3 Women candidates among 51 for TRT

Of the three women applicants for the position, Nuran Bayer is in 40th row and a producer and director at the TRT. Bengul Erdamar is in 19th row and works at the TRT Supervisory Committee while Canan Yucel is a chemist in 43rd row.

According to legal requirements, the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTUK) will have to name three out of all the candidates who have applied and submit its proposed narrowed selection to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Once the Prime Minister decides on one of the three final candidates, his choice will be recommended to the President and only after the President's ratification and publication of the final decision in the Official Gazette will the individual take the seat of the General Director of the TRT.

The seat has been vacant since previous General Director Senol Demiroz retired from his position in August 2005 following 199 months work.

The appointment of Demiroz, a colleague of Erdogan from his days as Istanbul Metropolitan Mayor, was made after a controversial process of three rejections by the President on legal grounds and approved only on Erdogan's personal insistence.

Various allegations made with regard to his conduct after appointment later led to an internal investigation launched on Erdogan's own request and Demiroz taking out voluntary retirement which coincided with the investigation results report. (AD/II/YE)