Founders

Feyyaz Berker was born on the 7th of October, 1925 in Mersin, the son of Muhtar Berker. He attended primary school at the "İleri Primary School" in Mersin.

His father was a greatly respected ophthalmologist. During the years of the National Struggle for Independence, Muhtar Bey provided medicine and supplies for a 10-bed hospital that was established to care for the wounded soldiers in a city where there wasn't even a single dispensary. Muhtar Berker's wish was for his son to become a doctor, like himself. However, although Feyyaz Berker had great respect for the medical profession, he made the decision to pursue a career in a different field.

One of Feyyaz Berker's strongest memories from the years he spent in Mersin is of the visit to the city by Atatürk. Because Feyyaz Berker was just a small child at the time of Atatürk's first visit and because Atatürk was not well during his visit to Mersin on the 20th of May in 1938, the two never met. All the same, these two visits make up the foundation for Feyyaz Berker's great love and respect for Atatürk.

After Feyyaz Berker completed his primary education, he continued his education at the American College in Tarsus. He first became acquainted with the American system of education that values and supports freedom and personal development at this school.

In 1939, when his father was chosen as the senator for the state of İçel in the 6th Session, he moved to Ankara with the family. For this reason, he had to leave Tarsus American College but in order to continue his education in English, Feyyaz Berker was sent to boarding school at Robert College in Istanbul in the fall of 1939.

In his own words, Feyyaz Berker notes that the years he spent at Robert College played an important role in defining his future. Although the years of World War II brought a number of hardships, Berker continued as a successful student.

While Turkey never entered the war, the years of World War II created many economic hardships. A great percentage of the national resources were put aside for military defense in case of a military threat. In addition, because of military procurement, agricultural output was greatly reduced. In 1942, the unforgettable implementation of a rationing system aimed to control the consumption of wheat. Yet another memorable feature of these years were the night-time blackouts that plunged the cities into darkness.

Because its administrators had planned ahead for these difficult times, Robert College had a stock of food and coal. As of result of these precautions from 1939 - 1946, while Feyyaz Berker was at the school, there was never a stoppage at the college.

The American educational system that included such ideals as "personal discipline" and "non-academic social activities" that Berker first encountered at Tarsus American College were also part of his Robert College education. Robert College taught its students educational discipline, thinking for oneself and speaking one's ideas freely. Feyyaz Berker felt that this liberal environment that prized individual creativity and the ability to think in many facets was the same environment that would allow Turkey to develop and progress.

Since his childhood, Feyyaz Berker had always been interested in sports, and at Robert College, he found the opportunity to engage in many different branches. He believed that involvement in sports had a great effect on personal development, and so he participated in basketball, tennis, volleyball, table tennis and a variety of other sports. He was also a permanent member of the football team.

I am in favor of young people making the most of their free time through sports. Participating in sports brings with it a sense of sportsmanship; it builds character. You feel both happiness and sadness as a result of your efforts, but in the end, you are playing a team sport. This is something that team spirit and competition provide.

Graduating from the high school section of Robert College in 1942, Feyyaz Berker continued in the engineering faculty of the same school's university. There were three alternative departments in the School of Engineering that he was able to choose from: Road and Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering. Berker chose Civil Engineering.

When Berker graduated from Robert College in 1946, it was a time of political cooperation between the two countries, and he went to America to continue his education. He gained acceptance at the University of Michigan, one of the oldest and most established schools in the field of civil engineering.

On the one hand, while he continued his education, in order to earn some cash, he began to work on weekends and during the summer. He found a job on the assembly line at the Kaiser-Frazer automobile factory that was created in Willow Run, Michigan. At that time, the factory was the world's largest complex. During the time he worked here, in addition to the practical skills he acquired, Feyyaz Berker also gained new perspectives related to work and life philosophies.

When Feyyaz Berker graduated from the University of Michigan in 1948 with his advanced Engineering degree, he did not return immediately to Turkey. He stayed in the United States to gain further experience. He found a job in California at a construction firm. This job, where he worked for one year, provided him with important experiences.

"What I would say to young people studying in America is this: Stay in America and work for one year. This will be an experience you will make use of throughout your entire life."

In1949, Feyyaz Berker returned to his family in Ankara. After he completed his military service as a reserve officer in Ankara, he began to work as a construction manager at the Ankara Esenboğa Airport. When work on the airport was completed, he was assigned a job in the main office's research and lab division. The work Feyyaz Berker did at this period in his life at what was perhaps the only laboratory specializing in this area, provided him with a sound background and practice. It also provided him with the inspiration in 1956 to found the Feyyaz-Nihat (FN) Consulting Company working in a similar field.

