Cem Cengiz Uzan (born 26 December 1960,

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

) is a Turkish businessman and politician involved in the media and banking industries, while also

chairing The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

the social liberal Young Party (GENÇPARTİ). His family's media empire ( Uzan Group) at one time included both television stations and print media. His family was one of

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

's most influential families. His supporters claim Uzan's political rivalry resulted in the group's companies being seized by the government under Prime Minister

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician who is the 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as the 25th prime minister of Turkey, prime minister from 2003 to 2014 as part of the Jus ...

, eventually resulting in Uzan's flight to

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

to escape what he claimed was political persecution. He has been sentenced ''in absentia'' to jail terms in the

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and Turkey for fraud-related offences. Uzan attempted to buy three units of Trump World Tower, but he ultimately defaulted on the contract and lost an $8 million deposit. Cem Uzan announced his intention to run for president in

2023 Turkish presidential election Turkish presidential elections, Presidential elections were held in Turkey in May 2023, alongside 2023 Turkish parliamentary election, parliamentary elections, to elect a President of Turkey, president for a term of five years. Dubbed the most ...

but his application for presidential candidacy was rejected by the Supreme Election Council (YSK) due to the reason of ''application were not made to the council in person.''

Early Life

Cem Uzan was born in

on 26 December 1960, to businessmen Kemal Uzan and Melahat Uzan. He has two siblings named Ayşegül and Hakan Uzan. He completed high school at Istanbul German High School and received his

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

business administration Business administration is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. Overview The administration of a business includes the performance o ...

from

Pepperdine University Pepperdine University () is a private university, private Christianity, Christian research university affiliated with the Churches of Christ, with its main campus in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Pepperdine's main campus consists ...

in the US.

Professional Career

He founded many of the firsts on the Turkish media industry such as the first commercial TV channel ' Star TV', first entertainment TV channel ' Teleon TV', first music-oriented TV channel '

Kral TV Kral TV is a music television channel in Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black ...

', and first Turkish cinema and series channels 'Yeşilçam TV' and 'Dizi TV'; first commercial radio channel 'Süper FM', first arabesque music radio 'Kral FM', first foreign music radio 'Metro FM' and first slow music radio 'Joy FM'; as well as first digital media platform 'Star Digital'. He also founded the telecommunication company Telsim which implemented many technological advances such as

GPRS General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), also called 2.5G, is a mobile data standard on the 2G cellular communication network's Global System for Mobile Communications, global system for mobile communications (GSM). Networks and mobile devices wit ...

, MMS, WAP and

Push to talk Push-to-talk (PTT), also known as press-to-transmit, is a method of having conversations or talking on half-duplex communication lines, including two-way radio, using a momentary button to switch from voice reception mode to transmit mode. ...

in Turkey as first and as well as one of the first ones worldwide. The Star newspaper which he owned had the highest circulation in Turkey. The concession agreements for Çukurova and Kepez Electric companies which were managed by the Uzan family, were cancelled in June 2003. On 3 July 2003, İmarbank and Adabank were seized. In February 2004, the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF), took over the management of 219 companies owned by Uzans which many of them had precautionary measures in place as part of the İmarbank investigation. In 2008, a lawsuit was filed against him for

fraud In law, fraud is intent (law), intentional deception to deprive a victim of a legal right or to gain from a victim unlawfully or unfairly. Fraud can violate Civil law (common law), civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrato ...

and

embezzlement Embezzlement (from Anglo-Norman, from Old French ''besillier'' ("to torment, etc."), of unknown origin) is a type of financial crime, usually involving theft of money from a business or employer. It often involves a trusted individual taking ...

within the scope of the İmarbank investigation. On 29 March 2013, the court ruled that Cem Uzan had transferred a total of 1,468,240,378 TL belonging to the bank to himself and other Uzan family members ''in a qualified manner by using fraudulent means to prevent the embezzlement from being revealed'' and Uzan was sentenced to 18 years, 5 months and 20 days in prison, which then his sentence was determined as 9 years and 2 months under the Execution Law.

Criticism

Uzan has often been criticized for using his professional life to bolster his political life, and even benefiting from criminal charges leveled against him. In 2003, U.S.

District Court District courts are a category of courts which exists in several nations, some call them "small case court" usually as the lowest level of the hierarchy. These courts generally work under a higher court which exercises control over the lower co ...

Judge Jed Rakoff commented, "I think the proof is very strong that the Uzans are business imperialists of the worst kind, in that they will go to any lengths, including fraud and racketeering, to preserve their business empire..." Cem Uzan responded by asserting that the judge "is biased against

, against the Turkish people."

Fraud and convictions

In December 2002, a U.K. court sentenced Cem Uzan to 15 months imprisonment for contempt of court after he failed to appear in the U.K. to testify in a case involving a $4.3billion defrauding of

Motorola Motorola, Inc. () was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois. It was founded by brothers Paul and Joseph Galvin in 1928 and had been named Motorola since 1947. Many of Motorola's products had been ...

corporation. In 2009, Motorola and

Nokia Nokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications industry, telecommunications, technology company, information technology, and consumer electronics corporation, originally established as a pulp mill in 1 ...

won a $4.8 billion judgement against the Uzan family. The Uzans failed to show up in court and the judge ordered an arrest warrant for them should they enter the United States. In 2009, he fled to France claiming political asylum. The request was granted by the French government. He was later indicted of racketeering in Turkey. After his flight to France, Uzan was sentenced ''in absentia'' in Turkey to twenty-three years in prison on 15 April 2010.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Uzan, Cem 1960 births Living people People from Adapazarı Turkish political party founders Leaders of political parties in Turkey Deutsche Schule Istanbul alumni Young Party politicians Turkish newspaper publishers (people) Turkish mass media owners Turkish expatriates in France Turkish people of Bosniak descent 20th-century Turkish businesspeople