100 Notable alumni of
Ankara University
Updated:
Ankara University is 105th in the world, 16th in Asia, and 1st in Turkey by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 100 notable alumni from Ankara University sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff.
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Abdullah Öcalan
- Occupations
- writeractivistpolitical scientistpolitician
- Biography
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Abdullah Öcalan, also known as Apo (short for Abdullah in Turkish; Kurdish for "uncle"), is a founding member of the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
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Adnan Menderes
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Ali Adnan Ertekin Menderes was a Turkish politician who served as Prime Minister of Turkey between 1950 and 1960. He was one of the founders of the Democrat Party (DP) in 1946, the fourth legal opposition party of Turkey. He was tried and hanged under the military junta after the 1960 coup d'état, along with two other cabinet members, Fatin Rüştü Zorlu and Hasan Polatkan. During his tenure, Turkey participated in the Korean War, and was admitted to NATO in 1952. He was the last Turkish political leader to be executed after a military coup. He is also one of the four political leaders of the Turkish Republic who have been honored with a mausoleum, the others being Kemal Atatürk, Süleyman Demirel, and Turgut Özal.
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Bülent Ecevit
- Occupations
- poetwritertranslatorpoliticianjournalist
- Biography
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Mustafa Bülent Ecevit was a Turkish statesman, poet, writer, scholar, and journalist. He served as the Prime Minister of Turkey four times between 1974 and 2002. He served as prime minister in 1974, 1977, 1978–1979, and 1999–2002. Ecevit was chairman of the Republican People's Party (CHP) between 1972 and 1980, and in 1987 he became chairman of the Democratic Left Party (DSP).
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Selahattin Demirtaş
- Occupations
- authorlawyerpolitician
- Biography
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Selahattin Demirtaş is a Kurdish-Turkish politician, lawyer and author. He was the co-leader of the left-wing pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), serving alongside Figen Yüksekdağ from 2014 to 2018. Selahattin Demirtaş announced that he left politics after the May 2023 elections.
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Ahmet Necdet Sezer
- Occupations
- judgepolitician
- Biography
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Ahmet Necdet Sezer is a Turkish statesman and judge who served as the president of Turkey from 2000 to 2007. Previously, he was president of the Constitutional Court of Turkey from January 1998 to May 2000. The Grand National Assembly of Turkey elected Sezer as president in 2000 after Süleyman Demirel's seven-year term expired. He was succeeded by Abdullah Gül in 2007.
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Sırrı Süreyya Önder
- Enrolled in Ankara University
- Studied in 1981
- Occupations
- film directorcolumnistpoliticianscreenwriterfilm actor
- Biography
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Sırrı Süreyya Önder was a Turkish film director, actor, screenwriter, columnist and politician. Elected to parliament in 2011 as an independent backed by the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), he later joined the party even though he was not of Kurdish descent. He competed in the 2014 municipal elections as the Istanbul mayoral candidate of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), the sister party of the BDP, coming third with 412,875 votes (4.83%). In the general election of 7 June 2015 he was elected as MP for the 1st electoral district of Ankara Province.
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İlber Ortaylı
- Occupations
- historianmilitary historianart historianuniversity teacher
- Biography
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İlber Ortaylı is a Turkish historian and professor of history of Crimean Tatar origin at the MEF University, Galatasaray University in Istanbul and at Bilkent University in Ankara. In 2005, he was appointed as the director of the Topkapı Museum in Istanbul, until he retired in 2012.
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Hamdi Ulukaya
- Occupations
- philanthropistbusinesspersonentrepreneurchief executive officer
- Biography
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Hamdi Ulukaya is a Turkish billionaire businessperson, activist and philanthropist of Kurdish ethnicity based in the United States. He is the founder, owner, chair, and CEO of the strained yogurt brand Chobani. He is among the 200 richest people in the world, with a fortune of $14.5B, as of January 2026.
