Özdemir Sabancı

Özdemir Sabancı
Born	May 15, 1941(1941-05-15) Adana
Died	January 9, 1996(1996-01-09) (aged 54) Istanbul
Cause of death	Murdered
Resting place	Adana Asri Cemetery
Nationality	Turkish
Education	Chemical engineering
Alma mater	University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology
Organization	Sabancı Holding
Spouse	Sevda (Girişken) Sabancı
Children	Demir Sabancı, Serra Sabancı
Parents	Hacı Ömer Sabancı, Sadıka Sabancı
Relatives	İhsan Sabancı, Sakıp Sabancı, Hacı Sabancı, Şevket Sabancı, Erol Sabancı

Özdemir Sabancı (May 15, 1941 - January 9, 1996) was a Turkish businessman and a second generation member of the Sabancı family.^[1]

Biography

He was born in Adana, Turkey.^[2] After finishing the high school at the Tarsus American College in Tarsus, province Mersin, he received his B.A. degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST), UK.^[2] Later, he obtained a master's degree in the same discipline in Switzerland.^[2]

Returned to Turkey, he worked in the Sabancı Holding and soon founded and further developed the synthetic fibres producer Sasa, one of the biggest industrial companies of the group.^[2] Under his leadership, Sabancı Holding entered into the automative sector.^[2] He established several joint-venture projects with major Japanese companies including production of Mitsubishi coaches and trucks, Komatsu construction equipment, loaders and forklifts. In 1990, he paved the way to produce Toyota cars in Turkey as a consequence of the largest Turkish-Japanese partnership.^[2]

In the board of directors of the holding, he was responsible for the Group of Synthetic Fibers, Automotive and Plastics.^[2]

Özdemir Sabancı was gunned down on January 9, 1996 in his office in the strongly-guarded Sabancı Towers in Levent, İstanbul 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, 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.^[3][4]

Özdemir Sabancı was laid to rest at the Adana Asri Cemetery.^[5] He was survived by his wife Sevda, his son Demir and his daughter Serra (1975).^[2]

See also

• List of assassinated people from Turkey

References

1. ^ "Özdemir Sabancı" (in Turkish). Sabancı Foundation. 2009. http://www.sabancivakfi.org/tr/hakkinda/kurucular/ozdemir_sabanci.html. Retrieved 2009-06-25. 
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h} Unforgettables (Unutamadıklarımız) (official obituary)
3. ^ "Sabancı'nın katilini bize devlet öldürttü" (in Turkish). Vatan. 2008-09-02. http://w9.gazetevatan.com/haberdetay.asp?detay=Sabancinin_katilini_bize_devlet_oldurttu_196878_1&Newsid=196878. Retrieved 2008-09-02. 
4. ^ "İşte Sabancı katilinin infaz görünütüleri" (in Turkish) (Flash Video). Fox Turkey (Vatan). 2008-09-02. http://www12.gazetevatan.com/video/video.asp?vid=5313. Retrieved 2008-09-02. 
5. ^ "Adanalı ‘Hacı Ağa’yı uğurladı" (in Turkish). Hürriyet. 1998-06-27. http://arama.hurriyet.com.tr/arsivnews.aspx?id=-25914. Retrieved 2011-03-10. 

Persondata
Name	Sabanci, Ozdemir
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	May 15, 1941
Place of birth	Adana
Date of death	January 9, 1996
Place of death	Istanbul