Turkcell Donates TRY5 Million to "Turkey's Money-box" to Initiate Education Campaign in the Van Earthquake Zone

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Feb 15, 2012, 04:32 ET

ISTANBUL, February 15, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Turkcell (NYSE: TKC, ISE: TCELL), the leading communications and technology company, has initiated an education campaign in the Van region, which continues to struggle with the unfolding and devastating effects of its recent earthquake, with a donation of TRY5 million. Supported by the Ministry of Education (MEB) and in partnership with the Turkish Education Foundation (TEV), the education campaign will be supported with a teachers' campus and student dorm, as well as scholarships for promising students. Additionally, a communication center will be launched in Van-Ercis.

In a continuing effort to stand shoulder to shoulder with earthquake victims in the region, Turkcell, together with TEV, has appealed to all individuals, corporations and institutions for a collaborative gesture by donating to "Turkey's Money-box" for the revival of Van. The project features a Teacher Campus consisting of 2+1 houses to be built on 5 acres of land and a dorm to be built on land of 1,500 square meters; each are to have a capacity of 100 people and feature surrounding social facilities. The Teacher Campus will enable teachers also to live with their families. Construction is set to commence in March 2012 and be completed in time for the new education term in September 2012. Additionally, 100 scholarships will be granted in association with TEV to successful students attending Industrial Occupation High Schools. The more donations there are, the greater number of teacher's houses built and scholarships granted.

What's more, in contribution to an improvement of the unemployment problem in Van, a communication center with 100 staff will be launched in Van-Ercis with the support of the MEB. The MEB Communication Center, to be open 7/24, will initially take calls related to MEB Educational Technologies. The call center is planned to be opened in March, and will employ staff from the neighborhood of Van with 50% being disabled.

Commenting on the project, Turkcell CEO Sureyya Ciliv said that "Right after the earthquake, we got together to meet the urgent requirements of people in the affected region. While delivering these services, we had one question in mind, "What else can be done?". In answer to the question, we came up with this project, into which we put our minds, knowledge, experience, hearts, and the love that we feel for our people, in order to share in the future and hope of Turkey. Ciliv went on to comment that "People living in Turkey harbor a noble instinct to be helpful. With this value, we can unite to overcome even the most difficult situations in the hardest of times. We thought to ourselves, "Why not include more people and institutions in this movement to reach out to more people in need?", and together with TEV we launched the "Turkey's Money-box". As Turkcell we initiated a transparent, accountable and an exemplary campaign, donated TRY5 million to the "Turkey's Money-box", and loudly deliver this simple message to all individuals and institutions: We will build a Teacher Campus and dorm with the support of the MEB to provide warmth to both teachers and students. We will also support education through scholarships. Let's rebuild Van with every cent donated to "Turkey's Money-box". Let's reach out to more people and revive Van!" Sureyya Ciliv concluded his comments by thanking the MEB and TEV for their cooperation in this project.

Individuals or institutions wishing to support the Teacher Campus project can donate towards the total TRY60,000 cost of a furnished house, whereby the property is named after them.

Donations can be made by sending an SMS to 5283 from Turkey and Northern Cyprus thereby making an automatic donation of TRY5, by writing VAN in the text body, or else online by credit card at http://www.turkiyekumbarasi.com. Additionally, money transfers can be made at the banks listed below.

*Akbank Ozel Bankacilik Nisantasi Branch (branch code 775)
TRY account IBAN - TR50 0004 6007 7588 8000 0065 65
EURO account IBAN - TR91 0004 6007 7503 6000 6565 65

*YapıKrediBankasiEsentepeOzelBankacilikCenter (branch code 375)
TRY account IBAN - TR88 0006 7010 0000 0000 0065 65
EURO account IBAN - TR07 0006 7010 0000 0000 6565 65

*Garanti Bankasi Mecidiyekoy Branch (branch code 119)
TRY account IBAN - TR68 0006 2000 1190 0000 0065 65
EURO account IBAN - TR84 0006 2000 1190 0000 6565 65

*Is Bankasi Gayrettepe Branch (branch code 1080)
TRY account IBAN - TR91 0006 4000 0011 0800 7679 03
EURO account IBAN - TR87 0006 4000 0021 0801 4815 02

*Vakiflar Bankasi Mecidiyekoy Branch (branch code 153)
TRY account IBAN - TR94 0001 5001 5800 7299 6194 69
EURO account IBAN - TR60 0001 5001 5804 8013 2226 95

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.