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Onur Saylak
- Occupations
- actortelevision directorfilm director
- Biography
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Arif Onur Saylak is a Turkish actor, filmmaker and director. He was married for six years to Tuba Büyüküstün, with whom he has twin daughters.
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Mehmet Şimşek
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Mehmet Şimşek is a Turkish politician and economist, who has been serving as the Minister of Treasury and Finance since 4 June 2023. He was the Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey from 24 November 2015 until the office's abolition on 9 July 2018. He previously served as the minister of finance from 2009 to 2015, in the cabinets of Prime Ministers of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Ahmet Davutoğlu. As a member of the Justice and Development Party, he was elected as a Member of Parliament for Gaziantep in the 2007 general election and for Batman in the 2011 general election.
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Deniz Baykal
- Occupations
- diplomatlawyerpolitician
- Biography
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Deniz Baykal was a Turkish politician, as well as a member of the Republican People's Party (CHP), who served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1995 to 1996. Having served in numerous government positions, Baykal led the CHP from 1992 to February 1995, from September 1995 to 1999 and again from 2000 to 2010. Between 2002 and 2010, he also served as the Leader of the Opposition by virtue of leading the second largest party in the Parliament.
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Mesut Yılmaz
- Occupations
- diplomatpolitician
- Biography
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Ahmet Mesut Yılmaz was a Turkish politician. He was the leader of the Motherland Party (Turkish: Anavatan Partisi, ANAP) from 1991 to 2002, and served three times as Prime Minister of Turkey. His first two prime-ministerial terms lasted just months (in 1991 and 1996), while the third ran from June 1997 to January 1999. The first was brought to an end by defeat in the 1991 elections, the latter two by the breakdown of Yılmaz' coalition governments.
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Doğu Perinçek
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Doğu Perinçek is a Turkish politician, doctor of law and former communist revolutionary who has been chairman of the left-wing nationalist Patriotic Party since 2015. He was also a member of the Talat Pasha Committee, an organization that denies the Armenian genocide. Politically, he is a Eurasianist who favors closer relations with China and Russia, and is one of the most anti-American politicians in Turkey.
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Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu
- Enrolled in Ankara University
- In 1988 graduated with Bachelor of Arts in international relations
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu is a Turkish diplomat and politician who is currently a member of the Grand National Assembly. He also served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey from August 2014 to August 2015, and again from 24 November 2015 to 4 June 2023.
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Filiz Akın
- Occupations
- modelfilm actor
- Biography
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Filiz Akın was a Turkish actress, writer and television presenter. Known as Yeşilçam Turkish cinema's "noble, modern, urban and elegant face", Filiz Akın had a large fan base in Turkey. She was an official ambassador, due to her third husband Sönmez Köksal being Turkey's Ambassador to France.
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Halil İnalcık
- Occupations
- historianwriteruniversity teacher
- Biography
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Halil İnalcık was a Turkish historian. His highly influential research centered on social and economic approaches to the Ottoman Empire. His academic career started at Ankara University, where he completed his PhD and worked between 1940 and 1972. Between 1972 and 1986, he taught Ottoman history at the University of Chicago. From 1994 onward, he taught at Bilkent University, where he founded the history department. He was a founding member of the Eurasian Academy.
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Uğur Mumcu
- Occupations
- lawyerwriterjournalist
- Biography
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Uğur Mumcu was a Turkish investigative journalist for the daily Cumhuriyet. He was assassinated by a bomb placed in his car outside his home.
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Can Dündar
- Occupations
- columnistscreenwriterfilm screenwriterfilm directordocumentarian
- Biography
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Can Dündar is a Turkish journalist, columnist and documentarian. Editor-in-chief of center-left Cumhuriyet newspaper until August 2016, he was arrested in November 2015 after his newspaper published footage showing the State Intelligence MİT sending weapons to Syrian Islamist fighters.
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Selda Bağcan
- Occupations
- composerrecording artistguitaristsinger
- Biography
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Havva Selda Bağcan is a Turkish folk singer-songwriter, guitarist, and music producer.
