United Nations Awards Turkcell for its CSR Campaign "Turkey's Money-Box" for the Van Earthquake

ISTANBUL, Turkey, November 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Turkcell (NYSE:TKC, ISE: TCELL), the leading communications and technology company in Turkey has announced that its education campaign "Turkey's Money-Box", initiated with the support of the Ministry of Education (MEB) and in partnership with the Turkish Education Foundation (TEV), has been granted the "UN Elite Award" at the IPRA Golden Global Awards.

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The "Turkey's Money-Box" education campaign was initiated by Turkcell with a donation of TRY5 million to lend a helping hand to earthquake victims in the Van province, who struggle with the devastating effects of the earthquake.  Donations, which have now reached TRY9.5 million thanks to Turkcell customers' support, were used to build a 132 person dormitory for high school students, where they both reside and spend their leisure time productively in a youth-friendly, steel constructed and earthquake resistant facility.  It also went towards providing scholarships for 100 notably successful students, as well as building a 192 person teacher campus, shortly ready for teachers to move into.  Turkcell has also created employment opportunities for the disabled through a call center project initiated in Van in collaboration with Turksat, and in support of the Ministry of Education (MEB).  In line with Turkcell Group's approach to people, with a particular focus on physically challenged individuals, half of the 100 people employed by Turkcell Global Bilgi in Van are disabled.

During the award ceremony where 33 companies from 15 countries received awards, Turkcell Chief Corporate Affairs Officer Koray Ozturkler commented that "We took immediate action right after the earthquakes, and as a result, the "Turkey's Money-Box" project emerged for Van; a city into which we put our hearts and affection for our people.  "Turkey's Money-Box", which we launched with a donation of TRY5 billion, has now accumulated to TRY9.5 million with the support of Turkey.  With its transparency our project has set an example for the world at every step.  Our students have already settled into their dormitories.  And our teachers will be moving into their houses before national Teachers' Day.  We had a dream, which we made come true.  We are both happy about these results and proud to be worthy of the UN's special award."

ABOUT IPRA

International Public Relations Association - IPRA was formally established in London on 1955, with the objectives of defining standards of public relations, growing the sector, and bringing together international professionals to create resources for other executives.  The awards that IPRA has been giving for 9 years are considered some of the most important in the area of Public Relations.  Candidates for IPRA awards from all over the world are evaluated according to various criteria for nomination as finalists. The objective, planning, execution, and campaign results of projects applying for the awards are evaluated step by step.

ABOUT TURKCELL

Turkcell is the leading communications and technology company in Turkey, with 35.2 million subscribers as of September 30, 2012. Turkcell is a leading regional player, with market leadership in five of the nine countries in which it operates with its approximately 68.1 million subscribers as of September 30, 2012. It has become one of the first among the global operators to have implemented HSPA+. It has achieved up to 43.2 Mbps speed using the Dual Carrier technology, and is continuously working to provide the latest technology to its customers, e.g. 84 Mbps in the near future. As of September 30, 2012, Turkcell population coverage is at 99.17% in 2G and 83.14% in 3G.  Turkcell reported a TRY2.8 billion (US$1.5 billion) net revenue with total assets of TRY18.0 billion (US$10.1 billion) as of September 30, 2012. It has been listed on the NYSE and the ISE since July 2000, and is the only NYSE-listed company in Turkey. Read more at http://www.turkcell.com.tr

For further information please contact Turkcell

Nihat Narin                            

Division Head of Investor and International Media Relations
Tel: + 90-212-313-1244
Email: [email protected]  

Banu Uzgur 

International Media Relations Manager     
Tel: + 90-212-313-1506                               
Email: [email protected] 
[email protected]

You can now follow the most up-to-date Turkcell developments on twitter by clicking on the link below.

http://twitter.com/TurkcellNews

SOURCE Turkcell