Turkey Loses Its Boss Sakip Sabanci

The Sabanci Community has been mourning since they received news of his death; white flags were flown at half mast at the company headquarters and connected establishments, and the Sabanci family began accepting condolences in Sabanci Center at 11:00am. A high-level administrator of Sabanci Holding, Celal Metin, issued a statement on behalf of the family.

Metin said, "I cannot find the words to describe this loss. On behalf of our 39,000 employees, we promise that we will do our best in order to achieve the goals of the work that Mr. Sabanci left behind." When asked if there was any special reason for choosing Fatih Mosque for the funeral prayer, Metin replied, "I wish it could have been an even larger mosque. We were unable to find any other place that could bear the expected flood of mourners. That’s why we are going to Fatih Mosque." Sabanci’s wife, Mrs. Turkan, could hardly stand during the condolence visits.

Worth 3.2 Billion Dollars, He was Turkey’s Richest Man

Businessman Sakip Sabanci was Turkey’s richest person with his fortune of 3.2 billion dollars according to the Forbes list. Sabanci was first among 6 Turkish businessmen that were included in Forbes’s list of the richest people in the world, which was announced on February 24, 2004. Sabanci (71 years old) administrated one of Turkey’s largest holding companies, Sabanci Holding, which has turnover greater than TL 15.6 quadrillion and more than 60 companies and 39,000 employees. In addition to Sabanci Holding, Sakip Sabanci was also CEO and managing director of many other foundations. Sabanci received many awards during his life and gained distinction with the state prize and an honorary doctorate.

Haci Omer Sabanci Holding was founded in 1967 in order to coordinate the Sabanci Community companies’ new investments and their relations with foreign companies. The Sabanci Community became one of Turkey’s greatest industry and finance groups after the founding of Sabanci Holding. Sabanci Holding’s coordinates the activities of 60 companies, nearly all of which are leaders in their fields and many of which have spread internationally. Sabanci Holding has nine strategic sectors for administration. In addition to these groups, Vaksa-Haci Omer Sabanci Association and Sabanci Univeristy are also part of the holding company’s structure.

Working is the only thing that I cannot get enough of

Sabanci collected the experiences of his life up until 1985 and published them in a book entitled ‘My Life’; His experiences of the 19 years since then are presented in another book, ‘My Life where I Left off’. Sabanci was known to have said, "If there is something that I cannot get enough of in this life, it is not money but working." Sabanci acknowledged that like a composer enjoyed the applauses, he enjoyed the sounds of the machines.

The late President Turgut Ozal had a very important place in his life. Ozal advised him to move the holding company from Adana to Istanbul, and Sabanci hesitantly accepted this. Years later, Sabanci said, "I now understand how well we did by taking such a decision. If we stayed in Adana, it would have been hard for us to grow as we did."

Sabanci surprised everyone at times with his comments. For instance, during a meeting of the Turkish Businessmen Council in April 2002, Sabanci spoke out about Turkey’s debt, saying, "We have 200 billion dollars debt at one hand, and what do we have in the other hand? We have the first third!" Everyone in the audience applauded him. This was not the first time Sabanci adopted such a ‘style’. He sometimes used a similar style when criticizing governments, the opposition or the system itself.