Türk Telekom Arena
UEFA
Full name	Ali Sami Yen Spor Kompleksi Türk Telekom Arena
Location	Şişli, Istanbul, Turkey
Coordinates	41°6′10.33″N 28°59′25.51″E / 41.1028694°N 28.9904194°E / 41.1028694; 28.9904194Coordinates: 41°6′10.33″N 28°59′25.51″E / 41.1028694°N 28.9904194°E / 41.1028694; 28.9904194
Broke ground	13 December 2007
Built	2007-2011
Opened	15 January 2011 (2011-01-15) (1 year ago)
Owner	Galatasaray S.K.
Operator	Anschutz Entertainment Group[1]
Surface	Grass
Construction cost	$ 250 million[2][3]
Architect	'asp' architekten Stuttgart[4]
Main contractors	Varyap-Uzunlar
Capacity	52,652 (all-seater)[5] 70,000 (concerts)
Executive Suites	213 (157 built) (29 u/c) (27 proposed)
Record attendance	51,567 (Galatasaray-Fenerbahçe, 22 April 2012)
Field dimensions	105 × 68 m
Website	www.turktelekomarena.com.tr

Ali Sami Yen Spor Kompleksi - Türk Telekom Arena is a new multi-purpose stadium in the Şişli district of Istanbul, Turkey. It is the new home ground for Galatasaray S.K., replacing the old Ali Sami Yen Stadı. The all-seater stadium has the capacity to host 52,652 spectators during football games. On March 18, 2011, it recorded 131.76 decibels which is considered as being a world record as 'loudest crowd roar at a sport stadium' for Guinness World Records.^[6][7][8] In Turkey, Türk Telekom Arena is the first stadium that meets the UEFA Euro 2016 stadium requirements.^[9] Stadium Business Awards has announced its nominees for Venue of the Year and New Venue as part of the Stadium Business Awards. Türk Telekom Arena, home of Galatasaray, is one of six nominees for the award.^[10]. Galatasaray SK achieved to win the Süper Lig in the first season at Türk Telekom Arena.

History[link]

Football (soccer) was first played in Istanbul by some British players in a field known as Papazın Çayırı (Priest’s Field) in the area that is now the site of Fenerbahçe's Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium. With the opening of the Taksim Stadı in 1921, it was this new stadium that became the new football headquarters. In the urban development of 1939, the military barracks in which the Taksim Stadium was located was demolished in 1940. The stadium was thus lost. In this period, Fenerbahçe bought the land encompassing Papazın Çayırı and built the Fenerbahçe Stadium, while the Beşiktaş Club moved into the Şeref Stadı, located in the area where today’s Çırağan Palace stands. It was Galatasaray that experienced the biggest problem with the use of a stadium in that period. The first steps to overcome this problem were taken in the initial years of the 1930s. The first initiative to acquire a plot of land for Galatasaray was in 1933, when the then president of the club Ali Haydar Barşal showed an interest in a mulberry orchard in Mecidiyeköy. In the period 1933-35, discussions held with the government resulted in the allocation of a plot of land outside of the city limits in Mecidiye Köyü (Mecidiye Village) for a stadium to be built for Galatasaray. Excavations for the construction began in 1936. The President of the Turkish Sports Organization at the time, Adnan Menderes, provided financial assistance for the project. The efforts were left in the excavation stage however. In 1940, the matter of the stadium came up again under the presidency of Tevfik Ali Çınar. The same plot of land was leased to Galatasaray for a term of 30 years at a symbolical yearly rental fee of 1 lira. Galatasaray thus acquired the right to the use of the land. In leasing the land, Galatasaray committed to building a modern stadium as well as a bicycle velodrome. The construction could not start, however, due to limited funds and the general atmosphere of the war years. In 1943, Osman Dardağan led an initiative to build a modest stadium that would answer the immediate need. In the atmosphere of war, only a small open tribune was allowed in the stadium, which was set on a field of earth and inaugurated under the presidency of Muslihittin Peykoğlu in 1945. Its distance from the city center in those days, however, its inaccessibility by public transportation, and the rough winds that characterized the district were factors that contributed to a long period in which the stadium lay idle and football games never took place. When the İnönü Stadium in the center of the city was opened in that period, Galatasaray abandoned the stadium building project in Mecidiyeköy, putting the project aside before fruition. In 1955, 30 more years were added to the right of utilization agreement, which at the time had 22 years to go, extending the terms until 2007. When the Club failed to undertake the building of the Stadium, the project was taken on by the Physical Education General Directorate. The construction started in 1959. In 1961, during the presidency of Refik Selimoğlu, a new agreement was signed with the Physical Education General Directorate whereby the utilization rights of the newly completed stadium were explicitly given to Galatasaray. The stadium was opened on an eventful December 20, 1964. In the midst of the extreme crowds present, panic broke out, resulting in the death of one spectator and the injury of 80 others. In 1965, the stadium was illuminated for the first time. Despite this, however, not many night games were played. At the beginning of the 1970s, the stadium was abandoned for another period during which the İnönü Stadium began to be used again. In the 70s, the stadium was mostly used by Galatasaray for training sessions. In those years, it remained in a squalid state of neglect. In 1981, grass was planted on the field and the stadium was opened again. The lighting system was renewed in 1993, after which night games began to be played once more. In the same year, the system of combined tickets was initiated in Turkey at Ali Sami Yen Stadı. Also in the same year, the stadium was furnished with seats to replace the old benches. Standing room at the stadium was thus reduced from a 35,000 seating capacity to 22,000. 1997, The Galatasaray administration assigned a Canadian architectural firm the job of designing Turkey’s first multi-function, modern stadium to be built in place of Ali Sami Yen Stadı, which was planned to be torn down.

