Turkey’s Finance Ministry has begun procedures to cancel a 49-year lease on the Savarona, the historic yacht used by the founder of modern Turkey during his last days, after the boat became embroiled in a prostitution scandal.
Fourteen people onboard the Savarona, including businessmen and underage girls allegedly brought from Russia and Ukraine for high-cost prostitution, were detained Monday in a raid on an alleged prostitution ring as the boat lay moored near the Mediterranean town of Göcek.
“We can cancel the contract [for renting the yacht] as the yacht has not been used in a way consistent with the contract’s conditions,” Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek told journalists during a visit in Gaziantep, adding that if the “other party,” lease-holder Kahraman Sadıkoğlu, would not accept the cancellation of the contract, they would apply to the courts.
Once the issue is resolved, the ministry will cooperate with the Culture and Tourism Ministry to determine the future of the yacht, Şimşek said, Anatolia news agency reported Thursday.
Sadıkoğlu, who arrived in Istanbul from Baghdad on Thursday afternoon, said he would first assess the situation with his lawyer before making any statements to the press.
He is expected to hold a press conference in the following days, Doğan news agency reported Thursday.
According to daily Habertürk, Sadıkoğlu reacted in a TV program Wednesday to the finance minister’s statements, saying that since hotels where prostitution occurs are not seized, there was no reason to do so for his yacht.
“When a room is reserved at a hotel, no one is asked what they are going to do in their rooms. As this is not a practice for hotels, shall we ask this of those who pay $50,000 in rent for the yacht?” he asked.
Nine of the 10 women taken into custody from the Savarona were sent to court while one was released after no evidence implicating her was found. The women have not given testimonies to the gendarmerie but instead chosen to remain silent.
The Savarona is a 136-meter yacht with 17 luxury suites built in 1931 for the daughter of Brooklyn Bridge chief engineer John A. Roebling. It was sold to Turkey in 1938 and used by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the Republic’s founder, to host important guests before his death later that year.
In 1989, Turkish businessman Sadıkoğlu paid $60 million to the Finance Ministry for the rights to operate the Savarona for 49 years, daily Habertürk said.
Sadıkoğlu rents the yacht to tourists for $30,000-$40,000 a day to help cover the boat’s annual maintenance costs of more than $3 million, it said.
, September 30, 2010
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