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Kartal Tibet
- Occupations
- screenwriterfilm directorfilm produceractorfilm actor
- Biography
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Kartal Tibet was a Turkish actor, academic, director, screenwriter and producer.
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Erdal İnönü
- Occupations
- physicistdiplomatuniversity teacherpolitician
- Biography
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Erdal İnönü was a Turkish theoretical physicist and politician who served as the interim prime minister of Turkey between 16 May and 25 June 1993. He also served as the deputy prime minister of Turkey from 1991 to 1993 and as the minister of foreign affairs from March to October 1995. He served as the leader of the Social Democracy Party (SODEP) from 1983 to 1985 and later the Social Democratic Populist Party (SHP) from 1986 to 1993. He was the son of the second president of Turkey, İsmet İnönü.
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Melih Gökçek
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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İbrahim Melih Gökçek is a Turkish politician who served as the mayor of Ankara from 1994 to 2017. From 1991 to 1994, he was an MP. Gökçek has won municipal elections in 1994, 1999, 2004, 2009, and was controversially also declared the winner in 2014. He is a member of the governing AK Party.
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Mustafa Ceceli
- Occupations
- composersinger
- Biography
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Mustafa Ceceli is a Turkish singer.
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Barış Falay
- Occupations
- film actoractortelevision actor
- Biography
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Barış Falay is a Turkish actor.
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Muazzez İlmiye Çığ
- Enrolled in Ankara University
- Studied in 1940
- Occupations
- archaeologistassyriologist
- Biography
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Muazzez İlmiye Çığ was a Turkish archeologist, librarian, writer, and supercentenarian who specialised in the study of Hittites and Sumerian civilization.
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Bülent Arınç
- Occupations
- lawyerpolitician
- Biography
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Bülent Arınç is a conservative Turkish politician. He served as the 22nd Speaker of the Parliament of Turkey from 2002 to 2007 and as a Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey between 2009 and 2015. He also co-founded the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in 2001.
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Abdüllatif Şener
- Occupations
- university teacherpolitician
- Biography
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Abdüllatif Şener is a Turkish politician. He was Minister of Finance of Turkey from 1996 to 1997 and Deputy Prime Minister from 2002 to 2007, under Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
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Nihat Hatipoğlu
- Occupations
- academic
- Biography
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Nihat Hatipoğlu is a Turkish academician and theologian.
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Yusuf Tekin
- Occupations
- education ministerassociation football player
- Biography
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Yusuf Tekin is a Turkish bureaucrat and politician. He is the Minister of National Education of the 67th government of Turkey. In 2014 he stated that mixed-sex education "isn't required." Tekin is married to Ayşe Tekin and has 3 children. He also adequately speaks English.
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Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu
- Occupations
- historiandiplomatuniversity teacherpolitician
- Biography
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Ekmeleddin Mehmet İhsanoğlu is a Turkish chemistry and science history professor, academician, diplomat and politician who was Secretary-General of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) from 2004 to 2014. He is also an author and editor of academic journals and advocate of intercultural dialogue.
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İsmet Yılmaz
- Occupations
- ministerengineerpolitician
- Biography
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İsmet Yılmaz is a Turkish politician who was a member of the Grand National Assembly from 2011 to 2023.
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Mustafa Cengiz
- Occupations
- sports executivebusinessperson
- Biography
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Mustafa Cengiz was a Turkish businessman who served as the president of sports club Galatasaray S.K.
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Murathan Mungan
- Occupations
- poetscreenwriterwriternovelistlyricist
- Biography
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Murathan Mungan is a Turkish author, short story writer, playwright, and poet.
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Adalet Ağaoğlu
- Occupations
- novelistprose writerwriterjournalistplaywright
- Biography
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Adalet Ağaoğlu was a Turkish novelist and playwright, considered one of the foremost novelists of 20th-century Turkish literature. She also wrote essays, memoirs, and short stories.
