Uber issue is over, Turkish PM tells Istanbul taxi drivers

ISTANBUL

The Uber dispute “is finished” in Turkey, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım said early on June 11, while calling on taxi drivers to take measures to improve conditions that led people to prefer Uber, which was recently banned in the country.

“Something called Uber has emerged. The president has made a clear instruction on the matter. No one can earn undeserved money in this country. Their technology doesn’t count,” Yıldırım told drivers during a pre-dawn sahur Ramadan meal in Istanbul. 

“No non-taxpayers can do business here,” he said, assuring yellow cab drives that “it is our duty to remove this network, which works illegally in your field.”

Istanbul traffic police have stepped up their inspections to identify Uber vehicles and motorcycles utilizing Scott, an Uber-like ridesharing app, following President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s June 1 comments.

“Something called Uber has arisen. But that business is now over. There is no such thing anymore ... We already have a taxi system. Uber exists in Europe. I do not care,” Erdoğan had said in an iftar fast-breaking meal speech on June 1.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Yıldırım said the taxi drivers’ chamber should take responsibility for providing better services for users.

“How did this [Uber] enter the market? Not as a prime minister but as a brother of yours, I ask for one thing from you in the name of my nation: Quality,” he said.