The Sabancı family is one of the wealthiest families in Turkey with an estimated fortune of less than $1 billion. The family's main business entity was founded by Hacı Ömer Sabancı in the 1930s. Hacı Ömer Sabancı, the progenitor of the Sabancı family, moved from his native Kayseri to Adana in the early 1920s. His business grew, in part, due to reduced business competition as a result of the Armenian genocide.[1][2] Some second and third generation members of the family today control a group of companies under Sabancı Holding. Most of the companies were established by the efforts of the second generation members of the family, Sakıp Sabancı, Hacı Sabancı, Şevket Sabancı, Erol Sabancı, and Özdemir Sabancı.[3] After the death of Sakıp Sabancı, also known as Sakip Aga, in 2004, the granddaughter of the founder, Güler Sabancı, was chosen to run Sabancı Holding. Majority of the Sabanci's family wealth has been evaporated due to the weak Turkish Lira, complete loss in operational businesses and vast dispersion of inheritance within the family members, causing an internal family conflict.
Some second and third generation members of the family have left their managerial positions at the Sabanci Group and established their own companies such as Densa, Demsa and Esas Holding which owns Pegasus Airlines.[4]
^Ungor, Ugur; Polatel, Mehmet (2011). Confiscation and Destruction: The Young Turk Seizure of Armenian Property. A&C Black. p. 132. ISBN978-1441130556.
^Ayşe Buğra: State and Business in Modern Turkey. A Comparative Study. SUNY Press, 1994. p. 82
