ANKARA: Turkiye’s parliament removed two international brands from its restaurants on Tuesday over their alleged support for Israel, according to an official statement and a source who named the two companies.

The two companies did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“The products of companies that support Israel will not be sold in restaurants, cafeterias and tea houses in the parliament campus,” Turkish’s national assembly said, without identifying the companies.

Speaker Numan Kurtulmus made the decision, it added, in order to “support public sensitivity regarding boycotting products of companies who have openly declared their support for Israel’s war crimes (and) killing of innocent people in Gaza”.

A parliamentary source said a popular beverage and instant coffee of a Swiss company were the only brands removed from menus, adding the decision was meant to respond to “huge public outcry against these companies” for supporting Israel.

Neither the parliament statement nor the source specified how the two global giants supported Israel’s war effort.

Last month the Swiss company said it shut down one of its production plants in Israel as a “precaution”, becoming the first consumer products giant to announce a response to the war.

Published in Dawn, November 8th, 2023