Cavit Çağlar (born 1944,

Komotini Komotini ( el, Κομοτηνή, tr, Gümülcine, bg, Комотини) is a city in the region of East Macedonia and Thrace, northeastern Greece. It is the capital of the Rhodope. It was the administrative centre of the Rhodope-Evros super-pr ...

, Greece) is a Turkish businessman and politician. He was elected to the

Grand National Assembly of Turkey The Grand National Assembly of Turkey ( tr, ), usually referred to simply as the TBMM or Parliament ( tr, or ''Parlamento''), is the unicameral Turkish legislature. It is the sole body given the legislative prerogatives by the Turkish Consti ...

(TBMM) for the

True Path Party The True Path Party ( tr, Doğru Yol Partisi, DYP) was a centre-right political party in Turkey, active from 1983 to 2007. For most of its history, the party's central figure was Süleyman Demirel, a former Prime Minister of Turkey who previously ...

(DYP) in 1991, serving as a Minister of State responsible for state-owned banks ( 51st and

52nd government of Turkey The 52nd government of Turkey (30 October 1995 – 6 March 1996) was a caretaker coalition government formed by True Path Party (DYP) and Republican People's Party (CHP). Background The 50th government of Turkey came to an end because Deniz Bay ...

). He resigned from the DYP in 1996, remaining in parliament as an independent until 1999. He had been a major financial contributor to the political comeback of President

Suleyman Demirel Suleyman or Süleyman is a variant of Suleiman (the Arabic name ). It means "man of peace". Notable people with the name include: Suleyman *Suleyman I of Rûm or Suleiman ibn Qutulmish (d. 1086), founder of an independent Seljuq Turkish state i ...

. In 2004 he was sentenced to three years ten months for bank fraud.

Early life

Çağlar was born in

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

to ethnic Turks, moving to Turkey when he was still at school. He left school at age 15 when his father died to look after his family. He entered the textile business, joining his uncle, a textile merchant in

Bursa ( grc-gre, Προῦσα, Proûsa, Latin: Prusa, ota, بورسه, Arabic:بورصة) is a city in northwestern Turkey and the administrative center of Bursa Province. The fourth-most populous city in Turkey and second-most populous in the ...

. With his uncle's support and state loans, he built up a large industrial and trade group, Nergis Holding, which in 1996 had turnover of around $1bn and exports of around $200m. Based around textiles, by 1996 it also included major real estate investments (including in tourist facilities around the

Sea of Marmara The Sea of Marmara,; grc, Προποντίς, Προποντίδα, Propontís, Propontída also known as the Marmara Sea, is an inland sea located entirely within the borders of Turkey. It connects the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea via the ...

), and publishing and broadcasting ventures, including news channel

NTV NTV may refer to: Television * NTV (Bangladesh), a Bengali-language satellite television channel in Bangladesh * NTV (India), Telugu regional channel * NTV (Kenya) * NTV (Mongolia), a television channel based in Mongolia * NTV (Newport Television) ...

Turkish Daily News Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

, 8 January 1997
Turkey's first 24-hour TV news channel begins broadcasts
/ref>

Career

In 1996 Nergis acquired

Çukurova Holding Çukurova Holding, established in 1923, is an industrial and commercial conglomerate based in Turkey. It is engaged in a range of sectors such as industrial, construction, communication and IT, media, transportation, financial services and ener ...

's majority stake in

İnterbank İnterbank A.Ş is a defunct Turkish bank, the successor of the Banque de Salonique ( tr, Selanik Bankası T.A.Ş.) founded in 1888 in Thessaloniki ( tr, Selanik) and relocated to Istanbul in 1910. In 1969, that bank was sold by its French controll ...

.TBB
Historical Data about Closed Banks – tbb.org.tr
In December 1997

Etibank Etibank A.Ş is a defunct Turkish bank. Founded in 1935 as a state bank focussed on financing the electricity sector, it launched commercial banking activities in 1955. The commercial banking division was separated out in 1993 (from what would bec ...

was privatised to Medya-Ipek Holding, co-owned by Çağlar and

Dinç Bilgin Dinç Bilgin (born 1940) is a Turkish businessman who built up a media empire which was voluntarily handed over to the Turkish government in 2008 over alleged financial irregularities relating to Etibank. These companies were later sold by TMSF fo ...

, for $155m, and in September 1998 Çağlar was celebrating a $1bn investment in textile production with Demirel opening the new factories. In February 1998 police uncovered a plot to assassinate Çağlar by a group working for

Alaattin Çakıcı Aladdin ( ar, علاء الدين, commonly ) (various spellings and transliterations) is a male given name which means "nobility of faith" or "nobility of creed/religion". It is one of a large class of names ending with ad-Din. The name may refer ...

, related to the bank privatization. On 7 January 1999

, then majority-owned by Nergis Holding, was transferred to the

TMSF The Savings Deposit Insurance Fund of Turkey ( tr, Tasarruf Mevduatı Sigorta Fonu), a.k.a. TMSF in abbreviated form, is the governing body concerned with matters of fund management and insurance in the Turkish banking system. The body was found ...

. It was later merged with

, before being liquidated. Later in January, NTV was sold to the Dogus Group. In June 1999 prosecutors alleged that in 1998 Interbank had transferred over $650m to Nergis Holding companies – far in excess of legal limits for intra-group transfers. The total amount owed by Nergis to Interbank was said to be over $1.1bn.

Interbank Fraud Case Entangles Former Politicians
/ref> In January 2001 Turkey issued a warrant for his arrest, accusing Çağlar of using a $7.4m business bank loan for personal use. He was arrested in New York in April, and agreed to return to Turkey to face trial after a New York court denied a $5m bail application. In 2004 Çağlar agreed to pay TMSF $1.6bn for debts relating to Interbank. When he failed to keep up payments, some of his other companies were seized, including his 50% stake in BİS Enerji, an electricity generating company in Bursa. Hotels, helicopters and media assets were also seized, and the Nergis Holding textile companies suffered financial difficulties, with 785 workers put on unpaid leave for over three months in 2008. Yeşim Tekstil was foreclosed by

Halkbank Halkbank is a Turkish bank, first incorporated in 1933 as a state-owned bank. After growing throughout much of the twentieth century, it began absorbing smaller-sized state banks around the turn of the millennium. Halkbank is now a publicly trad ...

in 2008 after debts reached $45m. In October 2008 Çağlar agreed to sell the remaining textile companies. In 2004 Çağlar was sentenced to three years ten months for bank fraud relating to the bankruptcy of Interbank. He had initially been acquitted in 2002, but the government appealed.

, 5 December 2002
Caglar acquitted after four-year trial
/ref>

References

External links

* Taha Kivanc, ''Turkish Daily News'', 24 January 1999
A Hard Article
{{DEFAULTSORT:Caglar, Cavit 1944 births Living people People from Komotini Democrat Party (Turkey, current) politicians Members of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey Government ministers of Turkey 20th-century Turkish businesspeople Members of the 20th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 49th government of Turkey Members of the 51st government of Turkey Members of the 52nd government of Turkey