Source: operators' announcements). Turkcell, is the technology leader providing EDGE technology across the country. Turkcell also provides high quality data and voice services to 65% of the population (as at 30 September 2009) through the implementation of its 3G technology. Turkcell provides roaming with 628 operators in 206 countries as of September 18, 2009. Serving a large subscriber base in Turkey with its high-quality wireless telephone network, Turkcell reported $1.6 billion net revenue for the quarter ended September 30, 2009 as per IFRS financial statements. Turkcell has interests in international Mobile operations in Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Northern Cyprus and Ukraine and together with Turkey had approximately 61.9 million subscribers as of September 30, 2009. Turkcell has been listed on the NYSE ("New York Stock Exchange") and the ISE ("Istanbul Stock Exchange") since July 2000 and is the only NYSE listed company in Turkey. 51.00% of Turkcell's share capital is held by Turkcell Holding, 0.05% by Cukurova Group, 13.07% by Sonera Holding, 2.32% by M.V. Group and 0.08% by others while the remaining 33.48% is free float.

    For further information please contact Turkcell

    Nihat Narin, Investor and International Media Relations
    Tel: +90-212-313-1244
    Email: nihat.narin@turkcell.com.tr
    investor.relations@turkcell.com.tr

    http://www.turkcell.com.tr

SOURCE Turkcell

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