Turkish business suffers under Erdogan’s post-coup Gulen purge


Date posted: November 7, 2016

Anthony Skinner

In early-November, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of Turkey’s beleaguered main opposition Republic People’s Party (CHP), spoke out against the confiscation of property belonging to businessmen facing terrorism charges.

The condemnation is just one part of the broader, albeit fruitless, criticism of the unstoppable President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Since July’s failed coup, which the government and most Turks believe was orchestrated by U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, Erdogan has used emergency rule to eradicate proven or suspected members of the Gulen movement and other voices of dissent. An estimated 37,000 individuals from all walks of life, including business, have been arrested and 110,000 sacked or suspended from their jobs.

Seizure of Gulen-linked businesses to bolster state finances

In typical fashion, Erdogan has not pulled his punches since the failed coup. Almost 500 companies with direct or indirect links to the Gulen movement have been taken over by the government-controlled Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF). The list of holdings and single-sector businesses includes such popular Turkish companies as Boydak, Koza Ipek, Naksan, Akfa and Kaynak. Having absorbed assets worth at least $13 billion, the state has become Turkey’s largest conglomerate. The proceeds from the sale of these businesses will go into state coffers.

Critics of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) expect it to sell Gulen-linked companies to government allies in the business world at a large discount. In mid-October the AKP-linked Metro Holding applied to the TMSF to acquire all of Koza Ipek Holding’s shares. Akin Ipek, the fugitive former owner of the conglomerate, asked on Twitter how Koza Ipek’s $600 million in cash and $20 billion in mining assets could be acquired by a comparatively unimpressive entity. Metro Holding’s capital comes to just over $95 million.

Irrespective of whether or not the TMSF conducts the sale of Gulen-linked businesses in a transparent manner, business confidence has suffered. Thousands of corporate accounts have been frozen by Turkey’s banks as the state investigates these clients. Although seized entities are still paying their liabilities, the government has yet to announce a formal plan on how to manage the rights of business partners or lenders owed money.

Crushing potential threats without sinking the economy

Unlike Turkey’s media, the government is being fairly selective with the businesses it is targeting in the Gulen mop-up. The purge has expanded to include businesses with alleged links to the armed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, but not beyond. Turkey’s most important businesses, in particular heavyweights Koc Holding and Sabanci Holding, have not been touched during the purge. The former had been subjected to an aggressive tax probe and robbed of a tender for getting on the wrong side of the government during the anti-government Gezi Park protests of 2013. But none of its companies were taken over by the state and none of its managers were arrested.

Sabanci and Koc are unlikely to be targeted in the medium term at least given their lack of support for the Gulen network and their national economic clout. Snaring these business heavyweights would also tip the government’s already precarious balancing act – one designed to crush the remnants of the Gulen movement but not trigger excessive capital flight and a dramatic nose-dive in already subdued FDI. This task has been made all the harder with ratings agency Moody’s cutting Turkey’s credit rating to junk status in September after Standard & Poor’s pushed the country even further into negative territory in July.

Erdogan nonetheless dislikes that which he cannot control if not dictate. Therein lies the biggest risk for an economy which during the early years of AKP rule flourished at least in part from positive, pro-market reforms. Investors need to understand the rules of the game, but if those rules are increasingly being bent, changed or applied to punish rivals and suit Erdogan’s domestic agenda, business confidence will dry up.

Anthony Skinner is a director at political risk advisory company Verisk Maplecroft.

Source: CNBC , November 7, 2016


Related News

Defamation- Pro-Erdoğan daily claims Gülen movement converted 500,000 to Christianity in Kazakhstan

A Turkish daily claimed on Friday that the Gülen movement had converted 500,000 people to Christianity in Kazakhstan through its schools around the country.

Woman says she miscarried baby due to stress under police custody

A Turkish woman, whose identity remains anonymous, has said in a recent video recording that she miscarried her baby due to the stress she experienced under custody.

Children from all over the world embarked on Turkish voyage

Around 22 years ago, Fethullah Gülen said, “The day will come when you will no longer fit into the stadiums.” In fact, it turned out to be true. The Turkish Olympiad, which began in 2003 with young people from 17 different countries, has grown to the point that this year we hosted 2,000 students from 140 countries. The Olympiad came to an end in Istanbul with a magnificent final ceremony.

At least 275 including elderly woman detained over Gulen links over past day

At least 275 people were detained over their alleged links to the Gulen movement, according to Turkish media. Among the accusations raised against the detainees were to have raised money for Turkey’s post-coup victims, whether be relatives of those earlier arrested or those dismissed from their jobs.

KADİP’s 1st international photography contest held for peace

The Intercultural Dialogue Platform (KADİP) of the Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV) announced the winners of its very first international photography contest, “Peace in the frame,” at a gala on Tuesday night at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in İstanbul.

Coup plotter or moderate religious leader? Finnish State TV Yle meets Turkey’s most wanted man

“The future is in God’s hands. People who believe in our cause will continue our work. The world feels sympathy for our movement,” says Gulen.

Latest News

Fethullah Gulen – man of education, peace and dialogue – passes away

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

In Case You Missed It

Turkey Coup Attempt: Who is Fethullah Gülen, The Cleric Being Accused Of Orchestrating The Turmoil?

Mr. Gülen’s felicitous advice on Kurdish issue, freedoms

Fethullah Gulen Deplores Recent Attacks on Christians in Pakistan

Turkey to Release Tens of Thousands of Prisoners to Make Room for Coup Suspects

Teacher abducted from Malaysia subjected to beating, torture in Ankara: cellmate

An open letter to Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan

Doctors Worldwide Turkey, Kimse Yok Mu set to help Gazans

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News