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Metin Feyzioğlu
- Occupations
- lawyerpolitician
- Biography
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Metin Feyzioğlu is a Turkish lawyer and a professor of criminal law who served as the 8th president of the Turkish Bars Association between May 2013 and December 2021. Metin Feyzioğlu was appointed as Türkiye's new ambassador to Prague in July 2024. He is the grandson of Turhan Feyzioğlu, a former CHP politician and deputy prime minister.
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Emine Ülker Tarhan
- Occupations
- lawyerjudgepolitician
- Biography
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Emine Ülker Tarhan is a Turkish jurist and politician formerly from the Republican People's Party (Turkish: Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi, CHP). She was formerly a judge at the High Court of Appeals. She served as the vice spokesperson of her party in the parliament before resigning on 31 October 2014. She founded the Anatolia Party on 14 November 2014 and led it until its disestablishment in December 2015.
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Mert Fırat
- Occupations
- actorscreenwriteraudiobook narrator
- Biography
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Şahabettin Mert Fırat is a Turkish actor and screenwriter. He is of Arab descent.
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Mithat Sancar
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Mithat Sancar is a Turkish professor of public and constitutional law, newspaper columnist, and translator of Arab descent. He has been an MP for the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) in the Turkish parliament since the June 2015 general election and was elected Co-Chair of the party in February 2020.
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Dilhan Eryurt
- Occupations
- astrophysicistprofessor
- Biography
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Dilhan Eryurt was a Turkish astrophysicist who made major contributions to scientific research on the formation and evolution of the Sun and other main sequence stars.
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Zekeriya Yapıcıoğlu
- Occupations
- lawyerpolitician
- Biography
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Zekeriya Yapıcıoğlu is a Kurdish Turkish politician and lawyer who led the Kurdish Islamist Free Cause Party from June 2013 to May 2018 and again from June 2021 on.
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Mustafa Destici
- Occupations
- teacherpoliticianbureaucrat
- Biography
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Mustafa Destici is a Turkish politician and the current leader of the Great Union Party (BBP). He graduated from Ankara University.
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İclâl Aydın
- Occupations
- journalistactor
- Biography
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İclal Aydın is a Turkish actress, writer, journalist, and TV presenter. She is best known for popular comedy family series "İki Aile".
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Murat Karayalçın
- Occupations
- diplomatpolitician
- Biography
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Murat Karayalçın is a prominent Turkish politician. He is a former foreign minister (1994–1995), deputy prime minister, and a former mayor of Ankara (1989–1993). He is the founder (in 2002) of the new SHP.
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Bahriye Üçok
- Occupations
- historiansociologistuniversity teacherjournalisttranslator
- Biography
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Bahriye Üçok was a Turkish academic of theology, left-wing politician, writer, columnist, and women's rights activist whose assassination in 1990 remains unresolved.
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Hikmet Çetin
- Occupations
- diplomateconomistpolitician
- Biography
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Hikmet Çetin is a Turkish retired politician of Kurdish origin. He held various national posts during his career, including Foreign Affairs Minister (1991–1994) and Speaker of the Grand National Assembly (1997–1999). In November 2003, he was appointed NATO's inaugural Senior Civilian Representative in Afghanistan.
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Şerif Sezer
- Occupations
- film actortelevision actorstage actor
- Biography
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Şerif Sezer is a Turkish actress. She is also known for her roles in Turkish cult films like Everything About Mustafa and My Father and My Son. She was born in 1946 in Mudanya and she has Rumelian, Georgian and Laz roots.
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Cüneyt Özdemir
- Occupations
- journalistwriter
- Biography
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Cüneyt Özdemir is a Turkish journalist, television host and producer. He began his career in 1992 as executive director of 32. Gün, and has been the anchorman of the local and foreign affairs program 5N1K, broadcast on CNN Türk, since 2000.