New Stadium projects[link]

The new stadium project was launched in 1998 and it attracted wide interest. During the promotion of the modern loge system, the entire loge section was sold at a symbolical fee. The proposed capacity was 40,484. The search began for funds to finance the construction of the new stadium. Because of the club’s difficult financial situation at the time, the needed funds could not be found. Over the period of 2001-2002, a revision was made in the project with an eye toward reducing the amount needed for financing but this time, although costs were brought down, the economic crisis of 2001 stood in the way of overcoming the financial issue. Capacity was reduced to 35,000. In the 2003 -2004 season, the old project came up again but was abandoned in favor of building a new and modern stadium. Again, financing needs could not be met. Because Mecidiyeköy was now a part of the city center, state authorities objected to the expansion of the stadium in this district. A new piece of land was suggested to Galatasaray as an alternative. The search for financing for the new stadium that would be built on this new plot continued over the period 2004-2007. After a general renovation that took place in the 2004-2005 season, the club returned to Ali Sami Yen Stadı. Following the earthquake of 1999, the old Open Tribune was demolished and replaced in the 2005-2006 season for reasons of safety. 2007, Discussions with state authorities on the erection of a new Galatasaray stadium in Aslantepe yielded positive results. It was decided that the new stadium to be built within two years on the new plot would be transferred to Galatasaray in return for the club’s handing over the property on which Ali Sami Yen Stadı stood. At the end of 2007, ten years after the initial announcement of the project in 1997, the groundbreaking for the new stadium was carried out (December 13, 2007) at a ceremony attended by state officials. The old project was put aside and a new project was contracted to Mete Arat in Germany. 2008, In Galatasaray’s last year at Ali Sami Yen Stadı, the Lower Closed Tribune was renovated in line with UEFA standards. 2009, The construction of the new stadium, the Türk Telekom Arena, gained speed when the contracting company was changed. 2010, It was announced that the official opening of the new stadium would take place on January 15, 2011 with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan presiding. 2011, The magnificent inauguration of our new stadium occurred on January 15, 2011, the culmination of a dream that was envisioned in 1933 and took 77 years to come true.^[11]

