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TeliaSonera in new Turkcell legal fight

Swedish telecom firm TeliaSonera has opened legal action against the chairperson of Turkcell, a firm in which the firm has a 38 percent stake, over a dispute regarding the make up of the Turkish telecom operator's board.

TeliaSonera communications director, Cecilia Edström, argued that Turkcell chairperson Colin J Williams should leave his post before causing the firm any more damage.

“This is very serious because the chairperson is the only member of the board defined as independent,” Edström said in a company statement.

Edström argued that a move by Williams, together with the firm’s other main shareholder Cukurova, to block an increase in the number of independent board members in the company indicates a lack of impartiality.

“For us, this is a very clear sign that he is not independent and impartial in relation to one of the major shareholders,” she said, confirming that she was referring to Cukurova.

TeliaSonera maintains that Williams “clearly violated the law” by preventing the issue of board composition to be addressed at the company’s annual general meeting.

The Swedish-Finnish firm company now intends to sue Williams in Turkey and possibly also in the US, since Turkcell is listed there.

TeliaSonera has long been embroiled in a dispute regarding Cukurova’s stake in Turkcell.

At the heart of the dispute, which erupted in 2005, was a decision by Turkcell’s previous majority owner, Cukurova, to sell the same Turkcell ownership shares twice, first to TeliaSonera, and then to Altimo.

Edström argued that despite the long dispute, TeliaSonera has no plans to sell off its stake in Turkcell.

“Turkcell is a first-rate company with good profitability and high potential. Turkey is a large market, and ownership creates value for us and for our shareholders. So we want to stay.”

TeliaSonera has long argued that the number of independent directors on the board of Turkcell must be increased to meet the demands of both the US and Turkish financial services authorities.

TeliaSonera recently requested that the issue be addressed formally at the upcoming annual general meeting, but Turkcell’s board rejected the request.

The board’s position is reported to be in contravention of Turkish law which stipulates that a shareholder with more than 5 percent of the shares has a right to raise issues for discussion at the AGM.

TeliaSonera’s currently controls 38 percent of Turkcell.

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RUSSIA

Russia announces no New Year’s greetings for France, US, Germany

US President Joe Biden, France's Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will not be receiving New Year's greetings from Russian leader Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin said on Friday.

Russia announces no New Year's greetings for France, US, Germany

As the world gears up to ring in the New Year this weekend, Putin sent congratulatory messages to the leaders of Kremlin-friendly countries including Turkey, Syria, Venezuela and China.

But Putin will not wish a happy New Year to the leaders of the United States, France and Germany, countries that have piled unprecedented sanctions on Moscow over Putin’s assault on Ukraine.

“We currently have no contact with them,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

“And the president will not congratulate them given the unfriendly actions that they are taking on a continuous basis,” he added.

Putin shocked the world by sending troops to pro-Western Ukraine on February 24.

While Kyiv’s Western allies refused to send troops to Ukraine, they have been supplying the ex-Soviet country with weapons in a show of support that has seen Moscow suffer humiliating setbacks on the battlefield.

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