![\"ap428612435868-divan-hotel-istanbul-protests1\"](\"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/ap428612435868-divan-hotel-istanbul-protests1.jpg\")
<\/p>\nBy Simone Foxman @simonefoxman October 8, 2013<\/p>\n
Not a bad place to settle down after getting tear gassed. AP Photo\/Vadim Ghirda<\/p>\n
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International hospitality awards usually go to hotels with the most creative design, impeccable service and attention to amenities like ultra-plush bathrobes.\u00a0But the\u00a0winner of\u00a0the latest \u201chospitality innovation award\u201d from PKF hotelexperts was selected on entirely different criteria.<\/p>\n
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The German hotel consultants awarded the honor to\u00a0Divan Hotels\u2019 flagship property in Istanbul in recognition for its offering refuge to protesters fleeing police tear gas.<\/p>\n
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The hotel is adjacent to Gezi Park\u2019s Taksim Square, the site of protests last May and June. During some of the most tense moments, the Divan Hotel\u2019s management took in people protesting against the government of Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan, to the chagrin of officials.<\/p>\n
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Adding insult to injury, the hotel staff rebuffed police forces by asking whether they had a reservation at the hotel, according to Han Le, an American who observed the protests. Unsurprisingly, the police did not, and the staff\u2014at least temporarily\u2014prevented them from entering and arresting protesters camping out inside. The Financial Times reports\u00a0(paywall)\u00a0that the decision to take in protesters was initially made by the hotel\u2019s management, but supported by the hotel\u2019s parent company.<\/p>\n
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The chain of 11 Divan Hotels is owned by\u00a0Ko\u00e7 Holding, a conglomerate owned by the wealthy\u00a0Ko\u00e7 family, which says it generates 9% of Turkey\u2019s GDP. The hotel\u2019s parent company\u2019s holdings also include Turkey\u2019s only refinery and some joint ventures with Ford and Fiat.<\/p>\n
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The government has singled out Ko\u00e7 Holding, engaging in a \u201cwitch hunt\u201d to pass off blame for the country\u2019s struggling economy, according to an anonymous investment banker cited in Der Spiegel.\u00a0\u00a0In June, Erdo\u011fan accused the hotel of \u201charbor[ing] criminals.\u201d Then, in July, tax investigators raided 77 offices of \u00a0Ko\u00e7 Holding\u2019s energy subsidiaries.\u00a0\u00a0The company was later named in a lawsuit alleging that it was part of a 1997 coup. In late September, it lost a government contract to build six warships.<\/p>\n
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While the Ko\u00e7 family may the government\u2019s scapegoat\u00a0du jour, the tensions between the company and the government are characteristic of the\u00a0animosity between Turkey\u2019s old capitalist elite and the\u00a0Erdo\u011fan administration.\u00a0Erdo\u011fan has also taken aim at the financial services industry, accusing the \u201cinterest rate lobby\u201d of fanning unrest in order to speculate on the economy.<\/p>\n
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Unsurprisingly, German businessmen don\u2019t share\u00a0Erdo\u011fan\u2019s feelings. \u201cDivan Hotels and Ko\u00e7 Family has showed solidarity and courage during Gezi Park protests and proved how important hospitality is during crisis situations,\u201d PKF chair Michael Widman told Hurriyet Daily News.<\/p>\n
via This Turkish hotel won a \u201chospitality innovation award\u201d for protecting protestors from tear gas and police – Quartz.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Simone Foxman @simonefoxman October 8, 2013 Not a bad place to settle down after getting tear gassed. AP Photo\/Vadim Ghirda International hospitality awards usually go to hotels with the most creative design, impeccable service and attention to amenities like ultra-plush bathrobes.\u00a0But the\u00a0winner of\u00a0the latest \u201chospitality innovation award\u201d from PKF hotelexperts was selected on entirely […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":77959,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[846],"tags":[9269,9179],"class_list":["post-77957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-divan","tag-gezi-park"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77957\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}