TUSKON to sue dailies over disputed land reports

TUSKON President Rızanur Meral
TUSKON President Rızanur Meral


Date posted: October 30, 2014

Leading Turkish business group, the Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists (TUSKON) said on Thursday it will soon file lawsuits against certain government dailies which published allegations of irregularities regarding disputed land in İstanbul.

Following a government decision earlier this week, a tender for a large parcel of land in İstanbul, which was previously won by TUSKON, was reopened despite a prior court decision barring such a move. Although it acquired the land in İstanbul’s Yenibosna district in a tender put out by the Finance Ministry back in 2011, TUSKON said, the same land was offered in a tender to other entrepreneurs on Monday this week. Following the tender, government dailies Sabah, Yeni Şafak and Yeni Akit published reports including false information and slander targeting TUSKON, the confederation said on Thursday, adding that it had commenced legal proceedings against the “smear campaign.”

TUSKON said in a written statement on Thursday that the confederation denies the information published in some of the pro-government dailies.

The confederation acquired the land in 2011 in a tender put out by the Finance Ministry, and agreed to rent it for 49 years at a price of TL 1.6 million per year. However, earlier this year, the Prime Ministry attempted to cancel the ongoing authorization process, which had already been extended on two occasions. A subsequent court decision resulted in a stay of execution which barred the cancellation of the process. However, according to TUSKON’s statement, a new tender was opened for the 36,000-square-meter piece of land on Monday by Emlak Konut GYO — a subsidiary of the Housing Development Administration of Turkey (TOKİ) — in defiance of the court decision. A total of 13 companies participated in the first session of the tender process on Monday.

Source: Today's Zaman , October 30, 2014


Related News

Koza Altın latest victim of government silencing political dissent

Gold mining company Koza Altın A.Ş., the owner of Bugün daily and Kanal Türk TV station, had its activities halted on Tuesday in Çukuralan goldfield, one of the company’s five major gold mines, in a move that has been perceived as the most recent example of the government’s exploitation of inspections and red tape to put pressure on those with critical views.

Gülen urges patience over prep schools row

Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen expressed unhappiness over government [in Turkey] plans to abolish educational institutions that assist high school students to prepare for the national university admission examination and urged people to be patient in the face of this move, which is interpreted as a blow to education in the country.

Prove it [that Hizmet linked to graft operation]

There are some people who fail to look at the charges that have been leveled against the detainees in the corruption operation that has touched the sons of three ministers and instead they just speculate about the timing and forces that prompted the operation.

Turkey’s tryst with democracy (1)

All of Erdoğan’s recent acts reflect a serious deficit of democracy in the ruling government. These acts include making bogus claims of a parallel structure; targeting institutions linked to Fethullah Gülen’s Hizmet movement; embark on a massive reshuffle of thousands of officials without any reasonable grounds; changing the structure of the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) to subjugate the judiciary; openly interfering in the media; strengthening the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) and bringing it under the direct control of the prime minister; banning Twitter and YouTube; and speaking with a threatening, bullying and polarizing tone.

TUSKON says 2 businessmen threatened members with ‘blacklisting’

Two Turkish businessmen from the Central Anatolian city of Konya have threatened a business confederation by telling it to “cut ties” with Turkey’s largest volunteer-based grassroots movement, the Hizmet movement, or be placed on a government blacklist of entrepreneurs affiliated with the movement, the head of the business confederation has said.

Turkey’s ‘terrorists’ active in India. But who are they really?

Interestingly, Gulen was once an important ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and going by his ideology, comes across as a more moderate figure than Erdogan, who has been pushing an Islamic ideology which has little space for secularism. Till very recently, Erdogan’s policy being criticised for allegedly allowing Turkish territory to be used by terrorists.

Latest News

Fethullah Gulen – man of education, peace and dialogue – passes away

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

In Case You Missed It

Erdoğan’s efforts to destroy the Gulen movement aimed at consolidating his own power and regime

40,000 people reported to authorities for being Gülen followers since July 15

Turkish School Officially Opens in Rwanda

I’m ashamed

US-based think tank says Gülen movement progressive in terms of pro-Kurdish reforms

Gülen’s lawyer files libel suit against Interior Minister Ala

Erdogan’s Muslim spies: Turkish imams snooping on Merkel’s Germany for President

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News