Leading Turkish Islamic lender Bank Asya has decided to sell its stakes in two subsidiaries for TL 132 million ($62 million), the bank said on Wednesday.In a statement to Borsa İstanbul (BIST), Bank Asya said it is selling a 24.18 percent stake in Turkish construction firm Tuna Gayrimenkul for TL 62.8 million. The bank also said it is selling another construction company, Nil Yönetim Hizmetleri, for TL 69.25 million. The bank owned all shares in Nil. At the beginning of June, the bank said it planned on selling its subsidiaries. The move comes amid efforts of Bank Asya to raise capital.
In related international deals Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB) said in March that it had entered into exclusive talks to buy a stake in Asya without giving further details except to say that it hoped to conclude the deal within the next few months. On Wednesday Reuters cited four sources close to the matter as saying that QIB and Bank Asya have ended exclusive talks over QIB acquiring a stake in the Turkish lender, with valuation concerns said to be behind the decision.
Turkish state bank Ziraat may now be the most likely partner for Bank Asya, but the two banks have not officially begun talks, three of the sources told Reuters.
“Talks with QIB have finished. Bank Asya has been going through tough times since Dec. 17. They are in talks with Ziraat,” one source close to the deal said. It was not clear what size stake had been under discussion. The Qatari lender didn’t respond to a request for comment. Bank Asya and Ziraat also declined to comment.
The talks with QIB faltered after the banks failed to agree on a price, the sources said. Turkish banks are a natural target as Qatari banks expand overseas, but price has become a highly sensitive issue after the state’s second-biggest bank by assets, the Commercial Bank of Qatar, was seen overpaying last year to acquire a 70.8 percent stake in Turkey’s Alternatifbank.
One more Turkish teacher lost his life on Monday because of maltreatment and negligence of Turkish authorities during his stay in prison under the rule of emergency declared in the aftermath of a controversial coup attempt on July 15, 2016 in Turkey.
US Congressman: No Credibility In Charges By Turkey Against Gülen
US Congressman Brad Sherman said on Thursday that charges against US-based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen by the Turkish government and Turkey’s autocratic President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan have no credibility and that he would not be treated with justice if he were in Turkey.
Pro-Gov’t Columnist Suggests Setting Turkey’s Silivri Prison Ablaze To Kill Inmates From Gülen Movement
Fatih Tezcan, a pro-government public speaker and columnist, said in a video message posted on social media that people should gather in front of Silivri Prison, which mainly hosts people jailed over links to the Gülen movement, and set it on fire, similar to the Madımak Hotel in Sivas when an angry mob in 1993 torched the hotel, killing 37 people, mostly members of the Alevi sect.
Fethullah Gülen issued the following statement on Turkey’s extradition request
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan today once again demonstrated he will go to any length necessary to solidify his power and persecute his critics. It is ridiculous, irresponsible and false to suggest I had anything to do with the horrific failed coup. I urge the US government to reject any effort to abuse the extradition process to carry out political vendettas.
Gulen Movement, civilian governments and the AK Party
The Gulen movement’s understanding of politics and the political process differentiate it from the military and bureaucratic elite. Its main political objective is to transform society by raising the moral consciousness of individuals. By raising moral consciousness, the movement hopes to cleanse the bureaucracy of widespread corruption, increase the efficiency and transparency of state institutions, reinvigorate public work ethic to serve the people in order to enhance the legitimacy of the state, and create opportunity spaces for marginalized sectors of the Anatolian population.
Turkey overshadows war-hit Syria in number of academics seeking asylum elsewhere
The New York-based Scholar Rescue Fund, a part of the Institute of International Education (IIE) has received an unprecedented number of requests for help, its director Sarah Willcox told an audience at the European Association for International Education’s annual conference, held in Liverpool from 13 to 16 September, Times Higher Education (THE) reported.
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