Bosphorus Development Founder and Board Chairman Mehmet V. Saçaklıoğlu: It is profitable to invest in Ukraine now, no need to be afraid of this

An exclusive interview of Bosphorus Development Founder and Board Chairman Mehmet V. Saçaklıoğlu with the Interfax-Ukraine News Agency

- You are a foreign developer who has started the construction of a residential complex in Kyiv amid the war. Why did you decide to take up the implementation of this project?

- In fact, we started work on Maxima Residence, a residential complex in the capital, a few months before the beginning of the full-scale war. This is our first development project in Ukraine. We are implementing it in partnership with the Ukrainian company RIEL. The Russian invasion slightly adjusted our plans but did not stop the work.

In the first months of the war, we were focused on our support for Ukraine: we bought cars, various equipment – helmets, body armor, thermal imagers, and medicines for the military. We hosted around 150 Ukrainian refugees at our hotel Crowne Plaza Istanbul Florya in Turkey. We organized tours for Ukrainian children to the Istanbul Aquarium, one of the world's largest aquariums that we built in Istanbul. It was one of the elements of psychological rehabilitation for the children. We have done and continue to do a lot for assistance to Ukraine. The fact is that my family founded its own business here 20 years ago. At first, it was confectionery production, then it was logistics and telecommunications business. Eventually we focused on our locomotive business – real estate construction and development. I came to Ukraine to run the company. In Kyiv I got married and my two children were born here. So, Ukraine is my second Motherland. And I believe in its successful future.

The economy is no less important for victory and investment is the economy's blood. Concrete plants and