Facts[link]

Dimensions[link]

• Stadium: 195,000 m² - 228m x 190m x 70m
• Playing level: 120 m x 83 m
• Gross grass area: 111 m x 72 m
• Playing field: 105 m x 68 m

Capacity[link]

• West Stand: 10,713
  • 1st tier: 5,525
  • 1st suit level: 399
  • 2nd suit level: 266
  • 2nd tier: 4,523

• East Stand: 11,425
  • 1st tier: 5,751
  • 1st suit level: 399
  • 2nd suit level: 266
  • 2nd tier: 5,009

• South Stand: 15,246
  • 1st tier: 8,209
  • 1st suit level: (no suites existing)
  • 2nd suit level: 484
  • 2nd tier: 6,553

• North Stand: 15,268
  • 1st tier: 8,028
  • 1st suit level: (no suites existing)
  • 2nd suit level: 622
  • 2nd tier: 6,618

Stands[link]

• 1st Tier: 19.93° - 29.54° (average 23.96°)
• 2nd Tier: 34.61° - 35.474° (average 35.10°)

• Distance West/East stand to the pitch: 6.2 m
• Distance North/South stand to the pitch: 8.2 m

• First row is 20cm above pitch level

• Highest row at West/East stand: 36.07 m
• Highest row at North/South: 34.93 m

• 1st tier: 36 rows
• Suit balcony: 3 rows
• 2nd tier: 20-27 rows

Construction[link]

• Total concrete used during stadium construction: 190,000 m³
• Total steel used during stadium construction: 35,000 tonnes
• Total steel used for the roof: 5,500 tonnes

^[12]

Gallery[link]

• 

  Press Room

• 

  Aslantepe Metro Station

• 

  VIP Lounge

• 

  Suite

• 

  Dressing Room

Name[link]

The naming rights to the stadium have been sold to Turk Telekom for a period of 10 years for US$10.25 million a year. The stadium has officially replaced the current Ali Sami Yen Stadı at the middle of the 2010-2011 Super Lig season, under the name of Türk Telekom Arena. North tribune' s name of this stadium were sold to Pegasus Airlines for €4 million a year.^[13][14] The naming rights of the first tier of the east tribune of Turk Telekom Arena were also sold to Ülker for $2 million a year and will be named as Ülker Family Tribune.^[15] All 157 suites' naming rights were sold to Denizbank for 3 years. ^[16]

Transportation[link]

Aslanlı Yol

Türk Telekom Arena is served by a number of bus routes and Seyrantepe Metro station.^[17] There are four 4-story parking garages with 3,225 (3,025 closed and 200 open) parking places. In addition, there are also 28 places available for buses at the west entrance.

Surroundings[link]

From the Seyrantepe Metro Station just east of the arena, visitors approach the stadium through a road called Aslanlı Yol was designed to disentangle and guide them to the entrance.

Concerts[link]

Bon Jovi concert on 8 July 2011

The stadium can also be turned into a concert arena with a capacity for over 70,000 people. The first band to play at Türk Telekom Arena was Bon Jovi on 8 July 2011.^[18][19] The second confirmed singer at the Arena will be Madonna, who will perform on 7 June 2012 as part of her MDNA Tour. She is set to play in front of 65,000 fans.^[20][21]

GS Bonus Card[link]

GS Bonus Card is the stadium card of Galatasaray SK which can also be used as a credit card. Unified RFID-cards are used as season tickets at Türk Telekom Arena. The card can be used for all services at the stadium.^[22][23][24]

Ticket Sales

History[link]

Exterior view

In recent years, numerous proposals had been put forward to demolish the current stadium and build a new, larger one on the same location, but this was impossible due to the lack of space. Finally, the club's stadium, Ali Sami Yen Stadı, is now going to be replaced with a new stadium near Maslak financial district. The former name of the district, Seyrantepe, has been changed to Aslantepe (Lion Hill) after Galatasaray purchased the land; Aslan (Lion) being Galatasaray's symbol. The idea is to realize a stadium on the model of the Veltins Arena in Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The stadium will feature a world-class retractable roof – the first of its kind in Turkey. The design team headed by 'asp' Architekten Stuttgart combines the engineering expertise of the renowned firms Obermeyer Planen+Beraten (Munich), Schlaich – Bergermann and Partner (Stuttgart) and Yüksel Proje (Ankara).

