In a bizarre development, a Turkish news anchor Meltem Gunay was fired after she kept a Starbucks coffee cup on the desk while reading the news. Meltem Gunay came under the scanner after Turkish social media erupted with anger seeing she kept a Starbucks cup in her veiled support to Israel. Notably, Turkey's population has extended their support to the Palestinians and they have been actively campaigning to boycott Israeli products and the coffee chain firm Starbucks in among that. Now, the question arises who is Meltem Gunay? Below is everything you need to know about Meltem Gunay firing and about her-
Who is Meltem Gunay?
Meltem Gunay is a 45-year-old award-winning newscaster with TGRT Haber. She was fired alongside the director of the show for showing a Starbucks coffee cup. Meltem Gunay and the diretor were immediately sacked after the controversial show on Christmas Eve where the news anchor left a coffee cup from Starbucks in front of her as she read the news.
Turkey is a predominantly Muslim country who are mainly in support of Palestinians in Gaza where as Starbucks is considered to be pro-Israel by many. After firing the anchor and the director, TGRT Haber issued a statement in which they stated that the pair were 'terminated for just cause' after they were deemed to have been "covertly advertising" Starbucks which is strictly forbidden in the broadcaster's "principles".
As per reports, Starbucks in a facing nationwide boycott in recent weeks by pro-Palestinian supporters including in Turkey. Pro-Palestanian allege that the company is bias towards Israel. Starbucks Palestine controversy intensified when the coffee chain sued its own union - Starbucks Workers United - after the organisation posted a since-deleted social media message showing solidarity with the people of Palestine.
Starbucks had issued a statement saying, "Starbucks reacted to the post saying: "We unequivocally condemn these acts of terrorism, hate and violence, and disagree with the statements and views expressed by Workers United and its members."