Ronesans Holding

Rönesans Holding is not only notorious for corruption in its own right but has acted as a linchpin in President Erdogan’s kleptocratic system. In 2021, the Pandora Papers revealed that Rönesans Holding Chairman Erman Ilicak is at the center of a network of offshore companies in Switzerland and the British Virgin Islands, all registered under his mother’s name. 

Ilicak has close ties to President Erdogan. His company was contracted to build Erdogan’s controversial Presidential Palace in 2014, costing taxpayers $615 million (double the projected cost). Ronesans also received a bid to build a controversial city hospital project valued at $1.82 billion.

Rec İnşaat, a subsidiary of Ronesans Holding and a favorite contractor of the Turkish government, has been awarded 266 million liras to build a 203,000 square meter prison. As TDP’s research has revealed, prison expansion has grown rapidly in Turkey–along with the number of dissidents, activists, and journalists imprisoned–and these tenders tend to be awarded to AKP allies. 

Kaylon Holding

A large conglomerate with significant construction interests, Kalyon Holding has been linked to several high-profile corruption scandals involving the Turkish government. Kalyon Holding’s Chairman, Cemal Kalyoncu, belongs to President Erdogan’s inner circle of oligarchs, dubbed by the media as the “gang of five.” Kalyon Holding was part of the infamous “gang of five” consortium that won a historic $29 billion government tender to build the new Istanbul airport in 2013. This extravagant project was criticized for its inhumane working conditions, resulting in the death of 52 construction workers, and for the damage it caused to Istanbul’s remaining forests and water basins.

Kalyon Holding has continuously misused public funds to carry out unnecessary, poorly executed, and deeply unpopular projects, such as the redevelopment of Taksim Gezi Park. In 2013, the Gezi Park project sparked seismic protests that were violently repressed by the Turkish government. The government’s response to these protests marked a significant stage in Erdogan’s consolidation of power. 

For example: In 2014, Cemal Kalyoncu participated in a group of businessmen who pooled resources to assist the government’s purchase of Turkuvaz Media Group in exchange for guaranteed government tenders. News reports at the time revealed leaked recordings of the same businessmen, Kalyoncu included, discussing how best to portion out government tenders and hide the transfer of funds from authorities. Turkuvaz Media Group was purchased by Kalyon Holding and owns a large percentage of Turkey’s most important news outlets, such as Sabah and Daily Sabah. 

In the height of the pandemic, while millions of Turkish businesses struggled to stay afloat, these plutocrats continued to be awarded major infrastructure contracts for their firms to develop projects like the Istanbul Canal tender, granted to a consortium of companies formed by Kalyon. The $61 billion project, which will effectively destroy the Marmara water basin through heavy pollution, has been highly criticized and legally contested by environmental groups, as well as the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality.

Kalyon is also known for using its media arm, Turkuvaz Media, to spread pro-regime propaganda on behalf of Erdogan and his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). In 2019, a mass consolidation of pro-regime media outlets was facilitated by the marriage of Kalyoncu’s son to Yelda Demirören, the daughter of the Chair of the Board of Demirören Holding – another gang-of-five firm with significant media ownership. The union of these two key media mogul families has enabled Erdogan to gain indirect control of more than 90 percent of the Turkish media landscape.

Furthermore, Kalyon is working for the Municipality of Istanbul and the General Directorate of Motorways of Turkey’s Ministry of Transport (Grantor) on the Menemen-Aliağa-Çandarlı Motorway in the province of İzmir: a $7.2 billion highway connecting Izmir to Gebze within a major public-private partnership with expected losses over $100 million in 2022.

Çalık Holding

Similar to Cengiz Holding, the Pandora Papers revealed that Çalık Holding “operates at least four offshore companies in the British Virgin Islands, with combined assets of tens of millions of dollars.” The company’s head, Ahmet Çalık, used offshore accounts in Malta when the company was headed by CEO Berat Albayrak, son-in-law of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. 

Silahtaroğlu İnşaat

In July 2022, the AKP awarded Silahtaroğlu İnşaat with two tenders worth 3 billion and 149 million liras to construct an airport highway in Izmir and the third stage of the Sabiha Gökçen Airport. Among several pipeline and other construction projects, Silahtaroğlu İnşaat built the AFAD Presidency Service Building in Ankara. 

Albayrak Group

Albayrak Group (Albayrak Holding Company) is run by Nuri Albayrak – a close friend of Erdogan and a recipient of over 19 separate construction AKP-government tenders in the last 11 years amounting to approximately 1.5 billion liras. Albayrak owns the company along with  his brothers Ahmet Albayrak, Bayram Albayrak, Kazım Albayrak, Mustafa Albayrak and Muzaffer Albayrak. Two of Albayrak’s biggest clients are the Istanbul Municipality and the public housing administration, which hav deep ties to the AKP’s power structures. One of the Group’s subsidiaries, Albayrak Construction, was responsible for building the controversial public city hospitals and produces industrial equipment for the state, amounting to over 43 million liras in tenders.