Koza İpek Holding

Koza İpek Holding A.Ş.

Industry	mining, publishing, broadcasting
Founded	1948
Headquarters	Turkey
Area served	Turkey
Key people	Akın İpek
Website	kozaipekholding.com

Koza İpek Holding is a Turkish conglomerate. It includes the mining companies Koza Altın and Koza Anadolu (Koza Anadolu Metal Madencilik Isletmeleri AS, quoted as KOZAA^[1]). Koza Davetiye is a marketing arm for its print business. Media assets (via Koza İpek Gazetecilik ve Yayıncılık A.Ş.) include the widely read Bugün newspaper, the smaller Millet daily, and two TV / radio stations, Bugün TV and Kanaltürk TV, the latter one having been bought by the holding in 2008.^[2]

The company was founded by Ali İpek in 1948 with the Ipek Printery Company, Ipek Matbaacilik Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S..^[3]

Koza Gold Operations Company

Koza Gold Operations Company is a Turkish company founded to explore and operate gold mines in Turkey. KOZA IPEK GROUP has acquired all the shares of Normandy Madencilik A.S. from Newmont Mining Corporation Limited in March 2005 thus becoming first Turkish company in the history of Republic of Turkey to realize gold production in this country. ^[4]

Koza Anadolu Metal Madencilik İşletmeleri A.Ş.

Koza Anadolu Metal Madencilik is an affiliated corporate company of KOZA-IPEK HOLDING that aims for continuous development and exploration, developing and production of copper, lead-zinc, iron and similar mineral mining reserves. ^[5]

Seizure

Protest banners in front of Koza İpek's headquarters, 28 October 2015

On 1 September 2015, police raided more than 20 media outlets of Koza İpek Holding, including the Ankara office of Bugün newspaper which on that day had titled with photo-backed accusations of weapon supply to Islamic State militants at the Turkish border town of Akçakale. In an ongoing process against Koza İpek's chairman Akin Ipek and other personnel of the holding, the company was accused of conducting propaganda for the terror organization^[6]

Following a court order, the company on 26 October 2015 was placed under a panel of trustees that includes former managers from pro-government Turkuvaz Media Group. Only days ahead of the November 1 general elections, the opposition perceived the seizure of the holding as a move to intimidate media and silence voices critical of the AKP. CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu said democracy and law were suspended if a prosecutor was able to seize a corporation without any court ruling.^[7]

On 28 October 2015 Turkish police stormed the headquarters of Koza-Ipek media group in Istanbul, firing tear gas and water cannon to disperse protesters outside the offices. The police raid was linked to an investigation into the group on suspicion on "terror financing" and "terror propaganda", Ankara's chief prosecutor's office said in a statement. European Parliament President Martin Schulz tweeted that he was "deeply concerned" about the raid.^[8]

References

1. Reuters, KOZAA.IS
2. Hurriyet Daily News, 2008, Turkey's Koza Davetiye buys broadcaster Kanalturk
3. Koza İpek Holding, We began to work for the happiest day of your life...
4. Koza Gold Operations, 2015, Koza Gold Operations Company
5. Koza Anadolu Metal A.Ş., 2015, Koza Anadolu Metal
6. Kadri Gursel (1 September 2015). "Turkish daily exposes transfer of weapons to IS". Al Monitor. Retrieved 28 October 2015.
7. "Court seizes control of media group". Hurriyet Daily News. 26 October 2015. Retrieved 28 October 2015.
8. "Turkish police raid Istanbul media group Koza-Ipek". BBC. 28 October 2015. Retrieved 31 October 2015.

External links

• Koza İpek Holding