This content was first published on IGR – Italian Gemological Review no. 13 in 2021. The information provided here is therefore current as of the original publication date.
It was announced in 2010. The HRD lab has offered on-site diamond certification services to the Turkish jewelry industry for more than a decade at the Istanbul Chamber of Jewelry.
On October 11, 2021, a surprising announcement was released: the joint-venture partnership with Mehmet Can Özdemir and his company, which had operated the HRD lab in Turkey since 2014, was abruptly terminated. Ellen Joncheere, HRD’s CEO, immediately described the termination of the partnership as a “divorce” that ended an “unhappy marriage” while the Turkish side did not accept the termination notices and initiated legal action in Antwerp “to cause the early restoration of the collaboration” as reported by Diamonds.net.
How could the situation have deteriorated so quickly? Cumhuriyet, one of the oldest-established and most popular daily newspapers in Turkey, devoted a full article to the issue on October 19 and titled quite vehemently: “HRD Antwerp’s Istanbul office awarded low quality stones with better grades gemstone certificates”. This affirmation was defined as a “fake news” by Joncheere and denied by Özdemir too, as well as the allegations that the termination of the partnership should be related to over-grading. Seyhan Avşar, the author of Cumhuriya’s article, noted that any attempt to reach the President of the Chamber of Jewelers failed and reported that customers who «realized that the quality of the gemstones they purchased was low, went to the leading stores where they shopped and complained. However, these stores stated that the problem was not caused by them. HRD Antwerp, which issued the certificate, was responsible. Subsequently, many complaints from Turkey were sent to HRD Antwerp’s corporate headquarters in Belgium».
«Our customers, integrity, and the high quality of our services are of the utmost importance for HRD Antwerp» – Joncheere added in a statement that diamonds.net has reported – «We will take additional measures in order to minimize the impact of this situation on your business».
Gem News published on IGR – Italian Gemological Review #13, Autumn 2021
