Turkey can convince Booking.com to expand into country: Minister

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The Turkish government can convince Booking.com to expand into the country through constructive meetings, Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci has said in the wake of a court decision to ban the online travel portal's operations to Turkish users within the country.  

An Istanbul court on March 29 ordered the suspension of the activities of Booking.com in Turkey, citing accusations of unfair competition by a leading tourism association in Turkey. The website on March 30 began to halt selling rooms in Turkey to Turkish users, one day after the court's decision to block the website in the country.

Zeybekci told journalists that the court decision was "proper" in technical terms, adding that "it was, however, questionable that each proper decision brings for the better."

Saying that it is a must for the sake of the sector and Turkey to build direct contact with the website, he added that "We need to win this company on our conditions." 

He said Booking.com should open a branch and pay taxes in Turkey. 

"For our part, we should ease their concerns. We believe we can convince them. Even we can convince them to carry some other operations into Turkey," Zeybekci said in the Aegean province of Denizli. 

Grain crisis with Russia

In response to a question regarding a grain crisis with Russia, Zeybekci reiterated that the decision was taken upon requests from businesspeople and Turkey did not impose any ban on grain imports from Russia. 

"We have not imposed any ban. This is the key point," he said, adding that Turkey invited Russian officials to discuss the issue. "We will discuss all bans," he said.  

Turkish officials have repeatedly told their Russian counterparts to accelerate...

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