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Ahmet Taner Kışlalı
- Occupations
- columnistacademicpolitician
- Biography
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Ahmet Taner Kışlalı was a Turkish professor, politician, and commentator. He served in the Parliament of Turkey in 1977 and was minister of culture in 1978 and 1979. He was killed in 1999.
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Tunç Soyer
- Occupations
- lawyermayor
- Biography
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Mustafa Tunç Soyer is a Turkish politician from the Republican People's Party (CHP) who served as the Mayor of İzmir from 2019 to 2024. He previously served as the mayor of Seferihisar, a coastal district of İzmir, from 2009 to 2019.
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Merve Kavakcı
- Occupations
- diplomatpoliticianuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Merve Safa Kavakcı is a Turkish politician who was elected to parliament as a Virtue Party deputy for Istanbul on 18 April 1999 but was never able to take office. She was ambassador to Malaysia from 4 December 2017 until 25 June 2022.
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Cemil Çiçek
- Occupations
- lawyerpolitician
- Biography
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Cemil Çiçek is a Turkish politician who was the Speaker of the Parliament of Turkey between 4 July 2011 and 7 June 2015. Previously he was Minister of Justice from 2002 to 2007 and Deputy Prime Minister from 2007 to 2011. He was also a Justice and Development Party Member of Parliament from Ankara.
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Hulki Cevizoğlu
- Occupations
- journalistpolitician
- Biography
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Mustafa Hulki Cevizoğlu is a Turkish journalist, writer and television programmer and 28th Term AKP Istanbul Deputy.
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Sadullah Ergin
- Occupations
- lawyerpolitician
- Biography
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Sadullah Ergin is a Turkish politician.
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Hanefi Avcı
- Occupations
- authorpolice officer
- Biography
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Hanefi Avcı is a former chief of police in Turkey, and author of the best-selling book Haliç’te Yaşayan Simonlar, in which Avcı claimed that the Gülen movement had infiltrated the police and manipulated key trials such as the Ergenekon trials through judges and prosecutors close to the movement. Avcı, a conservative Islamist, was himself once close to the movement, and his children were educated in a Gülen school. Avcı, who in the 1990s testified to parliament in relation to the Susurluk scandal and in 2009 to prosecutors about the mafia links of the Ergenekon organization, was the first Turkish state official to confirm the existence of the Turkish Gendarmerie's JİTEM intelligence unit.
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Tufan Erhürman
- Occupations
- university teacherpolitician
- Biography
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Tufan Erhürman is a Turkish Cypriot academic, lawyer, diplomat, and politician who has been the 6th President of Northern Cyprus since 2025. A scholar in public law by profession, he served in the negotiations to solve the Cyprus dispute between 2008 and 2010. He previously worked for the Ministry of Justice of Turkey between 1999 and 2004 and worked for the establishment of the position of ombudsman in Turkey. He served as the leader of the Republican Turkish Party between 2016 and 2025, until his ascension to the Presidency. He held the office of Prime Minister beginning January 2018 as the leader of a four-party coalition. The coalition government resigned on 9 May 2019, with Erhürman continuing as Prime Minister until the office was taken over by Ersin Tatar on 22 May 2019. He was elected president of Northern Cyprus in a landslide in the 2025 Northern Cypriot presidential election.
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İhsan Doğramacı
- Occupations
- academicscientistphilanthropistpediatrician
- Biography
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İhsan Doğramacı was a Turkish paediatrician, entrepreneur, philanthropist, educationalist and college administrator of Iraqi Turkmen descent born in modern Erbil, Kurdistan Region, Iraq then part of the Ottoman Empire.
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Altan Erkekli
- Occupations
- actor
- Biography
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Reşit Altan Erkekli is a Turkish theatre, film and television actor.
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Abdulhamit Gül
- Occupations
- statespersonjuristpolitician
- Biography
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Abdulhamit Gül is a Turkish politician and former Minister of Justice. He is a member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey from Gaziantep. He was previously the General Secretary of the Justice and Development Party. He was re-elected at the 2023 Turkish parliamentary election in Gaziantep.
