At the neighbor’s Turkey dissidents of the presidential regime Recep Tayyip Erdogan not only the “usual suspects” are considered, i.e. journalists, artists, scientists and others. Businessmen are now joining this chorus. In particular, the top manager of one of the largest supermarket chains in Turkey was forced to resign from the post of head of the industry team. The reason was that he vehemently rejected claims that retail conglomerates were responsible for rising inflation in the country. Galip Haykas, CEO of the BIM chain Birlesik Magazalar, resigned as chairman and board member of the Union of Food Retail Associations on December 4, according to a statement on the former’s website. He apologized to the Nationalist Movement Party of Turkey, which is associated with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and criticized him for the comments.

Those who blame companies for Turkey’s 84.4 percent inflation are “immoral and arrogant,” Galip Haykas said at a retail conference in Istanbul on Nov. 30. The profit margin of organized companies operating in this sector is about 4%, he added, and stressed that “even if it were zero, the inflation rate would not fall.” Turkish officials and pro-government media have long accused discount grocery chains, including publicly traded BIMs, of raising prices without good reason. And in November, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened companies with unspecified “measures” to be taken against him, in addition to administrative fines. And his ally, Nationalist Movement Party nationalist leader Devlet Bahceli, said terrorist groups were behind the price increase. The clashes reflect food price inflation, which topped 102% in November, at the center of political debate ahead of next year’s elections.

He dismissed government claims that retail conglomerates were responsible for rising inflation.

Price increases this year have soared to their highest level since President Erdogan took office almost two decades ago, after he launched policies that prioritized cheap business credit at the expense of currency and price stability. The Bank of Turkey ended the easing cycle last month despite a sharp increase in inflation, cutting its benchmark interest rate by 1.5 percentage points to 9%. Meanwhile, Bahceli Party Deputy Chairman Semih Yalchin targeted Haykas in a December 1 Twitter comment. In particular, he explained that his party will “break hands” of those who undermine the life of people. Over the weekend, newspapers and websites reported that the leader of the nationalist gang also threatened Galip Haykas through social media. Finally, it is noted that the share of the BIM company, which has 11,300 units in Turkey and abroad, has grown by 103% in Istanbul this year after the stock market index rose by 166%.