Turkey Executive Quits Retailer Group After Inflation Blame Game

A top executive at one of Turkey’s largest supermarket chains was forced to resign as head of an industry body after fiercely rejecting claims that retailers are responsible for the country’s soaring inflation.

Galip Aykac, the chief operating officer of BIM Birlesik Magazalar AS, quit as chairman and board member of the Food Retailers Association on Dec. 4, according to a statement on the group’s website. He apologized to Turkey’s Nationalist Movement Party — allied with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan — which had criticized him for the strength of his comments.