(MENAFN- Gulf Times) For clues about what kind of society Turks think they woke up to after Sunday's election, look no further than Istanbul's stock market.
With none of the four parties winning an outright majority and no clear coalition scenario coming into view, the main stock index as a whole sank about 5% on Monday. The post-election rout hit one company more than others: Katmerciler, which reaped millions selling armoured riot-suppression trucks to Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government for crowd control. State property redeveloper Emlak Konut Gayrimenkul Yatirim also declined, losing as much as 15%.
"It was a bad day for property developers, and a good day for those who don't want them concreting over their parks," said Paul McNamara, a fund manager who oversees over $5bn at GAM UK Ltd in London. "Riot trucks may fall because robust policing tactics are associated particularly with the existing government, and developers because Erdogan has been notoriously supportive of the construction industry." Katmerciler, owned by a former lawmaker from the ruling AK Party, plummeted 19% € its sharpest drop ever € in the first day of trading after the election, more than any of the top 100 companies listed on the Borsa Istanbul 100. The share, which isn't on the benchmark gauge, bounced back 2.5% in trading yesterday.
Katmerciler's riot suppression vehicles account for only a quarter of total sales, said a company official who asked not to be named, citing misconceptions in public perception.
Katmerciler only makes the vehicles, it doesn't give instructions for how they should be used, he said.
Katmerciler's products are well-known in Turkey, with riot vehicles becoming a constant, menacing presence on many street corners since Turks protested in their millions during the summer of 2013 against a government-supported attempt to redevelop Gezi Park in central Istanbul. The Erdogan-led government fielded accusations of authoritarianism from human rights groups after the mass demonstrations, in which at least six people died in clashes with the police. Erdogan called the protests a coup attempt, and launched a security crackdown.
Other moves on Turkey's stock market have also pointed to investor bets on a less politicised environment for business. Among the biggest winners is Dogan Holding, owner of newspapers and TV channels repeatedly blasted by Erdogan € the shares began moving when polls showed the ruling party at risk of losing its majority, and are up 12% in the past week.
Koza Altin, a gold miner linked to the Fethullah Gulen movement that Erdogan says is trying to overthrow him, surged 7.6% on Monday. Anadolu Efes, a beermaker hurt by legislation targeting alcohol consumption, gained 0.9%.
When Kurdish protesters took to the streets over Turkey's refusal to support Kurds fighting Islamic state in Syria last October, several of Katmerciler's vehicles, known locally as TOMAs, were burned in ensuing riots. Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu gave the shares a boost, saying the government would buy "10 TOMAs for each one" that protesters destroyed.
At Sunday's election, Kurds won represented in parliament for the first time as a party, the Peoples' Democratic Party, or HDP. Selahattin Demirtas, the party's co-chairman, said TOMAs bought by the government could be repurposed.
"Those TOMAs that you inflicted like a plague on the heads of the people, we'll give them to the Forestry Ministry and water the forests with them," Demirtas said at a celebration Monday for the HDP's entrance to parliament. "Keep them away from people." Katmerciler Arac Ustu Ekipman Sanayi ve Ticaret AS, as the truckmaker is formally known, surged about 70% between Erdogan's transition to the presidency in August and last weekend's election.
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