Black box of holdings reveals secrets of business life

It is possible to find numerous interesting anecdotes, from bribery to in-family conflicts, in the holdings, which would probably not have been revealed without this book, which provides an insider’s view. The book is likely to create a storm in the business world with its claims of what actually happens behind closed doors.

Speaking to Today’s Zaman, Darbaz said nobody has dared say anything to him regarding the content of the book. “But some individuals are conveying their reactions in indirect ways,” he noted.

Besides a number of interesting details already included in the book, Darbaz also revealed a secret during the interview about the murder of Özdemir Sabancı in 1996. “At the moment the murder happened, the other Sabancı brothers -- including Sakıp Sabancı -- were at a meeting just next door to Özdemir Sabancı’s office. If the assassins had broken into this room, then there would have been real peril.”

The book uncovers a number of equally interesting and serious incidents and experiences. Darbaz recalls carrying a bribe in a sealed envelope to a bureaucrat in Ankara when the Doğan Group was trying to buy the land surrounding the location of where the Formula 1 racecourse is today, in İstanbul’s Akfırat district, at a lower price.

Tuncay Özkan suggested using MİT agents against the Uzans

“By the time I started business at Doğan Holding, I found myself in the middle of a conflict with the Uzans. It was the height of the fight with the Uzan family. Aydın Doğan organized a meeting at the headquarters of the Milliyet daily, which was well attended, with the editors-in-chief of the group’s dailies and TV stations. He listened with great patience to the remarks of every attendee on what course of action should be adopted. I don’t know if this is what lies in the genes of journalists, but the ideas expressed in this meeting all had the potential to exacerbate the intensity of the fight.

“As the meeting was dismissed, everyone but Tuncay Özkan left. He told Doğan that he wanted to say something special to him and flashed a glance at me as if he was asking me to leave them alone. When Doğan noticed this look, he said: ‘There is nothing to worry about in Tufan’s presence. Say what you want to say.’ Upon this, Özkan said: ‘Boss, let me put two old agents from the National Intelligence Organization [MİT] after these guys. Then we will even know every breath they take and strike before them.’ Pretending to mull over the proposal for a few seconds, Doğan responded saying: ‘Tuncay, you didn’t say this, and I didn’t hear it. I really don’t have my finger in these pies.’ As Özkan left the room, Doğan turned to me and said: ‘Son, never trust these media people. They are with you today and with your rivals tomorrow. And they will not hesitate to use such things against you.’ Indeed, during those days, Özkan expressed at every opportunity that he regarded Doğan as his father and was committed to him with unceasing loyalty. But less than two weeks after this conversation, he transferred to the Akşam media group.

“In February 2001, the Turkish economy had come face to face with one of the most severe financial crises in its history. The banks were sinking one after another as the dollar quickly soared from TL 600 to TL 1,300. In addition, overnight interest rates exceeded 17,000 percent. Every bank that was carrying the risk of selling short in foreign currency holdings was worried about when it would be their turn to sink. During this time of turmoil, one morning as we were in an executive board meeting, Erol Sabancı came into the meeting room with a white face and said, ‘Gentlemen, if the dollar reaches TL 1,500, we will give the keys of Akbank to the state.’ The room was suddenly filled with a deathly silence. It was as if Sabancı Towers was being shaken by an earthquake of about nine on the Richter scale. Erol Bey, who was entirely a man of figures, would have already made a thorough accounting, including of the family’s own fortune. Luckily, the dollar didn’t get to TL 1,500 and Akbank’s keys weren’t given to the state.

He bid farewell to Freemasonry after being deceived by a brother

“We had started talks -- and even shaken hands -- with the landowner on the purchase of an unfinished building in İstanbul’s Taksim district, which had belonged to the Seyhan Group and which became the subject of fierce quarrels with environmentalists and was even partly demolished during the tenure of former Mayor Nurettin Sözen. One of the brothers from our Freemasonry lodge was conducting the financial consultancy for the lady landowner. We were left out of the business on the day when we should have gone to the title office to finalize the sale. They had sold the building to another interested company although they had signed an agreement with us. My brother in an organization that was established on ethics had taught me that ethics were not really that important. This incident played an integral role in my resignation from the Masonic lodge.”