Turkey Trouble

Keen students of rock ‘n’ roll litigation will be rubbing their hands while watching the outcome of the various cases springing out of Istanbul promoter Boray Dundar’s failure to settle his debts with a couple of international acts and a former working partner.

What makes the prospect of legal action such a Turkish delight is that it looks likely to drag in TicketTurk, the country’s second-largest ticket seller, which is believed to be subject to takeover interest by the giant Dogan media group.

Charmenko director Nick Hobbs has possession of – and has shown Pollstar – two papers that appear to be TicketTurk managing director Gulseren Onanc’s commitment to pay off the balance of fees Dundar still owes Megadeth and Garbage for last year’s Rock Istanbul.

Onanc has denied ever making such a commitment, but wouldn’t say whether she’s suggesting Hobbs’ letters are forgeries.

Hobbs is sufficiently convinced he has the genuine article to the degree he’s intent on taking TicketTurk to court for reneging on a legally binding document.

Onanc’s confirmed her company paid the guarantee for Dundar’s July Guns N’ Roses show at the 12,000-capacity Kuruçesme Arena, which barely half-filled the place, but insists neither she nor her company has any obligation to Megadeth or Garbage.

Guns N’ Roses’ money was paid direct to Joe Rambok from Marek Lieberberg’s Berlin office, which brokered the deal as part of a run of shows his company put together for the U.S. rockers.

A US$68,000 slice of any money paid to Dundar is likely to be gobbled up by Charmenko, which has a distraint order against his proverbial “goods and chattels.”

It was granted by the Beyoglu Icra Mudurlugu division of the Istanbul Court on December 23rd. Charmenko has a similar order against Fil Yapim, an entertainment company that was Dundar’s Rock Istanbul partner until it went bankrupt.

Yapim’s Istanbul offices have been boarded up and have an eviction notice nailed to the door, a situation that’s thwarted Hobbs and the bailiffs when they’ve gone in search of those goods and chattels.

The nearest they came to success was when Charmenko filed a claim – known as an 89/1 – to Tuborg brewers, which was about to pay Dundar some sponsorship money for this year’s Rock Istanbul.

Rather than see US$68,000 of its cash go to Charmenko to settle one of Dundar’s old debts, Tuborg pulled out of the deal and left the event short of a major sponsor.

Onanc is declining to answer any further questions on the matter, even refusing to say if her silence is due to her desire to keep everything quiet when her company is widely said to be a takeover target for Dogan.

Any court appearances TicketTurk makes would likely be given more than the usual coverage if the company was also being mentioned alongside Dogan in the major dailies’ business sections.

– John Gammon