> Other sample press translations from Turkish to English
This article comes from the left-leaning daily Cumhuriyet, a staunch supporter of the secular values behind the Turkish Republic, dated 25 September, 2005. Against a background of increasing public disquiet about the way privatisation is being conducted in Turkey, Miyase İlknur investigates the role of financier Mehmet Kutman whose name is linked with all the recent large privatisation tenders. Translated from Turkish by Tim Drayton.
The text of the warning notice reads as follows:
‘It has been brought to our attention that you have posted “Privatisation and the Rize Connection”, a sample translation of a September 2005 article from the Turkish Cumhuriyet newspaper, on your website (www.timdrayton.com).
Please be advised initially that the aforementioned article is now outdated, and contains a significant amount of factual information that is no longer current or relevant.
More importantly, as you will appreciate, the core objective of the article published in Cumhuriyet was to impugn the character of its subject, Mehmet Kutman - currently the Chairman of Global Investment Holdings. Moreover, it attempted to do so by making a series of claims based upon innuendo, unnamed sources and otherwise unsubstantiated information.
Putting aside the abundance of positive media coverage of Mr. Kutman over the years and Cumhuriyet's obvious political leanings, an article of such a defamatory nature would seem to be an inappropriate choice for any sample translation intended to be generally distributed to prospective clients as an example of your translation expertise and capabilities.
However, the fact that you have posted the article on the Internet exposes it to a much vaster audience. Indeed, among tens of thousands of results, the article is one of the first to appear in a Google search of Mr. Kutman’s name.
Accordingly, we would ask that you kindly remove the article from your website forthwith. If you have not done so within 5 (five) business days’ time, we will have no choice but to consider taking legal action requiring you to do so and seeking compensatory damages and any other relief available.
We trust that you will understand our position in this matter, and on that basis, we thank you in advance for your swift cooperation.’