CD plant pirating top Turkish artist is raided by police

28th September 2007

In July 2007, IFPI's Turkish National Group (Mu Yap) test-purchased a pirate CD (2006 release Mesafe) by the popular Turkish singer Serder Ortac, a significant local artist with numerous best selling albums.

IFPI London (Forensics) subsequently matched the counterfeit disc to a Turkish replication plant in Istanbul. Mu Yap later used this evidence to make a criminal complaint to the authorities and on 20th September 2007, shortly after midnight, the plant was raided by 20 Turkish police officers, accompanied by Mu Yap. They recovered 13,000 suspected infringing units, by the popular Turkish artist Ibrahim Tatlise, together with 2,000 inlays and jewel boxes marked with Turkish Government banderols.

The Police are liaising with the Ministry of Culture to establish the issuing chain of the banderols and Mu Yap is assisting with preparation of prosecution documents.