Gov't attack on Bank Asya taints Turkey's image

Attempts by the Turkish government to sink Bank Asya have tainted Turkey's image, according to French-based Institute for Research on the International Economy expert Deniz Ünal, speaking to the Cihan news agency on Tuesday.

Since the Dec. 17 corruption investigation Bank Asya has been subjected to a series of government-led attacks because of the lender's affiliation with the Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen-inspired Hizmet movement.

“This is the other Turkey that scares me. Behind this there are attacks upon the legal system, which seem to be getting worse. This will negatively impact the economy,” said Ünal. “There was no indication that Bank Asya was heading in a bad direction. All of a sudden Bank Asya was discussed in a very negative light and this created a problem. It is clear that they are trying to close the bank for ideological purposes,” he said.

Ünal emphasized that the attempt on behalf of the government to sink Bank Asya could strongly dissuade foreign investors from investing in Turkey. “From outside it looks very bad, and from within [Turkey] it surely doesn't look so good either,” he said.

Meanwhile, in a statement on Tuesday, Bank Asya announced that numerous media organs are publishing false reports on the bank's financial situation to intentionally distort the Bank's image, and that such reports do not reflect the reality.

Published on Today's Zaman, 14 October 2014, Tuesday