ENKA

History

ENKA was founded in 1957 in Istanbul, Turkey, by 27-year-old Şarık Tara and his brother-in-law, Sadi Gülçelik. Tara and Gülçelik chose ENKA as the name of the company from the first syllable of two words, "enişte" and "kayınbirader" meaning "brother-in-law". Gülçelik died in 1980 in a Saudi Arabian airplane crash and Tara became the sole proprietor. Around the same time, ENKA began acquiring larger scale projects, increasing their rank as one of the top 250 international contractors.

In 1972, the company established ENKA Pazarlama, a sales-focused subsidiary for several earthmoving equipment and construction machinery brands. The following year, ENKA founded Cimtas, one of the company's fully owned subsidiaries. The company expanded internationally during the 1970s and 1980s.

Sarik Tara passed the company to his son, Sinan Tara, in 1984. Sarik was 56 years old, and Sinan wanted to preserve ENKA's tradition of having young leaders. Sarık Tara's grandson, Mehmet Tara, became CEO at age 29.

The ENKA Moscow office opened in 1987. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, ENKA delivered goods and services, ultimately building a strong business relationship with Russia. The company collaborated with the Moscow city government in 1995 to build the MosENKA development. In the mid-1990s, ENKA built a second investment company, Moskva Krasnye Holmy, building offices, shopping centers, and recreation facilities across Russia.

In 1997, ENKA and the Turkish company Migros founded RamENKA in a joint-venture, building shopping centers across Russia. ENKA acquired all of RamENKA stock when Migros sold their half of the company in 2007. ENKA had built 10 shopping malls in Russia by 2000. The company has been regarded as one of the main providers of construction services in the Russian market since the 1990s.

Foundation

The ENKA Foundation supports the arts, culture, sports, and education. The ENKA Culture and Arts Foundation facilities established in 1988 include the ENKA Eşref Denizhan Open Air Theater and the ENKA Auditorium, both of which host events that are open to the public.

The Sadi Gülçelik Sports Complex was established in 1988 in memory of Sadi Gülçelik.

In 1996, ENKA Foundation opened schools in Istanbul. In 1999, the Adapazarı ENKA School was established immediately after the Adapazarı earthquake of 1999. The Gebze Technical and Industrial Vocational High School was established in 2008. All students that attend the school have full scholarships paid for by the ENKA Foundation.

ENKA is a global engineering and construction company headquartered in Istanbul, Turkey. In addition to engineering and construction, its operations include energy, real estate, trading, and manufacturing. The company has been involved in the construction of power plants, airports, bridges, pipelines, motorways, business towers and shopping centers. Mehmet Tara is president and chairman of the board, as of 2022. As of May 2017, ENKA employed 31,237 people. ENKA is publicly traded in Borsa Istanbul (BIST).

ENKA has employed approximately 200,000 people in its projects abroad. The company has carried out around 500 projects in more than 30 countries including Albania, Algeria, Cameroon, Kazakhstan, Libya, the Netherlands, Nepal, Oman, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone, Tajikistan, and Ukraine.

As of 2025, ENKA had entered additional markets, including Bulgaria, Germany, Kosovo, Mozambique, North Macedonia, Serbia, Puerto Rico, and the Bahamas, bringing the total number of countries in which it had delivered projects to nearly 60.

ENKA was listed at #270 on Forbes' "Global 2000: World's Best Employers" in 2017.