Bank Asya recovers from gov’t provocation


Date posted: January 12, 2014

GÜNAY HİLAL AYGÜN

Faced with massive corruption scandals that have shaken the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has moved to silence media for its critical coverage of graft, money laundering, influence peddling, tender-rigging and other crimes allegedly committed by senior members of the government and businesspeople close to Erdoğan.

The sinister plan apparently cooked up by the government to intimidate the Hizmet (Gülen) movement has also included an operation targeting Bank Asya, a bank owned mostly by movement sympathizers, with the hope that the pro-Gülen media will be forced to stay silent on corruption. The clampdown on the bank first started with a defamation campaign run by pro-government media outlets and was later followed by a claim by Interior Minister Efkan Ala, who asserted that the bank had made extraordinary profits on the foreign currency market. All these allegations were refuted by the bank, which published their currency transactions; the central bank has confirmed that there has been no wrongdoing by the bank.

The government-orchestrated campaign even extended to a point where the AK Party government instructed all government agencies and state enterprises that have an account with the bank to withdraw their deposits overnight, in order to provoke a run on the bank. In the meantime, it was rumored that the government put pressure on regulators at the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK) to seize the bank, whose balance sheet was dealt a blow. Yet the bank quickly recovered from the shakeup thanks to the campaigning of citizens and new investors who rushed to aid the bank with fresh capital. The regulators have been left with no justification to seize the bank, a move that was also opposed by economy czar Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan.

Taraf columnist and Ankara Bureau Chief Hüseyin Özay described the Erdoğan government’s plan as a “lynching campaign saying that it was meant to be like firing a bullet at the Turkish economy. “Last week, the Turkish banking system barely escaped a ‘forced bankruptcy operation’ that presented a critical risk for the system,” he wrote in his column. With the fresh injection of cash to the bank compensating well above the amount of money withdrawn from the bank under pressure from the government, Özay said, “Thus the banking industry has averted a major earthquake.” He also criticized government agencies for withdrawing their deposits because that abrupt move meant they had to forfeit a huge profit on the deposits because of early withdrawal.

Turan Bozkurt, business editor and columnist at Zaman, slammed the BDDK for being silent against the slanderous attacks targeting Bank Asya by the pro-government media, saying the watchdog agency should have warned the media, especially in light of Banking Law No. 5411, which prohibits publication of defamatory articles. Bozkurt also revealed that businesspeople who do business with the bank have started getting calls from circles close to the government, asking them to withdraw their deposits from the bank. He said, “There are rumors that a list has been circulating around,” which includes clients’ data that, by law, cannot be handed over to anybody. Only the bank and regulators at the BDDK have access to the confidential data.

Source: Todays Zaman , January 12, 2014


Related News

Terrorist Bahoz Erdal calls on families to protect their children from the Gulen Movement!

“Bahoz Erdal” code-named Fehman Hussein, who represents the most bloody wing of the PKK terrorist organization and the organization’s Syrian wing, directs preposterous accusations to the Gulen movement and the police. He claims that the movement entraps Kurdish children and brings up them as spies. Bahoz argues, “They [the movement] recruit Kurdish kids at their […]

60-year-old Turkish villager detained after questioning gov’t coup narrative

Murat Gulen, a 60-year-old villager and a relative of Fethullah Gulen was detained after he was revealed questioning the government’s narrative over the July 15, 2016 coup attempt during a video interview by the pro-government Ihlas News Agency.

Turkey Assails a Revered Islamic Moderate

Though little known in the United States, for many years Mr. Gulen was an unofficial ambassador for Turkey who promoted a moderate brand of Islam. He preached tolerance, meeting with Pope John Paul II and other religious and political leaders, among them Turkey’s prime ministers and presidents. DOUGLAS FRANTZ, August 25, 2000 Onur Elgin, a […]

Kurdish initiative should not be suspended by provocative acts

TUĞBA MEZARARKALI/MEHMET TAYANÇ, BINGÖL The final declaration of a recent symposium on Turkey’s Kurdish issue, attended by Turkish and international academics, authors, politicians and leading thinkers, says that Kurdish initiatives aiming to resolve Turkey’s long-standing Kurdish problem by meeting some of the Kurdish people’s demands should not be suspended due to provocative acts. Organized by […]

Turbulent times [in Turkey due to corruption probe]

The arrest of several people close to the government, including three ministers’ sons, accused of taking significant bribes, has shaken the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government to the core and plunged Turkey into political uncertainty. Whether it is the case or not — the Gülen movement denies it — the timing of the arrests has created the widespread perception that the investigation is linked to the growing tension between the AKP and the Gülen movement, also known as Hizmet.

Are the Turkish Leader Erdogan’s Claims of Terrorist Coup Plotting to Be Believed?

It is hard to find a parallel for what has transpired in Turkey since last month’s failed coup without making comparison with the Nuremburg decrees of 1935 that legally ostracized Germany’s Jews and people of Jewish ancestry. Yet Nazi anti-Semitism had a clear and straight-forward rationale, while the popular furor in Turkey over the Hizmet bears the flavor of a personal grudge match between two one-time friends. No ideology. Just down and dirty, no holds barred.

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

When paths part…

Fountain Magazine goes digital with 92nd edition

Fethullah Gülen’s message to Turquiose Harmony Institute “Peace and Dialogue Awards”

Mischief-makers and the Hizmet movement

Lawyers confirm: Turkish teachers are still in Kosovo

Prominent businessman Akın İpek pledges huge support to Kimse Yok Mu

Turkey’s Corruption Probe, And One Question For Erdogan

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News