Sakıp Sabancı's own words

The late Mr. Turgut Ozal worked hard to open new horizons and stressed the significance of opening our business to the world. His first step was to move Sabanci Holding from Adana to Istanbul. He continued to encourage and motivate us during his Prime Ministry and Presidency. In one of our meetings he suggested the Sabanci Group buy the New York Plaza Hotel. At the corner of 5th Avenue and 59th Street, very close to Central Park, the New York Plaza Hotel with its unique architecture, represents “the” building of New York City. Mr. Ozal was very excited when he said, “Mr. Sakip, just imagine the Turkish flag waving in front of a hotel at such a location.” Unfortunately, at that time the Sabanci Company was engaged in the tire integration business while in the process of founding BEKSA and DUKSA, so we couldn`t consider this suggestion. Today, whenever I go to New York, I walk by this hotel and I cannot help but feeling regret. If we could have bought this hotel, it would have served as a great benefit to the official commissions, non-profit organizations, representatives of the business world, and even to tourists. Big meetings were going to be held in the halls of this hotel. The most important of all, today the Turkish Flag would be waving on the 5th Avenue, one of the most popular streets of New York City.