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1975
The construction of the Iraq-Turkey Crude
Oil Pipeline, considered to be one of the
biggest leaps of Tekfen Construction, began
in 1975. With this project, Tekfen took
one of its most important steps towards
becoming one of the few companies in
Turkey specializing in pipelines.
In order to manufacture the steel systems
needed by Tekfen, the Ceyhan Steel
Manufacturing Plant was founded in 1975.
Today, the Ceyhan Steel Construction
Manufacturing Plant has an annual capacity
of 25,000 tons, serving an extensive region
from Brazil to Azerbaijan.
1970
In order for
Tekfen to
carry out the
engineering,
production,
and assembly
services of
industrial
plants on its
own, especially
of the metal parts of petrochemical and
gas plants, TİMAŞ - Tekfen İmalat ve
Mühendislik AŞ (Tekfen Manufacturing
and Engineering, Inc.) was founded in
1970 under the direction of Hayri Adanalı.
The plant was built in Kocaeli, near the
Derince port of the Marmara, and had an
annual capacity of processing 5,000 tons
of steel. In later years, the plant underwent
numerous expansions and opened up to
international markets. Growing steadily
and confidently, TİMAŞ became one of the
leading brands in the industry.
Tunç Şarman
Consultant, Tekfen İmalat
We positioned TİMAŞ as a boutique
specialization company and strove to
make it the best in its field in Turkey
and to attain international prestige.
There is no conveyor belt here like
the ones you would see in plants
manufacturing automobiles, television
sets or domestic appliances. The
client tells you what they need, giving
technical specifications, and TİMAŞ
develops the product using its technical
engineering expertise and carries out
the production.
1971
Tekfen Holding AŞ was founded.
1974
Tekfen founded Toros Fertilizer and
Chemical Industry, Inc. (Toros Agri) in
1974 after a historic decision, marking
its second biggest industrial business
after lightbulbs. The subsidy certificate
required the fertilizer plant to be built in
the Southern Anatolian Region. The name
of the company was taken from the Toros
(Taurus) Mountains traversing the region.
The groundbreaking ceremony for the plant
was held in 1978.
Feyyaz Berker
Co-founder and Honorary President
The fertilizer business in Turkey
will never come to an end, because
it serves Turkey’s agriculture,
where our aim is to introduce
advanced technology. Today,
high productivity in agriculture is
important all over the world. I think
we will advance in this direction.
That’s inevitable.
1976
Tekfen continued its industrial investments,
founding Mis Milk Industry (Mis Süt) in 1976
to produce UHT milk and dairy products.
Mis began production at a single plant in
Gönen, but soon expanded its capacity
with additional plants, becoming the
market leader in the 1990s. Nestlé became
a partner of the company in 1996 and
ultimately bought out Tekfen’s shares in
2000.
Nihat Gökyiğit
Co-founder and Honorary President
The name of the company -Mis- was the result
of a joint effort. Kamuran (Sertel), Feyyaz and
I wrote down a list of names, but we all liked
“Mis.” The Turkish word implies cleanness
as well as a delicious smell. It was the right
name, and became very popular.
Necati Akçağlılar was elected
president of the International Pipeline
and Offshore Contractors Association
(IPLOCA), one of the most prestigious
professional entities of pipeline
contractors. In subsequent years,
Murat Gigin (1995) and Osman Birgili
(2011) were also to be elected to the
same post.
Osman Birgili
President, Tekfen Group of Companies
At Tekfen, we take IPLOCA very seriously and
allocate considerable time and energy to it. We
regard it our duty to serve at an international
institution where Necati Akçağlılar was one of the
co-founders. Tekfen is the best pipeline contractor
in Turkey, and our IPLOCAmembership played a
big role in reaching that level.