Turkey blacklists 68 companies including Germany’s Daimler, BASF over Gülen links
Date posted: July 21, 2017
Turkey has named 68 companies as supporters of the Gülen movement, in a list sent to Germany’s federal police, according to Die Zeit weekly.
The list included a Turkish fast food restaurant and a late-night food store, Die Zeit said.
This was sent to German authorities several weeks ago, the newspaper said recalling that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced to have sent 4,500 files on alleged supporters of the movement to Germany and demanded that they be extradited to Turkey.
“In Berlin, the list is described as ‘absurd’ and ‘ridiculous’,” the weekly added. Meanwhile Turkey’s Deputy PM Mehmet Simsek said on Thursday that Turkey is not investigating Daimler and BASF.
At home, Turkey has confiscated 966 companies with assets of $11 billion over links to the movement so far.
It is not clear when the government will begin auctioning off seized firms. The risk is that the economy may gradually come to resemble Russia’s, where political loyalty is the price for keeping a slice of the pie. “It is like watching a piece of snow roll down a mountain,” says a veteran civil servant ousted in one of the purges. “You think it won’t hit you, until you realise it’s becoming an avalanche.”
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