NEWS

Yener Özkesen
Ekonomik Çözüm  10–16 March 2012
 

ESBAS INCREASINGLY GROWS ITS OPERATIONS 

After the death of Kaya Tuncer, the founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors of ESBAS, colleagues of Mr. Tuncer got to grips with the works as before and are riding higher. It was discovered that the trade volume of ESBAS increased at a rate of 10 percent compared to last year, and it realized the highest trade volume, amounting to 5 billion dollars, since its establishment.  Coming first in the trade volume ranking among the free zones in Türkiye, the Aegean Free Zone is placed on top in terms of employment as well.

The Aegean Free Zone currently hosts a total of 240 companies – 70 of which are foreign companies – and employs 19,500 people. 77 percent of the employment in the zone accounts for foreign capital companies. At the end of this year, upon completion of the ongoing investments in ESBAS, the number of employees is expected to reach 22,000.

ESBAS did not reach such figures so easily. The founder of ESBAS, late Kaya Tuncer, got a start in business following his studies first in Türkiye, and then in the university, master and postgraduate programs in USA, and took a role in the construction of gigantic projects in various regions of the world. Benefiting from all his experience and knowledge, he established the Aegean Free Zone to attract foreign capital to his beloved country and brought the company to its current state. Thanks to the marketing and promotional efforts he took part in personally, Izmir and the Aegean Free Zone became known and reputable in most countries of the world. Today, almost the entire world has turned its face to Türkiye. There remained no country unfamiliar with Türkiye. During his healthy days, Mr. Tuncer used to create a new agenda almost daily, organized panels and meetings, and managed to place ESBAS firmly within the focus of the business world.

Aerospace was the most idealistic passion of Mr. Tuncer. First, he established a space camp in ESBAS and introduced space to primary school children. He even brought famous astronauts to ESBAS and conducted interviews with them at the Space Camp. In addition to the space camp, one of the three biggest space camps in the world, Mr. Tuncer attempted to transform the aerospace industry in ESBAS into a base and ensured opening of this field of business in ESBAS for many prominent aerospace organizations. Whenever I paid a visit to Kaya Tuncer, a model person in his successful career, I found him working. In our interview two years before his death, he was proud of the staff he organized and said they were future managers. This turned out to be true. The ESBAS staff at that date has not changed since the death of Mr. Tuncer. Standing side by side with strong relations, this staff raises ESBAS and keeps the ESBAS flag flying for late Mr. Tuncer.