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Volkan Bozkır
- Occupations
- diplomatpolitician
- Biography
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Volkan Bozkır is a Turkish diplomat and politician who served as the President of the United Nations General Assembly from 2020 to 2021. He served as Minister for European Union Affairs from November 2015 to May 2016 and previously held the same office from August 2014 to August 2015. He concurrently served as the Chief Negotiator for Turkish Accession to the European Union during the same time.
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Mehmet Görmez
- Enrolled in Ankara University
- In 1995 graduated with doctorate in Islamic studies
- Occupations
- university teacherulemaimam
- Biography
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Mehmet Görmez is the former President of the Presidency of Religious Affairs (Turkish: Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı from November 2010 to 31 July 2017, commonly known as Diyanet) and as such legally the highest level Islamic scholar in Turkey and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
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Hasan Cemal
- Occupations
- journalistwriter
- Biography
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Hasan Cemal is a Turkish journalist and writer. He was the editor of Cumhuriyet from 1981 to 1992, and of Sabah from 1992 to 1998. In 2013 he resigned from the Milliyet newspaper after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had criticised his article supporting Milliyet's publication of minutes of a parliamentary visit to Abdullah Öcalan, and Milliyet suspended him and refused to publish his returning column.
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Hüseyin Rahmi Gürpınar
- Occupations
- translatorjournalistpoliticianwriter
- Biography
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Hüseyin Rahmi Gürpınar was a Turkish writer, civil servant, and politician.
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Ataol Behramoğlu
- Occupations
- linguistpoetwriter
- Biography
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Ataol Behramoğlu is a prominent Turkish poet, author, and Russian-into-Turkish literary translator.
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Muammer Güler
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Muammer Güler is a Turkish Mhallami politician. He is a member of parliament from the Justice and Development Party (AKP). He was formerly the Governor of Istanbul Province and the Minister of the Interior under Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's government.
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Ali Müfit Gürtuna
- Occupations
- lawyerpolitician
- Biography
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Ali Müfit Gürtuna is a Turkish lawyer and politician, who was the mayor of Istanbul from 11 November 1998 to 1 April 2004.
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Mehmet Haberal
- Occupations
- politicianuniversity teachersurgeonwriterresearcher
- Biography
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Mehmet Haberal, is the founder of Başkent University in Ankara, Turkey, best known for becoming the first transplant surgeon in Turkey after leading the team that performed Turkey's first living-related kidney transplant in 1975, after he returned from surgical training under the mentorship of American surgeon Thomas Starzl, with whom he also performed some of the longest surviving early liver transplantations.
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Uğur Rıfat Karlova
- Occupations
- film actortelevision actortelevision presenter
- Biography
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Uğur Rıfat Karlova is a Turkish-Taiwanese stand-up comedian, actor, TV host, showman, and writer.
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Feridun Sinirlioğlu
- Occupations
- diplomat
- Biography
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Feridun Hadi Sinirlioğlu is a Turkish diplomat and politician serving as the Secretary General of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) since 6 December 2024. Previously, he served as permanent representative of Turkey to the United Nations from 2016 to 2023 and as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey from August 2015 to November 2015.
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Tayfun Talipoğlu
- Occupations
- children's writerjournalisttelevision presentercolumnist
- Biography
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Tayfun Talipoğlu was a Turkish journalist and writer.
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Hakan Günday
- Occupations
- novelistscreenwriter
- Biography
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Hakan Günday is a Turkish writer novelist and screenwriter. He was born on the island of Rhodes in 1976. He lived in Brussels as a boy, before moving to Ankara where he completed Tevfik Fikret High School. He studied in Hacettepe University, Université libre de Bruxelles and Ankara University.
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Ömer Öcalan
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Ömer Öcalan is a former politician of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and a current member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey representing Şanlıurfa for the Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM).
