‘Brand war’ erupts between divorced couple

ISTANBUL

A row between owners of a well-known street food chain in Istanbul has erupted after the duo got divorced following 10 years of marriage.

Ahmet Çiçek and Deniz Çelebi had been running a stuffed mussel shop, known as Midyeci Ahmet, in Istanbul’s busy Beşiktaş district, causing thousands of people to queue for their specialties every day.

However, the couple agreed to divorce and the branch in Beşiktaş was transferred to Çelebi as per the deal between the two.

After a while, Çiçek opened a new branch with the same name across the branch his ex-wife ran, announcing on his social media account that he had no relations there.

“While I was patenting the brand, I sold my necklace and got the naming rights. On the ninth day after the divorce, he stopped supplying me. He opened a shop across mine,” Çelebi said, criticizing her ex-husband.

“The brand was not inherited from grandfather or father. We created this brand by working together. The taste of Midyeci Ahmet is in my hands, all the recipes are mine,” she said, claiming that she prepared the stuffed mussels herself for four or five years.

“He doesn’t want me to stand strong as a woman. He doesn’t want me to succeed. He wants me to need him,” Çelebi added.