Firuz Kanatlı (1932 – 18 October 2017) was a Turkish businessman and founder and honorary president of the well known company Eti. He was born in

Eskişehir Eskişehir ( , ; from "old" and "city") is a city in northwestern Turkey and the capital of the Eskişehir Province. The urban population of the city is 898,369 with a metropolitan population of 797,708. The city is located on the banks of the ...

, Turkey in 1932. He attended primary school until the third school year, after which he went to

Galatasaray High School Galatasaray High School ( tr, Galatasaray Lisesi, french: Lycée de Galatasaray), established in what was then Constantinople and is now Istanbul, in 1481, is the oldest high school in Turkey. It is also the second-oldest Turkish educational in ...

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

and graduated from there. He studied business administration at the

University of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by John Calvin as a theological seminary. It remained focused on theology until the 17th centu ...

in Switzerland. When he returned home, he started to work in his father's flour mill, the "Gümülcineli Flour Mill". The factory would later be renamed to "Kanatlı Flour Mill". The dream of establishing his own business lead Kanatlı to search for a work branch. His grandparents' first millstone-flour mill "

Gümülcine Komotini ( el, Κομοτηνή, tr, Gümülcine, bg, Комотини) is a city in the region of East Macedonia and Thrace, northeastern Greece. It is the capital of the Rhodope. It was the administrative centre of the Rhodope-Evros super-pr ...

" (Turkish for

Komotini Komotini ( el, Κομοτηνή, tr, Gümülcine, bg, Комотини) is a city in the region of East Macedonia and Thrace, northeastern Greece. It is the capital of the Rhodope. It was the administrative centre of the Rhodope-Evros super-pr ...

, a city in East Macedonia and Thrace of Greece) led him to reconnect with his family history, and led him to the idea to produce pasta. Because sugar was easy to find in the sugar refinery nearby, he decided to branch out into the cookie business. In that time, there was only cookie brands "Arı", "Ülker", "Besler", "Haylayf" and "İdeal", whose factories where all in Istanbul, however, he changed that and brought cookie production to Central Anatolia. He wanted to bring his cookies onto the market under the name''Bal'' (Honey) but someone else had already claimed the rights to that trade mark. Because of this, he created the brand "Eti" (Turkish for "

Hittites The Hittites () were an Anatolian people who played an important role in establishing first a kingdom in Kussara (before 1750 BC), then the Kanesh or Nesha kingdom (c. 1750–1650 BC), and next an empire centered on Hattusa in north-centra ...

") instead, and began producing under this name in 1962.

Personal life

Firuz Kanatlıs wife Gülay Kanatlı died on 4 August 2015 at the age of 73.

Sources

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kanatlı, Firuz 1932 births People from Eskişehir Galatasaray High School alumni University of Geneva alumni Turkish businesspeople 2017 deaths