Metin Kilci, the president of Turkey’s Privatisation Administration was looking eagerly forward to the dawn of June 3, 2004. That was the day when the government would hand over the shares of Tupras to a private consortium, which was prepared to stump up $1.3bn. His staff had spent the previous day counting and arranging the shares for transfer to the buyer. He had also planned a celebration for the next day when the deal would be completed. Mr Kilci had arranged for the top Citigroup executives to come from London and had booked them suites at a plush Ankara hotel. The scene was set for the conclusion of a successful privatisation.
But on the afternoon of June 2, Mr Kilci’s hopes, and those of the entire Turkish government were dashed by a court decision that said the privatisation was “not in the public interest” and should be stopped.