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The story of
years
Two intimate friends, Feyyaz Berker and
Nihat Gökyiğit, left their jobs at the Ministry
of Public Works in 1956 to found Feyyaz-
Nihat (FN) Consulting and Engineering
Company in Ankara, the predecessor
of Tekfen. FN specialized in providing
consulting, engineering, and controlling
services to contractors. The two partners
set up a simple laboratory in a shed that
was once used to store coal in the backyard
of an apartment building; here, they carried
out material tests and soil analyses.
The first big project FN undertook was
providing laboratory and controlling
services to the famous contractor Kadri
Veziroğlu, who was constructing some of
the major boulevards in İstanbul. As part
of the public works initiated by Prime
Minister Adnan Menderes, new boulevards
and avenues were being built in İstanbul,
which would later become the busiest
transportation arteries of the city.
1956
1957
In 1957, Feyyaz Berker and Nihat Gökyiğit
founded Tekfen Construction Ltd. in
order to do contracting work in addition
to the consulting services they already
provided. They were shortly joined by
Necati Akçağlılar, their friend who was the
Director of Airports and Fueling Stations
Construction Directorate at the Ministry of
Public Works.
Nihat Gökyiğit
Co-founder and Honorary President
We are always in a bit of a hurry;
we never do anything slowly. The
company itself was founded in a
hurry; we didn’t even have time
to think about its name. It was a
simple portmanteau of “tek” (from
“teknoloji” or technology) and “fen”
(meaning science). None of us came
up with that individually; it was a
joint effort.
1958
Tekfen Construction won its first tender
from NATO, involving the berm stabilization
work of airports all around Turkey. At the
time, Tekfen did not own a single machine
of its own. The three partners began setting
up the machine park with their first advance
payment, and purchased the remaining
equipment with the following payments.
1959
Tekfen Construction began collaborating
with Williams Brothers of Oklahoma, which
had undertaken important NATO projects
in Turkey. The company entrusted Tekfen’s
three partners with eight different projects
around the country between 1959 and
1963. Another important client for Tekfen
was Foster Wheeler, the company that was
building the Ataş Refinery in those years.
Feyyaz Berker
Co-founder and Honorary President
In those early years we met with
many foreign companies and
this led to a number of business
opportunities. Having the same
work ethic as foreign companies
and delivering high-quality work in
a timely fashion can sometimes be
more important than money.