BREAKING INTO A MAN'S WORLD

Jan 27th 2005
The Economist

TURKISH industry is dominated by two vast family businesses, both of which have recently handed over their top jobs to a new generation of 40-somethings. The Europeanised Koc group passed the reins to Mustafa Koc, the eldest of the chairman's three sons, in 2003. But before Sakip Sabanci died last year, he let it be known that he wanted neither of his two brothers nor any of their numerous male offspring to succeed him as head of the far more traditional Sabanci family business. Rather, he chose his niece, Guler. It was a choice that he had been hinting at for at least a decade.

Running a sprawling conglomerate with annual sales of $12 billion and interests ranging from banking to cars, and from energy to food, is a challenging task that comes at a particularly challenging time. In December, EU leaders finally agreed to begin accession talks with Turkey on October 3rd this year.

Behind her unconventional lifestyle--she lives alone and mixes with painters and popstars--lies a tough, conservative businesswoman who takes only carefully calculated risks; one reason, say her business associates, why her uncle anointed her as his successor. Some of her male cousins were so offended that one of them, Demir Sabanci, is rumoured to have sold all his shares in the company last month, because he could not stomach being bossed by a woman.

Her toughness came to the fore recently when she withstood pressure from the state to fire Halil Berktay, an eminent Ottoman historian at the university. He had dared to suggest that Turkey's Armenian minority may have been slaughtered in large numbers by Ottoman forces during the first world war.

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