Turkcell CEO issues statement defending Huawei

Kaan Terzioğlu, CEO of Turkcell, issued the following statement defending Huawei as a reliable business partner in light of claims about national security.

“It wouldn’t be right to evaluate Huawei’s current situation by ignoring the competition in the smart phone market and the conflict of which company will lead 5G. You may recall that last year another smartphone company faced unfavorable news. As you can see, whenever an ‘unexpected’ company gets ahead, they are confronted. No one should expect us to act on uncorroborated claims. Turkcell will continue to work with its long-time business partner Huawei.”

“Data security remains as a top priority national security issue globally. We have witnessed many failures of Western companies in securing personal data. There still are ongoing cases and investigations on this specific topic. Consequently, we are completely aware of potential risks. We have been and always will be cautious about our business partnerships. We are very well prepared in regardless of where we buy the technology whether it is from a Chinese, European or an American company. We have the necessary means to secure our networks and our customer’s data.”