A Meaningful Award for Turkcell's Snowdrops From London

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Nov 16, 2011, 08:41 ET

ISTANBUL, November 16, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

Turkcell (NYSE: TKC, ISE: TCELL), the leading communications and technology company's Snowdrops Project has been elected best in the category of 'Social Contribution' at the World Communication Awards 2011 (WCA) where the preeminent players of the communication and telecommunication sectors are determined. The Snowdrop Project, which has been conducted successfully together with the Association in Support of Contemporary Living, participated for the first time this year in the World Communications Awards, one of the most prestigious organizations in the telecommunications sector.

Chief corporate affairs officer Koray Ozturkler said that "We believe in our children's potential, and that we create equal opportunity through sustainable education projects to explore this potential. So far, 85,000 Turkcell scholarships have been granted through Snowdrops, Turkey's longest lived project, spanning the entire country from east to west, and continue to provide scholarships to 10.000 girls every year. Surveys reveal that Snowdrops tops the list as the most acknowledged and the loved social responsibility project. Indeed, Snowdrops, the reputation of which has reached beyond our own borders, and which was chosen as the exemplary project by the United Nations and Global Women Summit, has now received a well-deserved internationally prestigious award. We are happy and proud at this."

A committee of 18 world-renowned professionals has determined the best among 18 categories at the World Communication Awards, which was held for the 13^th time this year. The jury members commented that in setting the criteria for the Social Contribution category award they evaluated those projects that were effective, sustainable, and the results of which were measurable, as well as those that were non-profit in nature and that contributed to the promotion of the health, education or welfare of society in terms of economic prosperity.

About the Snowdrops Project

The Snowdrops Project aims to provide equal opportunity in education to those girls who cannot continue their studies due to their families' financial difficulties, turning them into visionary individuals, with a profession. At the end of 2010-11 academic year, 2,040 Snowdrops graduated from high school and 283 Snowdrops graduated from university. To date, 85,000 scholarships have been granted in total. Among those Snowdrops to have graduated from university are doctors, lawyers, nurses and teachers.

The Snowdrops Project received the attention of National Geographic, which set about making a documentary about it, which was shot by a crew of 11 from September 2008 to April 2009. For the documentary, the Snowdrops and their families were interviewed in Istanbul, Kars, Erzurum and Mardin. Hence, this marked a first for Turkey, whereby a social responsibility project was documented by National Geographic Channel.

Snowdrops was introduced as an exemplary project in March of last year at a panel organized by the United Nations, named Beijing+15. This year, the project was presented during the Global Women's Summit, which took place between May 5-7 in Istanbul with the participation of 35 ministers and 500 attendees from around the world.

About WCA

World Communication Awards (WCA) is an organization established by Total Telecom that since 1999 has recognised excellence among global telecom operators. http://www.totaltele.com, a key digital channel, has 90,000 individual visitors from 150 countries each month. WCA aims to award those companies and individuals who bring innovation and pioneering products to the sector. WCA is known as the most prestigious award in the telecommunications world for factors such as the independence of the organization, the participation of various sized companies from around the world and bringing to the agenda issues of crucial importance for the sector. WCA's gala dinner hosts around 500 CEOs and executives from around the world, making it the most attended organization in the telecommunication sector.

ABOUT TURKCELL

Turkcell is the leading communications and technology company in Turkey, with 34.4 million subscribers and a market share of approximately 53% as of September 30, 2011 (Source: Operator's announcements as of September 30, 2011). Turkcell is a leading regional player, with market leadership in five of the nine countries in which it operates with its approximately 63.3 million subscribers as of September 30, 2011. The company covers approximately 87% of the Turkish population through its 3G and 99.07% through its 2G technology supported network. It has become one of the first among the global operators to have implemented HSDPA+ and achieved a 42.2 Mbps speed using the HSPA multi carrier solution. Turkcell reported a TRY2.5 billion (US$1.5 billion) net revenue with total assets of TRY16.6 billion (US$9.0 billion) as of September 30, 2011. It has been listed on the NYSE and the ISE since July 2000, and is the only NYSE-listed company in Turkey.