Store to take measures after bat incident in Istanbul

ISTANBUL

A retailer has vowed to follow up on measures taken by a mall after a woman lodged a legal complaint after encountering a bat while trying on a pair of pants at a luxurious shopping mall in Istanbul.

“All our products and stores have the same standards as global branches. The store in which the incident reportedly occurred is in an outdoor shopping mall. The incident … was also unusual and out of the ordinary for us. We support the statement which was made by the shopping mall in which we are the renter and we declare that we will follow the measures to be taken. We express our sorrow about the incident that [the woman] has experienced,” the company said in a written statement about the incident on Oct. 20. 

Emine Celine Cotton, a professor who normally lives in France, had gone shopping with her husband at an outdoor shopping mall in the Levent neighborhood.

Cotton went to try on a pair of pants in the store of a luxury global brand, but came into contact with a bat that was hidden inside the apparel. 

Cotton contacted sales assistants, demanding that they put the bat in a cage for further medical examination. The bat, however, flew away after janitors put it into flowers that are used as decoration at the premises.

The woman filed a complaint about the store after the incident, noting that she was forced to receive a rabies shot after the encounter.

The retailer in question stated that the brand had branches in 44 different locations and had been providing services for 21 years in Turkey.