Assan Aluminyum is a former state-owned aluminum sheet, coil and foil manufacturer located in Diolvasi-Gebze, in the Marmara region of Turkey, approximately 40 km from Istanbul. Assan Aluminyum was acquired by the family-owned Kibar group in 2005 whose flagship company, Assan Demir, is the largest aluminum manufacturer in Turkey. IFC's involvement in the project was intended to be a large investment program to modernize, upgrade and expand Assan's existing capacity in order to augment productivity and efficiency of the plant. Corporate governance improvements were also a significant goal of the project.

In September 2008, the Confederation of Turkish Trade Unions (Turk-is) lodged a complaint with CAO on behalf of the Metal Workers’ Union of Turkey with concerns about rights of association. The complainants sought assurance of the company’s support for, and conformity with labor and working conditions enshrined in IFC's Performance Standards.

CAO accepted the complaint in October 2008. However, the project was in an early stage of IFC involvement and IFC had not yet completed its own due diligence procedures and processes. Prior to acting upon the complaint, CAO provided IFC with the opportunity to address the issues raised by the complainants as part of its normal environmental and social appraisal process.

IFC completed its due diligence and finalized its agreements with Assan Aluminyum by way of an Environmental and Social Action Plan.  CAO received the findings of IFC's due diligence, and the action items set out in IFC's agreement with the company and shared this information with the complainants in May 2009.  In November 2009, CAO moved to close-out the case on a no-objection basis, while continuing to monitor IFC's implementation of these action items.