Kolbenkian: "Mr Five Percent"
He was born in Istanbul (1869 AD) to an Armenian father who works in the oil trade, who in turn sent him to study oil engineering and industry in the cities of London and Baku.
In 1896 he emigrated from Istanbul with his family to Cairo, where he met an Armenian oilman, Alexander Mantashv, who in turn knew about his important acquaintances.
He moved to Britain to conduct oil deals there. He became a British citizen in 1902 and in 1907 helped arrange the merger of Royal Dutch and Shell.
Which prompted him to claim (5%) of the shares of oil companies, which helps in the establishment of later, which earned him the title of (Mr. Five Percent / Mr. five percent), because he was receiving (5%) of oil revenues, and Following its important role in providing oil fields in the Middle East for Western investment and development.
In 1912, Kolbenkian was the mastermind behind the establishment of the Turkish Oil Company, a group of major European oil companies, whose aim was to explore and develop oil in Iraq under the control of the Ottoman Empire, which was stopped by the beginning of the First World War (1914).
After the end of the First World War (1918) with the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire and the British occupation of Iraq, in 1925, Kolbenkian fought hot and lengthy negotiations concerning allowing the investment of Iraqi oil by the European companies contributing to the Turkish Oil Company, in Iraq.
Discovered a large reserve of oil in the region (Baba Karkar) in northern Iraq, in 1928, a push to close the negotiations of European oil companies agreement called "red line agreement," which was signed to determine the oil companies that can invest in Iraq, and the role of (Kolbenkian) In the negotiations, European oil companies kept 5% of their shares. In 1929, the name of the Turkish Oil Company (TPC) was changed to IPC.
As a result, Kolbenkian collected huge financial fortunes and became the richest man in the world. This led him to buy many works and pieces of art that he put in a private museum in his home in Paris. His collection of works and artworks was one of the largest collections Art world.
In 1938, he gained diplomatic immunity as Minister of Iraq in the French capital of Paris. In 1940, he became the French government. When he fled to the city of Vichy after the German occupation of Paris, he left France to Lisbon, capital of Portugal in 1942, (July 20, 1955). He was buried in the Armenian Church of St. Sarkis in London.
He has recommended his wealth and artistic collection to the Kalust Kolbenkian Foundation, an international institution for charitable, educational, scientific and artistic works. Armenians in the Middle East have benefited from Kolbenkian. He has built schools, libraries and medical centers in addition to the construction and restoration of churches. Of art in his name in the cities of Lisbon and Paris.
The National People's Stadium, the City of Medicine Complex, the Iraqi Museum, the National Theater, the People's Hall and the National Museum of Modern Art Hall in the Iraqi capital Baghdad are a gift from its foundation to the Iraqi people.
