Siemens reportedly agreed to Israel boycott
According to German news site Südwestrundfunk, Siemens AG, and its Turkish subsidiary Siemens AŞ, signed an agreement requiring them to boycott Israel.
The company was involved in a bid for a contract to supply high-speed trains on the Turkish State Railways, TCDD.
TCDD applied for a loan from the Saudi Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) for eight of the ten trains. The bank reportedly demanded “that the goods, works and/or related services supplied by the contractor and its partners and subcontractors must be in strict compliance with the boycott provisions of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the League of Arab States and the African Union (boycott provisions)."
Siemens was allegedly required to submit a “sworn declaration” to abide by the provisions, which would prohibit the company from doing business with Israel.
If true, this agreement would be a violation of German trade law.
Siemens disputes the claim that it is required to boycott Israel, and issued a statement to Südwestrundfunk that it is only barred from using Israeli components as part of the deal.
The news site also reported that the contract was signed solely by Turkish employees of Siemens Turkish subsidiary, Siemens AŞ, which is not subject to the provisions of the German Foreign Trade and Payments Act.
The All Israel News Staff is a team of journalists in Israel.
