Page 77 - World Of Nurol Magazine 29

“Nurettin ÇARMIKLI,
Erol ÇARMIKLI and

M. Oğuz ÇARMIKLI are the

people we are inspired of
as our bosses. We always

need their experience, their
knowledge, their direction.”

I worked first as the Senior Vice President of Finansbank’s
International Department and then as the Department Head of
the Correspondent Relations and Structured Funding Group.
me a job o§er, served as a return to Istanbul ticket for me. My
As a manager who started his career in a foreign bank and then first position in the Çelebi Group – which is active in various
assumed various roles in a Turkish bank, what are your views fields, including ground handling, cargo and warehousing, port
about the development of the banking sector from the 1990s management, food retail and transport management – was
to the 2000s? as the Financial A§airs and Funding Coordinator, after which I
became a Member of the Executive Committee. My tenure at
The early 1990s was a time of several changes in the Turkish Çelebi lasted for approximately one year.
banking sector. There were many firsts, and standards started
to be established and set in those years. Throughout this period, I think we can now talk about how you started working for
employees in the banking sector gained experience in all areas Nurol. Can you share with us how that came about?
of banking and became highly qualified finance experts within
a short time. We were involved in this process by personally The Nurol Group of Companies, especially Nurol Construction
witnessing and managing it. It was a great opportunity, and I Co., are pioneers in their areas of activity, and they are backed
believe this influenced my career path significantly, allowing me by a deep-rooted history. Of course everybody would want to
to shift from banking businesses to corporate finance. be part of such a group of companies, for it’s a great source of
pride. My story at Nurol began when a friend of mine informed
When and how did you bid farewell to the banking sector and me that the Nurol Group of Companies was looking for a finance
start to do business with private companies? coordinator, and that he could introduce me to Oğuz Bey. After
my first interview with Oğuz Bey, I was invited to an introductory
When I quit banking late in 2007 and decided to work at the breakfast meeting at the Ankara Sheraton Hotel with the
Denizli-based C.S. Abalıoğlu Group of Companies as their Funding Chairman of the Board, his deputies and their children. It felt like
Coordinator, my family and close friends reacted against this. For a warm family atmosphere. The atmosphere I had experienced
them, my decision to leave İstanbul and the corporate world to previously with the Abalıoğlu family, and which I couldn’t find
work for a family company was like going to the “dark side” in the in any of the other places I worked, was back again at Nurol. I
Star Wars movies. Yes, there was a risk, but it worked out well. must express my gratitude at being part of this family today.
The company owners were very cultured people with high moral A corporate structure can be achieved by working together;
values and many years of business experience, and the harmony however, the sense of family is something that exists naturally,
between us was so good that I really felt like part of the family, and in my opinion, it’s one of the most important features of
and saw that the concept of corporate culture could be left aside. Nurol.

In fact, the company already had a well-established corporate What were your priority responsibilities when you first started
structure, with investments in Turkey, Romania, Egypt and the your tenure at Nurol?
United States. I was responsible for coordinating the subsidiaries’ I took up oªce in August 2010. At our first meeting, Oğuz Bey
financial positions and for assets and liability management, and showed me the draft contract for the Gebze-Izmir Highway, which
I was engaged in cash management activities. I worked for this was about to be signed with the administration, and told me to
group until the summer of 2009.
“begin from here” – this was my first task at Nurol. I assumed
the role of chief negotiator for the long-term $5 billion project
So your tenure in Denizli wasn’t long. You then returned to funding obtained by the Gebze-İzmir Highway Consortium,
Istanbul. Could you tell us more about this?
in which Nurol Group was the leader. We had meetings with a
total of 21 local and foreign banks for the overall project, but the
Yes, joining the Çelebi Group of Companies, after they made

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