Areas of Social Responsibilities

• TÜSIAD (Turkish Industrialists' and Buinessmen's Association), Founder and Chairman of the Board Advisory Council Vice Chairman, Advisory Council Chairman, Honorary
• DEIK (Foreign Economic Relations Board), Chief Officer, Vice Chairman and Chairman of the Executive Board, Honorary Member
• TAPV (Turkish Family Health and Planning Foundation), Founder and Assistant Chairman of the Board, Chairman of the Board
• HEV (Hisar Education Foundation), Chairman
• MESS (Turkish Metal Industrialists' Syndicate), Member of High Advisory Board
• TISK (Conferderation of Employer Associations), Member of Advisory Board
• TUSEV (Third Sector Foundation of Turkey), Founder and Trustee
• TESEV (Turkish Economics and Social Studies Foundation), Board of Directors and Trustee
• TEMA, Founder and Trustee (Foundation for Combating Soil Erosion)
• DENIZTEMIZ TURMEPA (Marine Environment Protection Association), Founding Member
• TEGV (Education Volunteers Foundation of Turkey), Founder and Trustee
• TGV (Foundation for Advancing Technology), Founder and Trustee
• Robert College, Trustee
• Robert College, Member of Alumni Association
• Bosphorous University, Member of Advisory Committee
• American Conference Board Member, New York
• Stanford Research Institute, Member

Nihat Gökyiğit was born February 23, 1925 in Artvin, Turkey. His family was one branch of the established Gokyiğitoğullar clan of Artvin. His father, Ahmet Hamdi Bey, was a local businessman who ran a dry goods business with his brother which they had inherited from their father. The goods sold in the store came from a grandfather in İstanbul, a man who Nihat Gökyiğit describes as "an amazing entrepreneur who learned the trade under incredibly difficult circumstances". Nihat Gökyiğit describes his first 15 years in Artvin as a fairytale, in a town with houses on large plots and green gardens and flowers where butterflies flew and where the children chased fireflies. After he graduated from the local primary and secondary schools, it was time for Nihat Gökyiğit to leave Artvin, because in those days, there was no further education in the town. In order for him to learn a foreign language, instead of sending him to a nearby high school, his father decided to send him to Robert College.

During the six years that I spent at Robert College, I always felt the importance of developing my self confidence, taking responsibility and joining in social, cultural and sports activities." To this end, the school encouraged its students to participate in clubs, organizations and associations. For each of theses activities, a faculty member acted as an advisor, mentoring without actually managing the program. Would students suffer academically by joining a few of these activities? Definitely not!

Nihat Gökyiğit joined a number of clubs and activities at school. Perhaps because two of his uncles were engineers, from the day he entered the school, Nihat Gökyiğit had it in his mind to become an engineer. From his first year, together with Feyyaz Berker they aimed to become civil engineers. After graduating from Robert College, like Feyyaz Berker, Nihat Gökyiğit decided to continue his studies at the University of Michigan in America. After a long voyage on a ship, the first thing that struck Nihat Gökyiğit when he got to New York was the brilliance of the night lights and the huge buildings that were wonders of engineering.

Nihat Gökyiğit was not on a scholarship. For this reason, throughout his student years, he worked at a number of jobs. From the moment he set foot in America, two things struck him:

Organization and equipment. Everywhere, you could see what it meant to be effectively productive. I was quite affected by this.

After he graduated from the University of Michigan in 1948, like Feyyaz Berker, Nihat Gökyiğit wanted to stay in America and learn about the business world. He took a job in Pennsylvania at the offices of Gannet Fleming Corddry and Carpenter, Inc. A year later, upon his return to Turkey, he applied for his military service without delay. Here, near the end of his translation and military service, he worked at the school of fortifications as an instructor in the area of materials.

His military service completed, Nihat Gökyiğit took a job with the American consortium of Metcalfe-Hamilton and Grove, who were undertaking the construction of military airbases around Turkey. As a result of his success in this position, his work caught the attention of Esat Turgut, who was at the head of the Airport Construction Authority. At his suggestion, Nihat Gökyiğit transferred to the Ministry of Public Works, and here, he got together with Feyyaz Berker again and Necati Akçağlılar. While he was working at the Ministry of Public Works, he took the job of chief controller at the Konya Airport that was just beginning construction. At a time when, under the leadership of Adnan Menderes, Turkey was liberalizing and greater importance was being given to personal initiative, he had come to a critical turning point in his career. Nihat Gökyiğit recalls that in 1956, when he left his job with the government, "while working on the construction of the airports, we had come to a point where we were either going to enter politics or start our own company. We chose the latter." Together with Feyyaz Berker, from here on, they set out on the road they had chosen.

