In September 2014, in an address to the Turkish Industry and Business Association, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made the following statement: “No effort is underway to cause the bankruptcy of a bank. That bank is already bankrupt. They are carrying water by hand to keep it afloat.”

Erdogan’s remarks, which targeted Bank Asya, owned by businesspeople close to the Gulen community, made headlines the following day, creating the impression that the bank had collapsed. Making such comments about a financial institution constitutes a dangerous move, as it could cause panic among clients and lead to mass deposit withdrawals. The headlines, however, failed to spark fear or panic among Bank Asya clients. They were all aware that the bank's Gulenist links had put it in the government's crosshairs.

Under normal circumstances, had Bank Asya's capital structure weakened or had it gone bankrupt, it would be taken over by the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF). Yet, not only did the bank have a robust capital structure, but it had also strengthened itself by the sale of several affiliates. Nevertheless, late on Feb. 3, Turkish television channels broke the surprising news that the TMSF had taken control of Bank Asya.

A story run by the state-owned Anatolia news agency at 10:09 p.m. reported: “The Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK) established that Bank Asya had violated a Banking Law provision that requires banks to have ‘a transparent and open partnership and organizational scheme that does not obstruct the efficient auditing of the institution’ and therefore decided to transfer 63% of the bank’s preferred shares to TMSF's disposal.” According to Anatolia, the BDDK had determined that Bank Asya had failed to submit information and documents concerning 132 of the bank’s 185 privileged shareholders, leading to uncertainty with respect to those shareholders. Meanwhile, the TMSF only said the bank’s “management had been taken over. Bank Asya’s routine activities will continue.”