Ali Sami Yen Spor Kompleksi Galatasaray Store

Ali Sami Yen Spor Kompleksi Galatasaray Store Interior View 1

Auction process[link]

Galatasaray have been in cooperation with TOKİ (one of the biggest construction organizations of Turkey, budgeted by the Turkish Government).

Among the 4 companies that tendered their proposals, the best offer was put forward by the Eren Talu Architecture – ALKE Partnership. The contract for the tender held for the construction of Galatasaray's new stadium was signed between TOKİ and Eren Talu-ALKE consortium on 23 October 2007.^[25]

Groundbreaking ceremony[link]

As of 13 December 2007, the construction has officially started after a glitzy reception where the club's Board, some players, the minister of sports for Turkey and many other ministers attended. In the ceremony, then President Özhan Canaydın stated, in summary, the following: "The Turkish World of Sports will gain another big facility with the Ali Sami Yen Sports Complex and we've gathered here to celebrate its groundbreaking ceremony. This work, which will be a value add to Istanbul and Turkey along with Turkish Sports, will also serve as an honorable monument that will signify the advanced position Turkish Sports has achieved and the phases it has passed through."^[26]

Partnership[link]

Ali Sami Yen Spor Kompleksi Galatasaray Store Interior View 2

Ali Sami Yen Spor Kompleksi Aslanlı Yol Simit Sarayı Restaurant

Ali Sami Yen Spor Kompleksi Aslanlı Yol Yüzevler Restaurant

Once the Eren Talu-ALKE consortium had won the tender for the stadium project, they proceeded to find a foreign technical partner with previous experience in sports-construction related projects. They were introduced to the Abu Dhabi Group and Al Zarooni Group, both headquartered in the UAE. Abu Dhabi Group (also known as Dhabi Group) and the Al Zarooni Group are investors in the gigantic 5.5 million sq.m. Dubai Sports City project that is currently under construction in Dubai. Abu Dhabi Group is also the largest foreign investor group in Pakistan and is building the tallest building in South Asia, the Mubarak Center, in Lahore, Pakistan. The Chairman of Abu Dhabi Group is His Highness Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan, who is also the Federal Minister for Higher Education & Scientific Research of the UAE and a very important member of Abu Dhabi's Ruling Family. The Dhabi-Zarooni consortium acquired 51% of the Eren Talu-ALKE consortium’s shares to co-invest a total of $650 million with them in the Aslantepe (New Stadium) and Mecidiyeköy (Old Stadium) projects.

Stating that a total amount of $650 million will be invested for the entire project, Eren Talu said, "$170 million of this amount will be spent for the stadium, in addition to $180 million which is the guaranteed TOKİ share, a $50 million additional TOKİ share and the remaining $250 million+ to be invested in the mixed-use development project intended in Mecidiyeköy". Talu added that TOKİ's participation in the project provides great advantage for the partnership and continued, “our partners had confidence in the public benefit of the project and decided to join within a short period of just 2 months." Talu said they have already spent $37 million so far in order to construct up to the current level of the stadium. Stating that the stadium is to be delivered on time on 29 October 2010, Talu said, “We are casting 1,500 cu.m. of concrete every day. We have driven 4,500 meters of piles into the ground. A labour force of above 350 workers is busy at the construction site 24 hours a day. The stadium is going to be so strong that it may even be used as a catastrophe relief center if required."