Areas of Social Responsibility - Foundations and Associations / Professional Corporate Memberships

• TUSIAD, (Turkish Industrialists' and Buinessmen's Association), Board of Directors (3 years)
• Kyrgyzstan and Georgia, Honorary Consul General
• Turkey-BDT Work Council, Chairman
• Black Sea Work Council Representative for Turkey (10 years)
• DEIK, Board of Directors (15 years) and honorary member (Foreign Economic Relations Board)
• TEMA, Founder and head of the Trustees, including awards given in Johannesburg (Foundation for Combating Soil Erosion)
• Nezahat Gökyiğit Research and Educational Botanical Garden, Founder
• Story of Three Seas Energy Conference, Founder and Co-Director
• Tekfen Philharmonic Orchestra, Founder
• Honorary Doctorate Degrees from Akdeniz University, Cukurova University, Gazi Osman Paşa University
• Honorary Citizen of Georgia
• Recipient of Nation Exceptional Service Medal (1997)

NECATİ AKÇAĞLILAR (1924-2011)

Necati Akçağlılar was born in Izmir on the 22nd of May, 1924, the son of Süleyman Akçağlılar, who was one of the well known cheese manufacturers of the city.

After Necati Akçağlılar graduated from Mersinli Primary school, Karataş Middle School and then İnönu High School, he entered Law School, but soon realized that he did not care for the subject.

My father wanted me to work with him. When, in the end, I told him that I wanted to go overseas to continue my education, he said, 'You never planned to work with me anyway. Do whatever you want to do, but only this one time.' It was with that joy that I began my preparations to leave.

Necati Akçağlılar began his studies in civil engineering at Illinois University in 1945 and got his degree in 1948. Following that, he took a job as teaching assistant at the university's research center and continued his further studies, getting his advanced degree from the university in 1950. Like most students, before returning to his country, he wanted to work for a while in America in order to gain some practice and learn about the business world. Akçağlılar first worked for a year and a half as a Project Engineer in Florida at the Tallahassee center for the construction of America's Highway system, and following that he worked another 6 months, again as Project Engineer for the Chemical Construction Company in New York.

Although, when Necati Akçağlılar returned to Turkey, he worked with his father for a year, his desire to work in the field he had studied took precedence. With the intention of completing his military service, he took the exam for reserve officers.

There were two options before me: one was the navy; the other was fortifications. Because my home was Izmir, I preferred the navy, but it didn't work out. They decided to place me with NATO in the Ministry of Public Works.

Having started his military service in a battalion assigned to fortifications, because of the great demand for trained engineers in the many NATO projects all over the country, he was soon transferred to the Ministry of Public Works.

For 5 years during his military service, Necati Akçağlılar worked on the construction of NATO facilities. When he first began work, he didn't have the slightest knowledge about pipelines and tank construction. In his own words, he began by "emptying and filling tankers", but by the end of his five years, he had become an expert in the details related to the design and construction of gas stations.

Toward the end of this period, Necati Akçağlılar had begun working as the head of the division responsible for the construction of the airports and the fuel pipelines for the Airports and Fueling Services at the Ministry of Public Works. At this job, he gained a wide range of experience that, in addition to engineering, included project management, business management, human resources, accounting and finance, and a number of other areas that would provide a foundation for his later work in life.

During the time that Necati Akçağlılar had worked at the Ministry of Public Works, he had started a friendship with Feyyaz Berker and Nihat Gökyiğit. Their friendship continued outside the office, and during these years in the Ministry, they had discussed starting their own business. Some time later, Feyyaz Berker and Nihat Gökyiğit left the Ministry to start their own business. A few years later, Necati Akçağlılar joined them, and thus began their 50 year partnership together at Tekfen.

All his life, Necati Akçağlılar has been interested in sports, particularly football and sailing. His interest in sailing began with his looking at yachting magazines. Advancing his interest with the purchase of his boat named "İmbat", Akçağlılar took his interest even farther, culminating with his crossing of the Atlantic Ocean in the 1980s.

Areas of Social Responsibilities - Foundation and Associations / Professional Corporate Memberships

• International Chemical Fertilizer Foundation (IFA)
• International Pipeline and Offshore Contractors' Association (IPLOCA)
• Association of Contractors, Chairman 1976, Honorary Member 2002
• Association of Turkish Contractors and Civil Engineers
• TUSIAD (Turkish Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association), Member
• Turkish Association of Civil Engineers, Member
• Beşiktaş Gymnastics Club (BJK), Board Member, Vice President 2003