Uber Halts UberXL Services in Istanbul Ahead of Rerun Vote

(Bloomberg) -- Uber Technologies Inc., subject of physical and legal battles with Turkish cab drivers and authorities, has stopped providing its luxury UberXL service to clients in Istanbul.

“We had to make a very tough decision and halt UberXL operations in Istanbul as of May 31,” Uber said in a statement. The company will continue traditional yellow and turquoise cab services, it said. Uber is “committed to Turkey” and would like to work with the government to maintain long-term business operations in the country, it said.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has frequently spoken against Uber, saying the company’s services are illegal. On May 24, he told cab drivers and owners in Istanbul that Uber vehicles are akin to pirate cabs. “The Uber issue for the Turkish Republic government is over,” Anadolu Agency cited him as saying.

The company’s decision comes ahead of the June 23 repeat elections for Istanbul Greater Municipality after the opposition’s narrow victory in the March 31 local elections was voided.

Turkish taxi drivers and medallion owners have been protesting Uber, asking the government to ban the company. Uber drivers have frequently faced attacks by yellow cab drivers since the company started operations in Turkey’s commercial capital in 2014.

In September, Dubai-based ride-hailing service Careem Networks FZ also said it would abandon its up-market car service in Turkey just one year after launching the product. Careem announced in March that it will be acquired by Uber.

--With assistance from Taylan Bilgic.

To contact the reporters on this story: Tugce Ozsoy in Istanbul at tozsoy1@bloomberg.net;Ugur Yilmaz in Istanbul at uyilmaz@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Onur Ant at oant@bloomberg.net, Adveith Nair, Giles Turner

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