Talu said the project being contemplated on the land in Mecidiyeköy in lieu of the old Ali Sami Yen Stadium will be initiated in June 2009, and added, “the mixed-use development project that we are going to build on land measuring 34,600 sq.m. will include apartments, a large shopping center, offices and a 5-star hotel. A total of $650 million will be invested in these two projects, and in return, we expect an income of about $1.3 billion when the Mecidiyeköy mixed-use complex is completed. Therefore, this is a highly profitable venture."

The total stadium construction is expected to cost around US$191 million, not including the US$145+ million which will be spend on upgrading the nearby infrastructure.

The construction of this arena stopped twice a time. When Talu had financial problems once again, TOKİ cancelled the process in July 2009.^[27] After termination of TOKİ-Talu agreement, TOKİ announced a new auction. Varyap-Uzunlar consortium won the auction^[28] and construction restarted in September 2009. Galatasaray and TOKİ had an agreement that the stadium would be opened without rectractable roofs which will be installed at the end of the season.^[29]

Site and layout[link]

A panorama

Galatasaray - Fenerbahçe 3-1, 7 December 2011

The contract of the tender was realized by TOKİ and came to be known as the "Aslantepe Tender", covering the construction of a multi-purpose sports complex with 52,695 spectator capacity on Aslantepe (formerly known as Seyrantepe) premises in return for building "Urban Social Infrastructure Areas" on 34.640 sq meters of land on which the present Ali Sami Yen Stadium is located.

There is a set period of 720 days for the construction of the stadium that will be built on the Aslantepe (formerly known as Seyrantepe) premises. The box count is 213. Part of the catering areas Turk Telekom Arena consists of, is a VIP lounge room, VIP Market Area, Premium Food Court, Galatasaray Museum, Galatasaray Mega Store, 11 Galataray Store and a VIP restaurant. The modern stadium, contains 5 top and 4 underground levels.^[30]

External links[link]

• (English) Club information on new stadium
• (Turkish) Türk Telekom Arena Official WebSite
• (Turkish) Türk Telekom Arena Official Ticket WebSite
• Türk Telekom Arena on Wikimapia
• Design of stadium

References[link]

This article relies on references to primary sources or sources affiliated with the subject, rather than references from independent authors and third-party publications. Please add citations from reliable sources. (March 2010)

This article appears to be written like an advertisement. Please help improve it by rewriting promotional content from a neutral point of view and removing any inappropriate external links. (April 2010)

For the Turkish basketball club, see Türk Telekom B.K..

Türk Telekom is the formerly state owned Turkish telecommunications company. Türk Telekom was being separated from the Post Office in 1995. In November 2005 it was privatized to Oger Telecom.

Turk Telekom group provides integrated telecommunication services from PSTN, GSM to wide band internet. Turk Telekom group companies have 16.8 million PSTN customers, 6 million ADSL customers and 12.1 million GSM customers as of September 30, 2009.^{[citation needed]} With its network substructure, covering the whole country, the group companies offer a wide range of services to personal and corporate customers. Turk Telekom, who is the owner of the 99,9% of shares of the companies TTNET, Argela, Innova, Sebit A.Ş. and AssisTT, is also the owner of 81% of the shares of Avea, which is one of the three GSM operators in Turkey. Turk Telekom also supports Albtelecom in Albania. The 55% of the shares of Turk Telekom belongs to Oger Telekomünikasyon A.Ş. and the 30% of the shares belongs to Undersecretariat of Treasure of Turkey. The remaining 15% of shares has been offered to public.

The company holds the naming rights to Türk Telekom Arena.

