16.07.2025 12:40
At the Soma Thermal Power Plant owned by Konya Şeker, which houses famous brands like Torku, production came to a halt when it was unable to pay its 18 billion lira debt to TKİ. Tensions arose during a meeting held between officials from Konya Şeker and the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Alparslan Bayraktar. It was claimed that Bayraktar, angered by the defense of the holding's executives, expelled the delegation from the meeting.
Konya Şeker, which also includes famous brands like Torku, purchased the Soma Thermal Power Plant in 2015 for 685 million dollars and is struggling to pay its 18 billion lira debt to the state-owned Turkish Coal Enterprises (TKİ). The company, which has not made any coal payments for months, is no longer receiving new deliveries, and production at the Soma Thermal Power Plant has completely stopped.
DEFENSE THAT INFURIATED MINISTER BAYRAKTAR
According to a report by Sadettin İnan, the Editor-in-Chief of Tarımdan Haber, officials from Konya Şeker, which operates under the umbrella of Anadolu Birlik Holding, and Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar held three critical meetings in Ankara last week to resolve the current payment issues. In the first meeting, discussions were held with the Konya Şeker delegation, followed by meetings with organized unions in Soma, and finally with mining companies in Soma.
The defense made by the Konya Şeker delegation during the meeting raised tensions. The statement from the Konya Şeker delegation, "If TKİ had stopped supplying coal, the debt would not have grown this much," angered Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar. It was claimed that Minister Bayraktar expelled the Konya Şeker delegation from the meeting.
A REPORT WILL BE SUBMITTED TO ERDOĞAN
Following these meetings, it was learned that Minister Bayraktar would provide a comprehensive report regarding the Soma Thermal Power Plant to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and actions would be taken according to the President's decision. The power plant, which cannot pay its debts, will be transferred, and no money will be paid to Konya Şeker for the transfer process.
After the transfer processes, Konya Şeker will incur an additional debt of approximately 8 billion TL. This is because the transfer of the thermal power plant is not enough to cover the existing coal debt. While the value of the thermal power plant is estimated to be 10 billion TL, Konya Şeker's debt to TKİ has exceeded 18 billion TL.