It is stated in the interview that the Competition Authority has increased its scrutiny against undertakings that commit anticompetitive practices especially in the retail market, labor market and unnotified mergers and acquisitions.

Mr. KÜLE stated in the interview that the Authority fulfilled its duties in the fight against inflation and there were a record number of probes in the sectors which directly affected consumers and which had a significant impact on inflation in the last four years.  In addition, he stated that the acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk without notifying the Board was not tolerated and obligations to Türkiye were reminded to the world.

Stating that a series of investigations revealed that “concentration level and retailers’ buyer power have increased” in the retail sector, and price coordination and  information sharing about prices between supermarket chains and beauty products retailers were uncovered, Mr. Küle emphasized that other investigations were opened into “information exchange in sectors such as wheat flour, fertilizers, feed, snack food and honey”.

Mr. Küle said that 11 probes completed this year and last year and ongoing seven investigations about resale price maintenance with the “zero-tolerance approach,” which he started, acted as an important deterrent.

MLex stated that the global drive to control technology companies also covered Türkiye and the Competition Authority confronted Google several times.  Mr. Küle stated that there was an increase in the number of investigations in the technology sector and the Board imposed “behavioral obligations” in the investigations of Google’s Shopping, Adwords and Local Search services.

MLex states that the most notable case in the technology sector is the probe of Google’s advertising business; in similar examinations in EU and US regarding the same business, Google might face the possibility of a structural intervention, which might slice up the company. Mr. Küle noted that this option was possible also in Türkiye and in the past few days, negotiations with Google started on the possibility of settling the investigation.

MLex reminded that Elon Musk, one of the players in the Silicon Valley, was imposed fines because of not notifying the Authority of the acquisition of the sole control of Twitter in accordance with the law. Mr. Küle said that since the acquired undertaking was Twitter and the Board decision caught the attention of the media, undertakings, which were not aware of the provision in question, would be informed on the subject.

MLex notes that in recent years, authorities around the globe have focused their attention toward the labor market, the US agencies have imposed serious sanctions on contractual clauses that limit workers’ rights and ability to change jobs, Türkiye has followed the same trend and has sanctioned 27 companies for an agreement not to poach workers from each other and the file has triggered follow-up investigations.

 Emphasizing that there was sensitivity about handling the cases to protect whistleblowers’ identities, Mr. Küle said “We attach just as much importance to imposing fines as we do to increasing awareness among the employers and employees on this matter."