Organizational structure[link]

Board of Directors[link]

• Mohammed Hariri - Chairman of the Board of Directors
• İbrahim Şahin - Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors
• Hakam Kanafani - Member of the Board of Directors
• Dr. Paul Doany - Member of the Board of Directors
• Saad Zafer M Al Kahtani - Member of the Board of Directors
• Abdullah Tivnikli - Member of the Board of Directors
• Samir Asaad O Matbouli - Member of the Board of Directors
• İsmet Yılmaz - Member of the Board of Directors
• Dr. Ali Arıduru - Member of the Board of Directors
• Mehmet Habib Soluk - Member of the Board of Directors

Statutory Audit Board[link]

• Efkan Ala - Member of the Audit Board
• Prof. Dr. Aydın Gülan - Member of the Audit Board
• Doç. Dr. Tuna Tuğcu - Member of the Audit Board

Executive Committee[link]

• Mohammed Hariri - Chairman of the Executive Committee
• İbrahim Şahin - Vice Chairman of the Executive Committee
• Hakam Kanafani - Member of the Executive Committee and TT Group CEO
• Abdullah Tivnikli - Member of the Executive Committee
• Saad Zafer M. Al Kahtani - Member of the Executive Committee

Audit Committee[link]

• Samir Asaad O Matbouli - Chairman of the Audit Committee
• Dr. Paul Doany - Member of the Audit Committee
• Mehmet Habib Soluk - Member of the Audit Committee
• Samir Asaad O Matbouli - Member of the Audit Committee

Senior Management[link]

• Kamil Gökhan Bozkurt - Chief Executive Officer
• Memet Atalay - Acting VP Operations
• Mustafa Uysal - Acting VP Finance
• Mehmet Candan Toros - VP International and Wholesale
• Sükrü Kutlu - VP HR, Regulation and Support Services
• Dr. Mehmet Kömürcü - VP Legal
• Dr. Ramazan Demir - VP Strategy and Business Development
• Erem Demircan - VP Marketing and Communication
• Celalettin Dinçer - VP Sales
• Haktan KILIÇ - Acting VP Customer Relations
• Dr. Nazif Burca - Head of Internal Audit
• Timur Ceylan - VP Technology

History[link]

• 1994, February 23, Turkey met with GSM technology. GSM was put into service firstly for its subscribers in Ankara, İstanbul and İzmir.

• 1995, April 24, By separating the telecommunication and Postal services in PTT from each other, Türk Telekomünikasyon A.Ş. was founded.

• 1998, April 27, GSM network was transferred to the firms Turkcell and Telsim for 25 years by giving licence.

• 1999, June, ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) was put into service in order to provide high speed voice and image communication on

• 2000, Cable Internet applications were started on Cable TV.

• 2001
  • January 8, Aycell Haberlesme ve Pazarlama Hizmetleri A.S. was founded.
  • March 21, Iş-TIM Telekomünikasyon Services Inc. started to operate with the commercial name of ARIA

• 2004
  • February 19, TT&TIM Communication Services Inc., established by the merger of Turk Telekom’s GSM Operator Aycell and İŞ-TİM, was officially founded.
  • October 15, The commercial name of “TT&TIM Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S.” was changed as “Avea Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S.”
  • July 22, Türksat A.Ş. was established and started operating apart from Türk Telekom.

• 2005, November 14, Türk Telekom’s privatization process was completed and %55 shares of Turk Telekom was sold to Oger Telecoms Joint Venture Group.

• 2006, September 15, Türk Telekom acquired İŞ-TİM’s 40.56% share in Avea for USD 500 million and Turk Telekom’s share in Avea increased to 81.12%.

• 2008, May 15, The initial public offering for 15% of Turk Telekom shares was completed and the shares started trading in the Istanbul Stock Exchange.

• 2009, July, Avea successfully started 3G services.

Group Companies[link]

• TTNET, the leading Internet Service Provider of Turkey, provides ADSL, Dial-up, Wifi, G.SHDSL, ATM, Frame Relay and Metro Ethernet Internet access services to corporate and personal customers in 81 cities in Turkey.

• AVEA, the sole GSM 1800 mobile operator of Turkey, was founded in 2004. Avea, the youngest operator of Turkey, has a nationwide customer base of more than 12.5 million. Offering services to 95.4 % of Turkey’s population through its next generation network, the company is growing fast both in the corporate and individual services with the brand "Avea" and constantly investing in technology and infrastructure as well as in its management and approximately 2.500 employees. Having roaming agreements with 516 operators in 189 countries, the company continues to expand its roaming partnerships.

