Ahmet Nazif Zorlu

Ahmet Nazif Zorlu was born on 28 August 1944 in Babadağ, a small weaving town in Denizli province in western Turkey. His parents were Hacı Mehmet Zorlu, a weaver, and Saide Zorlu. In 1953 his father set up a home textile business with two hand looms in Babadağ, the seed of what the family would later call the Zorlu Group. Ahmet grew up around the looms and started working in the family trade as a young teenager.

At 15 he moved to Trabzon on the Black Sea coast. In a 2022 visit to his first shop he recalled arriving at midnight on 31 December 1959 with his uncle, finding a small shop in the Kemeraltı Terziler Sokağı area the next morning and selling bed sheets made by his family in Denizli. Trabzon locals nicknamed him "Gari". He spent roughly ten years there, between the ages of 15 and 25, and called the city his second home.

Zorlu's formal schooling was short. He attended Gazi primary school in İzmir, and Euromoney described him in the 1990s as a primary school graduate who built his fortune in textiles. He said he learned everything about trade in Trabzon, where he worked from the age of 15.

Textiles (1960s to 1980s). With his elder brother Zeki, Ahmet expanded the family's retail business, opening stores in Trabzon and then Istanbul. He moved to Istanbul and in 1970 moved the company headquarters there. In 1973 he launched the TAÇ brand, producing Turkey's first 220 cm wide printed duvet covers and sheets, and the business made its first exports the same year. In 1976 the brothers founded Korteks in Bursa. The company then built a weaving and tulle curtain plant in the Bursa Organized Industrial Zone (1982), followed by a polyester yarn factory (1988). Zorlu Holding was formally established in 1990.

Vestel (1994 onward). In 1994 Zorlu bought Vestel, the Manisa based electronics maker left stranded by the collapse of Polly Peck. He later said he bought it "from the funeral stone", meaning the company was all but dead. Vestel built Vestel City in Manisa, began making refrigerators, washing machines and LCD televisions, set up offices in Hong Kong and Shanghai, and became Turkey's export champion in electrical and electronics for more than 25 consecutive years. It made its 100 millionth television in 2010.

Diversification. Under his chairmanship the group founded Zorlu Enerji (1993), bought DenizBank (1997) and sold it to Dexia (2006), built Zorlu Linens and the TAÇ and Linens retail chains, founded Vestel Savunma (2003), opened Turkey's first nickel and cobalt operation through Meta Nikel, developed Turkey's largest geothermal plants at Kızıldere, launched the ZES electric vehicle charging network and became one of the founding partners of Togg, Turkey's national car company.

Zorlu Center. In 2007 he bought the former Highways Directorate land in Zincirlikuyu for 800 million dollars. The resulting Zorlu Center, designed by Emre Arolat and Tabanlıoğlu Architects, opened on 10 October 2013 with a mall, residences, offices, the Raffles Istanbul hotel and the Zorlu Performing Arts Center.

Later years. In 2024 Cem Köksal was appointed CEO of Zorlu Holding while Zorlu remained chairman. His nephew Olgun Zorlu had become vice chairman in 2022.

Zorlu was married to Zülal Zorlu. They had three children: Mehmet Emre Zorlu, Şule Zorlu and Selen Zorlu Melik, all of whom served on the Zorlu Holding board as the family's second generation. His elder brother and lifelong business partner Zeki Zorlu (born 1939) is honorary chairman of the holding, and Zeki's son Olgun Zorlu is its vice chairman. His father Hacı Mehmet Zorlu died in July 2005, and his mother Saide Zorlu died in May 2021 at the age of 101.

He lived in Istanbul. He kept close ties to Trabzon throughout his life. Vestel sponsored Trabzonspor, and the club published a tribute to him after his death.

Zorlu summed up his philosophy as "My country first, then my company, then my family", a line Zorlu Holding quoted in its announcement of his death. Revisiting Trabzon in 2022 he credited faith and effort, saying that "if God wills it and the servant strives, everything is possible". He was openly pragmatic about partnerships, telling Milliyet that he would take on a partner for Vestel if it meant turning one company into three.

Zorlu took a family weaving workshop and built one of Turkey's biggest industrial groups, active in textiles, consumer electronics, white goods, energy, real estate, mining, defence and e-mobility. Vestel became one of Europe's leading makers of televisions and home appliances and one of Turkey's largest exporters. His Zorlu Center and Zorlu PSM became landmarks of Istanbul's cultural and commercial life, and the Mehmet Zorlu Foundation, which he founded in 1999, has supported thousands of students with scholarships.

Order of Civil Merit of the Kingdom of Spain, awarded by King Juan Carlos I in 2007 for his contribution to relations between Spain and Turkey.

Turkish Grand National Assembly Outstanding Service Award, 2009, nominated by the Manisa Provincial Council.

Regularly listed on the Forbes billionaires list (for example 1.3 billion dollars in 2017 and 1.1 billion dollars in 2021) and ranked 35th in Forbes Türkiye's 2025 list of Turkey's 100 richest people with an estimated 950 million dollars.

Zorlu gave relatively few long interviews. Notable appearances include NTV's "Arka Koltuk" series in 2016, a 2016 discussion of research and development and domestically made phones (Vestel produced the Venus smartphone), a 2019 talk to young people at the Mehmet Zorlu Foundation Youth Summit, and an emotional 2022 return to his first shop in Trabzon, filmed by İhlas News Agency. His story of buying Vestel "from the funeral stone" was told in a 2017 Sabah column by Şelale Kadak.

In his last years the group faced serious financial pressure. Vestel reported losses as European demand weakened and financing costs rose, and it cut thousands of jobs. In June 2026 Zorlu Holding applied under Turkey's Financial Restructuring Framework to restructure part of its debt, which had reached about 4 billion dollars at the end of 2024. Zorlu described the move as "a planned step to establish a healthier financial structure", citing commodity price swings, supply chain disruption, weak European demand and growing Chinese competition.

Zorlu had been treated for cancer for some time. He was moved to intensive care at an Istanbul hospital (reported by T24 as Göztepe Memorial Hospital) on Saturday 31 October 2026 and died there on the evening of 2 November 2026, aged 82. Zorlu Holding announced his death on social media that evening, saying it felt deep sorrow at losing its chairman "in the hospital where he had been receiving treatment for some time".

His funeral prayers are scheduled for Wednesday 4 November 2026 after the noon prayer at Levent Barbaros Hayrettin Paşa Mosque in Istanbul, followed by burial in the family plot at Zincirlikuyu Cemetery. In line with his wishes, the family asked that no wreaths be sent and that people donate to a civil society organisation of their choice instead. Trabzonspor was among those that published tributes.