From a Babadağ loom to TAÇ: Ahmet Nazif Zorlu dies at 82

Ahmet Nazif Zorlu, Chairman of the Board of Zorlu Holding, died on the evening of 2 November 2026 at the hospital where he had been receiving treatment for some time. He was 82. The holding announced his death on its social media accounts: “Today we are deeply saddened to have lost our Chairman Ahmet Zorlu at the hospital where he had been receiving treatment for some time.”

According to Zorlu Holding's official memorial notice, the funeral prayer will be held at noon on Wednesday, 4 November, at the Barbaros Hayrettin Paşa Mosque in Levent, Istanbul, after which he will be laid to rest in the family plot at Zincirlikuyu Cemetery. In line with his wishes, the holding asked that no wreaths be sent to the ceremony and that those who wish make a donation to a civil society organisation instead.

The statement stressed that Zorlu had carried the group, whose foundations were laid in 1953 in Babadağ, a district of Denizli, into the ranks of Türkiye's leading industrial groups and had led its growth on an international scale. The holding said that his outlook, summed up in the words “First my country, then my company, then my family”, would live on as one of the most valuable legacies he left to the group.

From a handloom in Babadağ to factories in Bursa

Ahmet Nazif Zorlu was born in 1944 into a family of weavers in Babadağ, a town known for its weaving. According to Zorlu Holding's founder page, the loom in the family home ran almost without pause; in the 1950s the two brothers, Zeki and Ahmet Zorlu, were their father's closest helpers and had become skilled weavers by their primary school years. The group's foundations were laid in 1953 with a company set up by founder Mehmet Zorlu in Babadağ with two handlooms.

According to the holding's history, the brothers opened their first shop in Trabzon in 1960. The founder page records that this store was opened at Ahmet Zorlu's insistence and became the second turning point in the family's business life. Textile products made by contract manufacturers in Denizli and Bursa were sold in Trabzon and Istanbul. In 1970 Zorlu moved the company's headquarters to Istanbul.

In 1973 production of tablecloths and duvet covers began under the TAÇ brand; according to the holding's records, 220 cm printed duvet covers and sheets were produced in Türkiye for the first time in this period. Korteks, set up in 1976 as a small workshop in Bursa, became the group's first manufacturing company. In 1982 Korteks grew into a weaving and tulle factory in the Bursa Organised Industrial Zone and made its first exports, to Iraq and Libya. To meet the weaving plant's need for quality yarn, a polyester yarn factory was built in the same zone in 1988; in 1989 the Zorlu Brode factory in Lüleburgaz was acquired, and in 1992 an R&D and design department was set up within Korteks.

TAÇ, Linens and a home textile business that reached world markets

Zorlu Linens, established in 1997, was in the holding's words the largest home textile production facility in Europe and the Middle East; in the same year an integrated polyester yarn plant with an annual capacity of 165,000 tonnes was also built. In 2002 Zorlu Linens became Europe's largest and the world's third-largest facility in cotton home textiles.

The export structure gathered pace in 1998: Zorlu Dış Ticaret was founded to coordinate all foreign trade of the textile group, Zorlu USA was set up in New York as a marketing company, and the 250-year-old French brand Bel Air was acquired, taking the group into the European curtain market. According to the holding's textile page, Zorlu Dış Ticaret today works through sales offices and showrooms in Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States, and since 2005 it has had sourcing offices in China, India and Pakistan.

The retail arm was built in the same years. In 1999 the first store opened on Bağdat Caddesi in Istanbul under the Linens Home Beauty Centre concept; the holding records this as the first retail chain in Turkish home textiles. The first Linens store abroad opened in Ukraine in 2001, TAÇ moved directly into retail with its own stores in 2004, and production and exports of the premium brand Valeron began in 2005. By 2009 TAÇ had 500 stores in Türkiye and 100 abroad.

According to the holding's current textile page, Zorluteks ranks first in Europe and among the top three in the world in home textile exports. Made up of four plants for home textiles, curtain weaving and knitting, finishing and making-up, the company sells mainly to the United States, Europe, Japan and Russia. TAÇ reaches 1,700 points of sale in Türkiye and 112 stores and 760 points of sale abroad; Valeron is sold in 40 countries. The group says it invests USD 4 million a year in textile R&D and develops products such as the TAÇ Reborn curtain collection, made from recycled PET bottles and polyester yarn.

The holding: energy, Vestel and Zorlu Center

In 1990 Zorlu brought the group companies together under Zorlu Holding A.Ş. Zorlu Enerji was set up in 1993 to supply energy to group companies, and in 1994 the electronics and household appliance maker Vestel was acquired and joined the group. Zorlu Center, the group's largest real estate project, opened in 2013. Zorlu Group was among the partners of Togg, Türkiye's domestic car brand; in its message of condolence Togg remembered Zorlu as a founding partner who shared its founding vision. In addition to chairing the holding, Ahmet Nazif Zorlu served as chairman or vice-chairman of many group companies in different sectors.

His legacy to the industry

Zorlu was a board member of the Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEİK) and a member of TÜSİAD, DENBİR, BASİAD and the Turkish Home Textile Industrialists and Businesspeople Association (TETSİAD). The Istanbul Textile and Raw Materials Exporters' Association (İTHİB) remembered him in its condolence message as one of the doyens of the textile industry and offered its condolences to the sector.

For home textiles, Zorlu's mark can be seen in an integrated chain that started at a family loom and stretched from yarn to fabric, from finishing to making-up and onto the shop shelf. Running from duvet covers to curtains and from towels to bedspreads, this chain became one example of Turkish home textiles taking their place under their own brands in the markets of Europe, the United States, Japan and Russia. TRTex remembers Ahmet Nazif Zorlu with respect and extends its condolences to his family, to the employees of Zorlu Group and to the home textile community.