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Suat Kılıç
- Occupations
- lawyerpoliticianjournalist
- Biography
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Suat Kılıç is a Turkish lawyer, journalist, and politician. He was the former Minister of Youth and Sports, served in the third cabinet of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and now he is a politician inside New Wellfare Party.
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Sema Ramazanoğlu
- Occupations
- physicianpoliticiansurgeon
- Biography
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Sema Ramazanoğlu is a Turkish politician from the Justice and Development Party (AKP) who served as the Minister of Family and Social Policy in the third cabinet of Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu from 24 November 2015 to 24 May 2016. She is the second cabinet minister of Turkey to wear a headscarf, after her predecessor as Family and Social Policy Minister Ayşen Gürcan. She serves as a Member of Parliament for the electoral district of Denizli since being elected in the snap general election on 1 November 2015.
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Ahmet Arslan
- Years
- 1944-.. (age 82)
- Occupations
- author
- Biography
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Ahmet Arslan is a Turkish philosopher, academic, and translator.
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Ece Temelkuran
- Occupations
- poet lawyertelevision presenterwriterjournalistpoet
- Biography
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Ece Temelkuran is a Turkish journalist and author.
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Beşir Atalay
- Occupations
- university teacherpolitician
- Biography
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Beşir Atalay is a Turkish politician who was Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey in the government of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan from 2011 to 2014. Previously he was minister of interior from 28 August 2007 to 14 July 2011.
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Selvi Kılıçdaroğlu
- Occupations
- housewife
- Biography
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Selvi Kılıçdaroğlu is the wife of former CHP Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.
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Necati Cumalı
- Occupations
- poet lawyerlawyerwritertranslatorpoet
- Biography
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Necati Cumalı was a Turkish writer of novels, short-stories, essays and poetry. He was born in Florina, Greece to a Turkish family who had settled in Urla near İzmir in the framework of the 1923 agreement for the population exchange between Greece and Turkey.
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Cengiz Çandar
- Occupations
- political scientistwriteropinion journalistpoliticianwar correspondent
- Biography
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Cengiz Çandar is a Turkish politician, journalist, senior columnist, and a Middle East expert. He is elected to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) in May 2023, as Deputy of Diyarbakır from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party). He is the second eldest serving member of the parliament. Member of EU Harmony Commission of the TBMM and Türkiye-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly and Asian Parliamentarians Assembly representing the TBMM.
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Agop Dilâçar
- Occupations
- Turkologistjournalistlinguistuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Agop Dilâçar was a Turkish-Armenian linguist who specialized in Turkic languages and head western languages specialist of the Turkish Language Association. He was proficient in 12 languages, including Armenian, Turkish, English, French, Greek, Spanish, Azerbaijani, Latin, German, Russian and Bulgarian.
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Ferit Melen
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Ferit Sadi Melen was a Turkish civil servant, politician and Prime Minister of Turkey.
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Turgut Özakman
- Occupations
- screenwriterplaywrightlawyerdramaturge
- Biography
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Turgut Özakman was a Turkish lawyer, a civil servant, a dramaturge and a writer.
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Dengir Mir Mehmet Fırat
- Occupations
- lawyerpolitician
- Biography
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Dengir Mir Mehmet Fırat was a Turkish politician of Kurdish origin who was one of the founders of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in 2001. He served as a Member of Parliament for the Grand National Assembly from 1999 to 2011 and again from 2015 to 2018 as a member of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP).
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Ayhan Bilgen
- Occupations
- politicianwriterjournalist
- Biography
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Ayhan Bilgen is a journalist, politician and former mayor of Kars from the Peoples' Democratic Party.
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Semra Sezer
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Semra Sezer was the First Lady of Turkey from May 2000 until August 2007 during the presidency of her husband Ahmet Necdet Sezer.
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İsmail Beşikçi
- Occupations
- writeracademicsociologistphilosopher
- Biography
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İsmail Beşikçi is a Turkish sociologist, philosopher, revolutionist, and writer. He is a PEN Honorary Member. He has served 17 years in prison on propaganda charges stemming from his writings about the Kurdish population in Middle East.
