Turkey’s Yıldız Holding denies media reports it is targeted in anti-Gülen operation

ISTANBUL

Turkish conglomerate Yıldız Holding, which owns the country’s largest food company, Ülker Holding, denied on Nov. 14 a media report claiming that its units were being targeted in a government operation against U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen. 

Shares in Yıldız Holding plummeted after news emerged of a possible operation, the owner of the Godvia chocolate-maker along with several other international brands, issued a comment in an e-mailed statement to the media. 

Opposition news website OdaTV had “used visual materials showing the Ülker brand despite the fact that the content of the related article did not include Ülker,” the statement read. 

“It is obvious that this may lead to a misunderstanding by consumers and harms our brand image,” it added. 

It also recalled that a column appearing in the pro-government daily Sabah last week also implied that an operation would target the Ülker Group, along with the Kaynak Holding company. 

“There are people who spread alarm without any reason. We are clean, our businesses are clean, and we keep working,” said Yıldız Holding chairman Murat Ülker via his Twitter account. 

Shares of three Yıldız Holding companies, including biscuit maker Ülker, investment fund Gözde Girişim and food wholesaler Bizim all fell by more than 11 percent in morning trading in Istanbul, according to Reuters.