When the congress center designed by Tabanlıoğlu Architecture in Libya won the grand prize in Dubai, our eyes were turned to a Turkish construction company. System Construction. Two partners, but the prominent name is Burak Başlılar. He is only 40 years old, but already the size of his construction works in Libya has reached 1.5 billion dollars. Başlılar is a good example for the new generation of Turkish businessmen. It took 16 years to become a boss with his own company in Libya, where he went to work at STFA as a young engineer and, in his own words, "with the lowest wage". In the country where many Turkish construction companies could not get their money for a while, the Başlılar built one after the other and gained the favor of Gaddafi, so to speak. Başlılar and his partner, Erkan Özmen, have also lobbied for other Turkish companies to take on those jobs in cases where it is not technically possible for them to get more jobs.
"I think I've worked so far to get 4.5 billion dollars worth of work to Turkish companies. I'm happy to help the Turks, even if some are disappointed," says Başlılar. Başlılar explains that there is a very positive atmosphere towards Turkey in Libya at the moment and that "Give the Turks jobs" is used as a slogan. According to him, the work of Turkish companies in Libya will exceed 10 billion dollars in a very short time. "A company that does its job properly in Libya does not keep their money inside. They will definitely get it," he says. Heads are determined to grow not only in Libya, but also in Saudi Arabia, where they entered with 31 court buildings costing 330 million dollars.
I think we're going to hear a lot more of this name soon. Because in Turkey, it has started to wink at projects such as tourism and housing and, for example, Botaş's gas storage facilities under the Salt Lake. He took Fettah Tamince as a partner in tourism. 'I didn't know it until a year ago. They built Rixos next to the convention center we built in Libya. That's how we met and became friends. Now we are preparing for a big project in tourism together,' he says.