The Albayraklar Group has unilaterally terminated its contract with Hound Labs, the manufacturer of breathalyzer to measure recent drug and alcohol use. The deal termination came weeks after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Turkey will boycott U.S.-made electronic products.
"We will boycott American electronic products," Erdoğan had said on Aug. 14, adding that Turkey would produce a better version of every product previously bought with foreign currencies and export them.
The call came amid rocky relations between Ankara and Washington following the latter's imposition of sanctions on Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu and Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gül for not releasing American pastor Andrew Brunson, who faces terrorism charges in Turkey.
On Aug. 10, U.S. President Trump ramped up his attack on Turkey by doubling U.S. tariffs on Turkish aluminum and steel imports to 20 percent and 50 percent, respectively.
The Albayraklar Group Chairman Adnan Albayrak signed the distributorship contract of the U.S.-origin breathalyzer, which was introduced in Istanbul simultaneously with the world and allows the measuring of recent drug and alcohol use in traffic, with Northern Cyprus, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Georgia, and Serbia together with the American partners. The company has abandoned its nearly $25 million order with the decision to terminate the deal.
Albayrak said that they will continue to manufacture and to amaze the U.S. in this regard. "I have instructed the engineers of the Albayraklar Defense Company to produce better light weapons than those produced by the U.S.," he said, recalling that they first produced the Wattozz National Energy Weapon, which was dozens of times superior to their Taser weapon, and received distributorship requests from more than 30 countries before they even launched the product.
"We then produced the National Wattozz Shotgun weapon against their SRM rifle, and we also receive distributorship requests from many countries in the world. In the coming days we will continue to amaze the United States with our new weapons projects," Albayrak continued.
"As of today, I have terminated all of our contracts with the U.S. companies. I hope my attitude will be an example for all our businesspeople," Albayraklar Group chairman said.