BASF has a long history in Türkiye, having made its first sales in the country in 1880. As one of the pioneers in the chemicals industry, for
many years BASF has supplied chemical products for various industrial sectors and has contributed to the Turkish economy since the foundation of the republic.
BASF operates six production facilities in Türkiye (Dilovası, Çayırova, Gebze, Trabzon, Adana, and has recently acquired the Chemetall Türkiye manufacturing site in Çayırova) and has offices in Istanbul, Adana, Ankara, Antalya, Bursa, and Izmir.
Product sales fall under four main categories: industrial chemicals, functional products and solutions, performance products, and agricultural solutions. The company offers services to many key industries, including automotive, electric-electronics, construction, leather-textiles, detergents, cleaning, medical devices, cosmetics, animal feedstuff, agriculture, and food.
BASF carries out its activities in Türkiye while adhering to the mission “We create chemistry for a sustainable future". As part of this mission, BASF signed a protocol in 2010 with the Ministry of National Education to renew chemistry laboratories of 81 high schools in 81 cities. This initiative became known as the “81 Chemistry Labs in 81 Cities" project.
BASF also initiated a global education project called “Kids' Lab" to encourage children to take an interest in chemistry. Kid's Lab was rolled out in Türkiye in 2011 in three different shopping malls and is currently hosted in the Istanbul Modern museum. Kids' Lab was given the “Social Impact Practices" award by the Corporate Social Responsibility Association of Türkiye in 2012, and as of 2017 the project has touched the lives of over 14,000 children. A virtual game in Kids' Lab called Sanalika also recently took home the Gold Mixx award for the in-game integration category at the IAB Mixx Awards.
BASF's renovated Dilovası Facilities Management Center building has been awarded the “Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold" certificate. Meanwhile, the company's newly built Construction Chemicals, Logistics and Technical Development Center facility in Gebze, Kocaeli received the LEED Platinum certificate and became the first industrial building to be certified with the highest level-LEED level in Türkiye.