Cem Koksal, the Group Chief Executive Officer of Turkish multinational conglomerate Zorlu Holding was dismissed from his position and was arrested by the police after sending an internal email about Ramadan greetings which enanged the public. The controversy started when Koksal replied to an entire company message from Ergun Guler, the CEO of Zorlu subsidiary Vestel Elektronik, who had sent an email to all employees wishing them a happy month of Ramadan.
In his reply, Koksal said that Ramadan is “not on the list of days to be celebrated commercially by the company.” He mentioned that only the official religious holidays, Seker Eid and Eid Al Adha, were recognized. His email that was leaked and shared on social media caused a lot of anger, and people accused him of restricting people’s religious freedoms. The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office opened an investigation into the issue on the grounds of violating the right to freedom of belief, thought, and opinion.
When the controversy subsided, Zorlu Holding stated that Koksal tendered his resignation on March 1 and explained that the issue was an internal dispute over management principles. However, the controversy did not end there. Koksal was taken into custody by the Turkish police as a part of the investigation and the authorities said that he was under investigation for preventing employees from exercising their religious freedoms.
The case has once again sparked the debate on religious freedom and corporate culture in Türkiye, where the secular and religious segments of the society frequently confront each other over the displays of faith in public. Meanwhile, the social media activism has grown stronger and people have started calling for a boycott of Zorlu Holding’s brands, which adds to the pressure on the company after the Ramadan controversy.