• Innova Bilişim Çözümleri A.Ş. delivers "solutions" to the institutions in every area from Industry and Distribution to Finance, from Telecommunication to Public. With its services independent from the product and the brand, iNNOVA includes the entire consultancy-design-application development-integration-maintenance value chain.

• ARGELA Software and Information Technologies is a company selling technologies and services for the telecom operators. The 100% of the shares of the company, which had started its activities in 2004, belong to Turk Telekomunikasyon A.S., one of the most important operators in the world. Today, ARGELA products still are being used by many important operators in 6 countries. ARGELA’s head office is in Istanbul, and has branch offices in Ankara, USA and Dubai.

• Sebit

• Argela, the activities of SEBIT Eğitim ve Bilgi Teknolojileri A.Ş. had started in 1988, in a multimedia laboratory founded within TÜBİTAK. The laboratory had been privatized in 1996 and the production of computer supported education contents towards K-12 level. After the product “Akademedia” produced in 1998, education software with the brand “Vitamin” had been introduced. In the following years, “KidsPlus” products had joined the series. The company has a place in Chinese, Malaysian, American and British markets by its unique products in K-12 level. Plus, it has been conducting the only integrated R&D project in the education area of the EU’s 6th Framework Program. Also being active in the corporate education area, it has developed e-learning solutions for the institutions such as IES, Union of Banks of Turkey, Secretariat of Defense Industries, Public Procurement Agency, Coca-Cola Drinks, Migros, Siemens, TTNET etc.

• CETEL was incorporated by Çalık Enerji and Türk Telekom having 80% and 20% shares, respectively on 1 June 2007. CETEL purchased the 76% shares of Albtelecom on 1 October 2007. Albtelecom is the incumbent fixed line operator in Albania which also has a GSM license.

• Argela-USA – Tuitalk

• ARGELA-USA Tuitalk is a division and brand of ARGELA-USA, Inc., a U.S. company, incorporated in Delaware, with headquarters in Santa Clara, California, and RnD facilities in Istanbul and Ankara in Turkey. ARGELA-USA is a wholly owned subsidiary of ARGELA Technologies, Istanbul, Turkey.

• AssisTT
  • AssisTTAssisTT is a Customer Services and Call Center Corporation which is a subsidiary of Türk Telekom (Türk Telekom holds a 100% interest). AssisTT, established in November 2007, presents more than a traditional call center’s functions by producing sales and marketing oriented data for its customers.
  • AssisTT gives service as a customer contact center instead of just being a call center. AssisTT is the 3. biggest call center all around Türkiye and will furnish its services not just to Türk Telekom but also to other corporations and institutions.

External links[link]

• Turktelekom.com.tr Official website
• Avea.com.tr Official website
• TTnet.com.tr Official website
• Assistt.com.tr Official website
• TTcocuk.com Official website
• Türk Telekom subscription for services and information about services

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Ali Sami Yen

Personal information
Full name	Ali Sami Yen
Date of birth	20 May 1886
Place of birth	Üsküdar, Istanbul(Constantinople), Ottoman Empire
Date of death	29 July 1951(1951-07-29) (aged 64)
Place of death	Istanbul, Turkey
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1905–1911	Galatasaray SK
Teams managed
1916-1917	Galatasaray SK
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Ali Sami Yen (Kandilli, Üsküdar, Istanbul^[1], 20 May 1886 – 29 July 1951) is best known as the founder of the Galatasaray Sports Club. His original name was Ali Sami Frashëri and he is the son of Sami Frashëri, one of the most famous Albanian writers, philosophers and playwrights. After the enactment of law on family names in 1934, he took the surname Yen, which literally means “beat!”.

History[link]

Istanbul Football League champions, Galatasaray, 1909. On foot: Adnan, Milo Bakić, Ali Sami (founder), Ahmet Robenson, Asım Tevfik, Emin Bülent, Hamit, Fuat.

