Istanbul, Aug 28 () - The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has seized a cement factory, owned by Turkish Balance Gayrimenkul, in Iraq and the company expects the repayment of half of the losses by Iraq after a meeting with the Turkish Prime Minister.
“We discussed this issue with PM Ahmet Davutoğlu. We expect half of our losses will be paid for by the Iraqi government” said the company chairman, İsmail Çoban.
Balance Gayrimenkul, the real estate unit of Turkish chocolate maker Şölen, has the 30 percent of stake in the cement factory, which was seized by ISIL in June 2014.
“The Baghdad government has a 15 percent stake and we also have two local partners in the factory. The Iraqi government was responsible for ensuring security in the site” said Çoban.
“As soon as the problem is solved, we’ll back to the table to reconsider our investment plans” he said.
Many production facilities and construction sites of Turkish companies have been seized since March 2011, such as two cement facilities owned by Güriş Holding. The company said its losses were around 50 million euros.
A production facility owned by Hateks was also seized in Aleppo, which company representatives could not visit for a long time. Another Turkish company, Akteks, also lost its company after the civil war broke out in Syria in 2011.
“We could not hear anything from our factory. We do not know what happened to our machines, who seized them or who runs the factory right now. We made around a $40 million investment there” told Akteks Chairman Mehmet Ali Mutafoğlu daily Hürriyet online.
