Taking TicketTurk To Court

Megadeth and Garbage will continue trying to get the money they claim they’re owed from last year’s Rock Istanbul by taking national ticket seller TicketTurk to court.

Both actions are being brought on the bands’ behalf by Charmenko, the Istanbul-based agency that booked them on the 2005 bill.

The Megadeth case is due at Istanbul’s Asliye Ticaret Mahkemesi (commercial court) October 11th, with the Garbage hearing set for the same court November 3rd.

Charmenko claims it has written undertakings signed by TicketTurk managing director Gulseren Onanc promising her company will pay the balance of the two fees owed by Rock Istanbul promoters Boray Dundar and Fil Yapim.

Onanc has told Pollstar her company never made such undertakings, but according to Charmenko’s lawyers at Topdemir & Inandioglu, TicketTurk’s legal representatives have never questioned the authenticity of the documents.

Charmenko’s evidence has already been filed with the court and the upcoming hearings are for TicketTurk’s defense.

An Istanbul civil court has already granted Charmenko distraining orders against Dundar and Yapim.

Apart from the money owed to the acts, Charmenko is owed US$65,000 for commissions and payments made to acts on the festival’s behalf.

Dundar claims he promoted this year’s July 11th Guns N’ Roses show at Istanbul’s 12,000-capacity Kuruçesme Arena – with the act’s fees paid by TicketTurk – in order to make money to trade his way out of trouble. But the U.S. rockers only pulled 6,000 people and the show ended up with an estimated quarter-of-a-million-dollar downside.

Although the court orders against him prevent him from being a director and the old Rock Istanbul company is bankrupt, Dundar set up a new business called Rock Istanbul.org to run this year’s festival but ended up doing the Guns N’ Roses show instead.

The new company’s board includes former Fil Yapim director Murat Dogan and former employee Gurol Yilmaz.

TicketTurk put up the money and paid it direct to Germany’s Marek Lieberberg Konzertagentur, which added the show to a GNR run it was putting together, which meant it never passed through Dundar’s hands and therefore never became subject to Charmenko’s distraining orders.

– John Gammon