Kâzım Taşkent

Arif Kazım Taşkent (born 27 July 1894, Preveza , Ottoman Empire - modern Greece - death 5 March 1991, Istanbul , Turkey), Turkish engineer, industrialist, businessman, manager and politician. Kazim Tashkent is the founder of Yapı Kredi Bank the first nationwide private bank in Turkey.

Biography

Kazım Taşkent was born on 27 July 1894, in Preveza, Ottoman Empire (modern Greece). His father was Mehmet Nakyettin Bey and his mother was Müzeyyen Hanım. Mehmet Nakyettin Bey's other two brothers are Mehmet Esat Bülkat , who was the 3rd Corps Commander in the Gallipoli campaign, and Wehib Pasha, who was the 2nd Army Commander. His family are all ethnically Albanian in origin and his grandfather was Mehmed Emin Efendi, who had served as mayor of the city of Janina, where his two uncles are born. Unlike his other two brothers, Kazım Taşkent's father, Mehmet, preferred the profession of justice. With the enactment of the Surname Law, the three siblings received three different surnames. Wehib Pasha took the surname Kaçı, Esat Pasha took the surname Bülkat and Mehmet Nakyettin Efendi took the surname Taşkent.

Kazım Taşkent completed his primary education in Demirhisar, his secondary education in Istanbul and his high school education in Skopje. Later, he attended Istanbul Graduate School of Engineering for two years. While he was continuing his education here, he was drafted into the military. After the Gallipoli campaign he went to the Caucasus campaign. He was assigned to ensure communication with the Turkish forces that remained there for a while after the end of the war. He was able to return home from here on 22 February 1919.

Kazım Bey, went to Germany with a state scholarship and studied chemical engineering at Hannover Engineering School. He graduated from there and returned home for compulsory service and started working at the Industry Branch of the Ministry of Commerce on 7 January 1925. On 17 February 1926, he took part in the establishment of Alpullu Sugar Factory and became its first manager. He was promoted to industrial inspector in 1928. In 1930, he was appointed deputy general manager of Zonguldak Coal Enterprises. Two years later, on 1 October 1932, he became the general manager of Turkish Sugar Factories, and continued this duty until 1944.

He was a producer, known for two Turkish films: Halici Kiz (1953) and Evli mi bekar mi (1951).

In 1944, he founded Doğan Sigorta and Yapı Kredi Bank and served as chairman of the boards of these companies. He entered the parliament in his ninth term as a Manisa deputy from the Democratic Party. He resigned from his position as a member of parliament on 16 February 1953. In the 1940s, he bought the Abdülmecid Efendi Mansion.

Kazım Taşkent compiled his life story and memories in two books titled The Days I Lived and Living Atatürk's Enlightenment. He published Doğan Kardeş magazine after his son Doğan Kardeş died in a landslide in a town in the Alps where he was studying. Kazım Taşkent, was married and father of two children. He died on 5 March 1991. His body was buried in the Zincirlikuyu Cemetery.