Ali Sami Yen wax sculpture

He was a student at the prestigious Galatasaray High School in Istanbul. In October 1905, he decided with some of his fellow students to create a football club. At the beginning, the stated goal was “To play together like Englishmen, to have a color and a name, and to beat the other non Turkish teams” according to him.

Ali Sami Yen founded the colours of Galatasaray, stating, "We were imagining brightness of yellow - red fire over our team and thinking that it would carry us from one victory to another."

In 1905, during the era of the Ottoman Empire, there were no laws for associations so the club could not be registered officially, but, after the 1912 Law of Association, the club registered legally.

Yen was the club's first president for 13 years, between 1905 and 1918, and again for a brief spell in 1925. Besides founding Galatasaray SK, he made numerous other contributions to Turkish sports. He was president of the Turkish National Olympic Committee between 1926 and 1931. He coached the Turkish national team in its first international match, in 1923 against Romania.

Ali Sami Yen died in 1951.

As founder and first president of Galatasaray SK, Ali Sami Yen's name was given to the Galatasaray's long time Ali Sami Yen Stadium which was built in 1964 and situated in the center of Istanbul in Mecidiyeköy. However in 2010 the club moved to its new home in the Türk Telekom Arena in the Seyrantepe district while the old stadium was demolished to make way for the construction of a new commercial development.

Honours[link]

As player[link]

• Galatasaray SK
  • Istanbul Football League: 1
    • 1905-1918

See also[link]

• List of one-club men
• List of Galatasaray S.K. presidents

References[link]

Cem Yılmaz (born 23 April 1973 in Istanbul, Turkey) is a Turkish stand-up comedian, actor and filmmaker and cartoonist, best known for his films G.O.R.A. (2004), A.R.O.G (2008) and Yahşi Batı (2010), who has won two Sadri Alışık awards for his roles in Organize İşler (2005) and The Magician (2006).

Biography[link]

While studying at the Department of Tourism and Hotel Management of Boğaziçi University, he started drawing comics for the Turkish humor magazine Leman. In August 1995 he did his first stand-up comedy show in "Leman Culture Center" performing with no serious career intentions as a comedian. However, after the positive response of the audience, he continued his show to attract larger crowds in Beşiktaş Cultural Center where he has appeared in over a thousand stand-up comedy shows since, becoming so popular that tickets have sold for 250TL (approx. US$140). His movie career started in 1998 with a co-starring role in the comedy Everything's Gonna Be Great (1999), directed by Ömer Vargı, and continued with a role in Vizontele (2001), directed by Yılmaz Erdoğan and Ömer Faruk Sorak. He achieved his greatest success by starring in and writing big-budget science-fiction parody G.O.R.A. (2004), also directed by Ömer Faruk Sorak, which despite spending several years in production because of financial and other technical problems became a box-office hit and, according to Rekin Teksoy, "showed that popular cinema was successful in appealing to wide audiences".^[2] He followed this success with a starring role in the comedy Organize İşler (2005), also directed by Yılmaz Erdoğan, for which he won Best Supporting Actor at the 11th Sadri Alışık Awards, and his directorial debut with The Magician (2006), co-directed by Ali Taner Baltacı, for which he won Best Actor at the 34th Brussels International Independent Film Festival and 12th Sadri Alışık Awards. He has since repeated his box office success with a sequel to G.O.R.A. called A.R.O.G (2008), also co-directed by Ali Taner Baltacı, and comedy Western parody called Yahşi Batı (2010), directed by Ömer Faruk Sorak. That same year, he co-starred, alongside veteran actor Şener Şen, in the police drama Hunting Season (2010), written and directed by Yavuz Turgul, and made a special appearance in drama Zephyr (2010), written and directed by Belma Baş.

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Cem Yılmaz at the Internet Movie Database
• Cem Yılmaz's official website
• Turkish Cem Yılmaz's Biography

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