By Daren Butler and Melih Aslan
ISTANBUL: Mustafa Koc, the 55-year-old chairman of Turkish conglomerate Koc Holding and one of the country’s most prominent businessmen, died on Thursday after a heart attack.
The pre-eminent dynasty of Turkey’s secular business elite, Koc has had, at times, an uneasy relationship with the Islamist-rooted AK Party founded by President Tayyip Erdogan.
Its businesses range from energy and automobiles to banking, account for close to 10 percent of Turkey’s national output and include five of its 10 largest companies.
Sources from the presidential palace said Erdogan had called his father, Rahmi Koc, and his brother, Ali Koc, to express his condolences, saying Koc’s death had “saddened him deeply”.
The Beykoz state hospital, where Koc was taken first, said in a statement that Koc had collapsed while exercising and had received emergency treatment from a trainer and guard.
It said his heart was not beating when he arrived at 08:10 a.m. (0610 GMT) and efforts to resuscitate him began before he was transferred by helicopter to the American Hospital, a hospital run by the Koc family foundation, in central Istanbul.
“Despite all the efforts of the doctors, we lost Mustafa Koc as a result of a heart attack which he suffered at home,” a hospital official told reporters outside the American Hospital.
Shares in Koc fell 3 percent after the news of Koc’s death, while the main share index was down 1.3 percent.
In 2013, Erdogan expressed anger with Koc’s Divan Hotel for opening its doors to protesters fleeing police during anti-government protests. The hotel called the actions humane and said accusations of backing the protests were unfair.
Mustafa Koc was the grandson of Vehbi Koc, who founded the group in 1926, just three years after the modern, secular Turkish Republic was established out of the ashes of the Ottoman Empire.
That year, Vehbi Koc had taken over a grocery store from his father in Ankara and later become the local representative of foreign companies such as Ford Motor Co and Standard Oil.
Koc Holding companies account for 9 percent of Turkey’s exports and 18 percent of the total market capitalisation of the Istanbul stock exchange, according to an investor presentation by the group this month.
Among its companies are oil refiner Tupras, automotive manufacturer Ford Otosan, car maker Tofas and appliance maker Arcelik.
Koc had been chairman since 2003.
Reuters
