Özdemir Sabancı (1941 – January 9, 1996) was a Turkish businessman and a second generation member of the

Sabancı family The Sabancı family is one of the wealthiest families in Turkey. The family's main business entity was founded by Hacı Ömer Sabancı in the 1930s. Hacı Ömer Sabancı, the progenitor of the Sabancı family, moved from his native Kayseri to Ada ...

Biography

He was born in

Adana Adana is a large city in southern Turkey. The city is situated on the Seyhan River, inland from the northeastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea. It is the administrative seat of the Adana Province, Adana province, and has a population of 1 81 ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. After finishing high school at the Tarsus American College in Tarsus, province Mersin, he received his

B.A. A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...

degree in

chemical engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of the operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials ...

from the

University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology The University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) was a university based in the centre of the city of Manchester in England. It specialised in technical and scientific subjects and was a major centre for Research univer ...

(UMIST), UK. Later, he obtained a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

in the same discipline in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. Returning to Turkey, he worked in the

Sabancı Holding Hacı Ömer Sabancı Holding A.Ş., commonly abbreviated as Sabancı Holding, is an industrial and financial conglomerate with headquarters in Istanbul, Turkey. The company's primary activities are in financial services, energy (electricity genera ...

and soon founded and further developed the

synthetic fibre Synthetic fibers or synthetic fibres (in British English; see spelling differences) are fibers made by humans through chemical synthesis, as opposed to natural fibers that are directly derived from living organisms, such as plants like cotton or ...

s producer Sasa, one of the biggest industrial companies of the group. Under his leadership, Sabancı Holding entered into the automotive sector. He established several

joint-venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...

projects with major

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

ese companies including production of

Mitsubishi The is a group of autonomous Japanese multinational companies in a variety of industries. Founded by Yatarō Iwasaki in 1870, the Mitsubishi Group traces its origins to the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, a unified company that existed from 1870 to 194 ...

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

es and

truck A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport freight, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construct ...

s, Komatsu construction equipment,

loader Loader can refer to: * Loader (equipment) * Loader (computing) ** LOADER.EXE, an auto-start program loader optionally used in the startup process of Microsoft Windows ME * Loader (surname) * Fast loader * Speedloader * Boot loader ** LOADER.COM ...

s and

forklift A forklift (also called industrial truck, lift truck, jitney, hi-lo, fork truck, fork hoist, and forklift truck) is a powered industrial truck used to lift and move materials over short distances. The forklift was developed in the early 20th c ...

s. In 1990, he paved the way to produce

Toyota is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...

cars in Turkey as a consequence of the largest Turkish-Japanese partnership. In the board of directors of the holding, he was responsible for the Group of Synthetic Fibers, Automotive and Plastics. Özdemir Sabancı was gunned down on January 9, 1996, in his office in the strongly guarded Sabancı Towers in

Levent Levent is a neighbourhood in the municipality and district of Beşiktaş, Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its population is 2,911 (2022). It is one of the main business districts of Istanbul located on the European side of the city. It is situated ...

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

, along with the general manager of ToyotaSA and a secretary, by assassins hired by the leftist armed group DHKP-C. They had been given access to the building by

Fehriye Erdal Fehriye Erdal (born 25 February 1977) is a Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front militant. She was one of the three DHKP-C members involved in the assassination of Turkish businessman Özdemir Sabancı and two of his employees on 9 Ja ...

, a female member of DHKP-C, who was an employee at that time. Recently released information has suggested that the assassination of Özdemir Sabancı's assassin Mustafa Duyar was planned by retired general Veli Küçük, who was detained in the Ergenekon investigation. Özdemir Sabancı was laid to rest at the Adana Asri Cemetery. He was survived by his wife Sevda, their son Demir and daughter Serra (1975).UnforgettablesUnutamadıklarımız
(official obituary)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sabanci, Ozdemir 1941 births People from Talas, Turkey Murder in Istanbul Tarsus American College alumni Ozdemir Sabanci 1996 deaths Assassinated Turkish businesspeople 20th-century Turkish businesspeople Deaths by firearm in Turkey People murdered in Turkey Terrorism deaths in Turkey Turkish terrorism victims Burials at Adana Asri Cemetery 1996 murders in Turkey

Biography

See also

References