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Mustafa Kamalak
- Occupations
- lawyerpolitician
- Biography
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Mustafa Kamalak is a Turkish politician and was the leader of the Felicity Party from March 2011 to October 2016. He graduated from Ankara University. He is married and the father of 2 children.
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Faik Öztrak
- Occupations
- statespersoneconomistpolitician
- Biography
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Faik Öztrak is a Turkish politician who served as the deputy leader of the Republican People's Party (CHP) from 2010 to 2015. He has been a Member of Parliament for the electoral district of Tekirdağ since 2007, having first been elected at the 2007 general election. He was re-elected in 2011, June 2015 and November 2015. Between 2010 and 2014, he served as the CHP's head accountant.
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Selma Aliye Kavaf
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Selma Aliye Kavaf is a Turkish politician. She is the former Minister of State Responsible for Women and Family Affairs, and a member of parliament for Denizli of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
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Mümtaz'er Türköne
- Years
- 1956-.. (age 70)
- Occupations
- author
- Biography
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Mümtaz'er Türköne,, is a Turkish academic and author. He was a faculty member at Gazi University from 1993 to 2007 and was a columnist for the Zaman and its English-language sister Today's Zaman.
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Hasan Celal Güzel
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Hasan Celal Güzel was a Turkish journalist and politician. He was Minister of Education, Youth and Sport (1987–1989). He was leader of the Rebirth Party in the 1990s, a party he co-founded in 1992. He was a columnist for Radikal and Vatan.
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Mustafa Elitaş
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Mustafa Elitaş is a Turkish politician who served as the Economy Minister of Turkey from 24 November 2015 to 24 November 2016.
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Kemal Burkay
- Occupations
- poet lawyerpoliticianlawyerwriterpoet
- Biography
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Kemal Burkay is a Kurdish writer and politician.
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Naci Bostancı
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Mehmet Naci Bostancı is a Turkish politician and academic who currently serves as the Deputy Speaker of the Grand National Assembly along with Şafak Pavey, Koray Aydın and Yurdusev Özsökmenler as of 9 July 2015. He was formerly one of the five parliamentary group leaders of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), having served as an AKP Member of Parliament for the electoral district of Amasya since the 2011 Turkish general election.
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Vamik Volkan
- Occupations
- peace activistpsychiatristuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Vamık D. Volkan, M.D., DFLAPA, FACPsa, is a Turkish Cypriot born American psychiatrist, internationally known for his 40 years work bringing together conflictual groups for dialogue and mutual understanding. Among his many other honours, he is the president emeritus of International Dialogue Initiative (IDI).
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Mehdi Eker
- Occupations
- veterinarianpolitician
- Biography
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Mehmet Mehdi Eker is a Kurdish-Turkish politician who served as the Minister of Food, Agriculture and Livestock of Turkey from 2005 until 2015. He was elected a Member of Parliament for the electoral district of Diyarbakır for Democratic People's Party in 2002. He was re-elected in 2007 and 2011 for the Justice and Development Party. He was again elected as an MP in 2018.
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Emine Işınsu
- Occupations
- poetwriterjournalist
- Biography
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Emine Işınsu Öksüz was a Turkish writer, poet, and journalist.
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İdris Baluken
- Occupations
- physicianpoliticiansurgeon
- Biography
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İdris Baluken is a Kurdish politician who currently serves as a parliamentary group leader of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) since April 2014. He previously served as a parliamentary group leader for the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) from 2012 until the party's MPs joined the HDP in April 2014.
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Füsun Önal
- Occupations
- writersingeractorphotographer
- Biography
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Nuriye Füsun Önal is a Turkish pop singer, theatre actress, and writer.
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Nilüfer Gürsoy
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Nilüfer Gürsoy was a Turkish philologist, politician and memoirist. She served in the parliament between 1965 and 1969, and from 1973 to 1980. She was the daughter of the third president of Turkey, Celâl Bayar.
