Trade Minister Ömer Bolat's statement on Vedat Milor: 'The truth of the matter is this...'

Gastronomy writer and food critic Vedat Milor visited a 'Kent Lokantası' (City Restaurant) run by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IBB) in recent months and shared his experience on his social media account. While Milor's post came under scrutiny over allegations of 'covert advertising,' Trade Minister Ömer Bolat made statements regarding the investigation process.

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Trade Minister Ömer Bolat's statement on Vedat Milor: 'The truth of the matter is this...'

Famous food critic Vedat Milor dined at a Kent Lokantası belonging to the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and shared his experience with his followers on his social media account.

In recent days, the Ministry of Trade launched an investigation into Milor following complaints that he was engaging in 'covert advertising' and directed several questions to Milor regarding the matter.

REACTION FROM CHP, STATEMENT FROM MINISTER BOLAT

While CHP Chairman Özgür Özel and IBB Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu reacted to the investigation into Vedat Milor, Trade Minister Ömer Bolat responded to the allegations while speaking at the Traditional Iftar Program organized by the Independent Industrialists and Businessmen's Association (MÜSİAD).

Addressing the claim circulating on social media that "The Ministry of Trade has opened an investigation into the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality's Kent Lokantası," Minister Bolat stated the following:

"The truth of the matter is this, friends. We have a General Directorate called the General Directorate of Consumer Protection and Market Surveillance. Among its duties, it has a legal mandate based on a law article to combat fake advertisements and covert advertisements. While performing this duty, there is an Advertising Board, also determined by law, to be an impartial and independent body. There are 19 members in this impartial body. There are only two people from our Ministry. Our general manager and deputy general manager. There are 2-3 other ministry members.

The rest consist of NGOs and representatives. One of them is the representative of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, who is a member of that Advertising Board. The allegation is this: A food and beverage gourmet named Vedat Milor, who usually inspects luxury places, went to a city restaurant and ate there. How nice, we are happy about this, but a complaint was received via CİMER claiming that he is doing covert advertising about this on his YouTube page. To the secretariat of the Advertising Board.

The secretariat prepares a file regarding this itself, and the relevant department head sees it and signs it. On Wednesday, March 5, they asked Vedat Milor for information, asking if he had engaged in covert advertising on his YouTube channel. They are asking Vedat Milor, not the city restaurant. Vedat Milor is a YouTuber, he earns money from YouTube. There are thousands of such influencers who earn money from YouTube. They met on March 6."

'THEY TURNED IT INTO A VICTIMHOOD AND ADVERTISING OPERATION'

Touching upon the developments following this incident, Bolat said, "They are trying to stir up news on Friday morning through a partisan social media outlet they feed, asking 'How can we turn this into a victimhood and a major advertising operation?' They claim the Ministry of Trade opened an investigation into the city restaurant because it serves cheap food. First of all, the body dealing with the file is an independent board, the Advertising Board and its secretariat. The IBB representative is also in this secretariat. They are asking a question about this. They are requesting information. They are asking what you have to say about such complaints received via CİMER.

They are trying to camouflage this and turn it into a perception, a victimhood narrative, because their best skills are always lies, taqiyya, perception, and advertising. Well, I am answering clearly from here. This is the whole truth of the matter. Based on the information that will come, the Advertising Board would probably have said there is no need for any investigation. I cannot know that. We cannot interfere with the work of the Advertising Board, but that is all there is to the incident, friends.

We are a generation that has seen the thousands of soup kitchens, social facilities, and restaurants that our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his colleagues have built in Turkey. There are 17, how many, Kent Lokantası in Istanbul. We are not bothered by our people receiving service at Kent Lokantası. On the contrary, we take pride in all the good social services provided to our people," he said.

News Source: 12punto