Turkey’s top business organization expresses concerns over detention of board member

ISTANBUL

DHA photo

The Turkish Industry and Business Association (TÜSİAD) has expressed concerns over the detainment of one of its executive board members, Boydak Holding General Manager Memduh Boydak, saying he was a revered as a reputable businessman.

“Our executive board has deep concerns over the detainment of its member Memduh Boydak this morning.

Memduh Boydak is a reputable and well-respected member of the Turkish business world. We hope to see Boydak back among us after being cleared of all charges against him,” TÜSİAD said in a press statement released on Sept. 16.

Issued on behalf of the members of TÜSİAD, Turkey’s top business organization, the statement continued, “We would like to raise concern over the darksome atmosphere threatening the business world perpetually with severe accusations and we urge that these kinds of events should be ended.”

TÜSİAD said no institutions, including business organizations, were exempt from any sort of legal inspections or interrogations in a state with rule of law and that everything should be transparent. 

“However, the right to a fair trial and the need to prevent damage over personal rights and respectability are a must, thus, legal procedures should be swiftly terminated,” it said.

“As a responsible representation business organization, we will be following the developments to assure that legal procedures are resumed with respect to sensitivities,” it added.

Turkish police detained 11 people in the Central Anatolian province of Kayseri, including executives of a group of companies and university officials, as part of an operation targeting a purported terrorist organization, which President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government have long called the “Pro-Fethullah Terror Organization,” which is claimed to be headed by U.S.-based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen.