Erdogan says Uber ‘finished’ in Turkey

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the ride hailing app Uber is “finished” in Turkey, following intense pressure from Istanbul taxi drivers for the service to be banned.

Erdogan’s comments, in a late night speech Friday in Istanbul, came after the government agreed new rules that are expected to severely complicate Uber’s operations in Turkey.

Drivers of Istanbul’s yellow taxis have over the last months waged an intense campaign to have Uber banned, saying the company is eating into their business without having a proper legal basis for work.

“This thing emerged called Uber or Muber or whatever,” said Erdogan. “But this issue is now finished. It’s over now.”

“Our Prime Minister (Binali Yildirim) made the announcement. We have our system of taxis,” he added.

Yildirim’s government last month issued a directive sharply hiking fines and threatened blacklisting for companies whose vehicles illegally work as taxis.

The official taxi drivers association said at the time the measure would be a major threat to Uber, if it was properly enforced by the traffic police.

Erdogan said that while Uber may be popular in some European countries, Turkey was different.

“Why did it (Uber) emerge? Because it was in Europe. But what is Europe to me? We will take the decision ourselves.” (AFP)