100 Notable alumni of
Ankara University

Updated:

EduRank

Ankara University is 113th 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.

  1. Abdullah Öcalan

    Abdullah Öcalan
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1949-.. (age 75)
    Occupations
    politicianwriteractivist
    Biography

    Abdullah Öcalan, also known as Apo (short for Abdullah in Turkish; Kurdish for "uncle"), is a political prisoner and founding member of the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

  2. Adnan Menderes

    Adnan Menderes
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1899-1961 (aged 62)
    Occupations
    politiciandiplomat
    Biography

    Adnan 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. One of the accusations brought against him was of him ordering the Istanbul pogrom against citizens of Greek ethnicity. He was the last Turkish political leader to be executed after a military coup and is also one of the four political leaders of the Turkish Republic (along with Kemal Atatürk, Süleyman Demirel and Turgut Özal) to have had a mausoleum built in his honour.

  3. Bülent Ecevit

    Bülent Ecevit
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1925-2006 (aged 81)
    Occupations
    translatorwriterpoetdiplomatjournalist
    Biography

    Mustafa Bülent Ecevit was a Turkish politician, statesman, poet, writer, scholar, and journalist, who 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).

  4. Selahattin Demirtaş

    Selahattin Demirtaş
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1973-.. (age 51)
    Occupations
    authorpoliticianlawyer
    Biography

    Selahattin Demirtaş is a Turkish politician, author, political prisoner and former member of the parliament of Turkey. 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.

  5. Ahmet Necdet Sezer

    Ahmet Necdet Sezer
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1941-.. (age 83)
    Occupations
    politicianjudge
    Biography

    Ahmet Necdet Sezer is a Turkish statesman and judge who served as the tenth 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.

  6. İlber Ortaylı

    İlber Ortaylı
    Born in
    Austria Flag Austria
    Years
    1947-.. (age 77)
    Occupations
    military historianhistorianuniversity teacherart historian
    Biography

    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.

  7. Deniz Baykal

    Deniz Baykal
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1938-2023 (aged 85)
    Occupations
    diplomatpoliticianlawyer
    Biography

    Deniz Baykal was a Turkish politician. 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.

  8. Mehmet Şimşek

    Mehmet Şimşek
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1967-.. (age 57)
    Occupations
    international forum participantpolitician
    Biography

    Mehmet Şimşek is a Turkish politician and economist, who has served 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.

  9. Onur Saylak

    Onur Saylak
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1977-.. (age 47)
    Occupations
    actorfilm directortelevision director
    Biography

    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.

  10. Hamdi Ulukaya

    Hamdi Ulukaya
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1972-.. (age 52)
    Occupations
    entrepreneurchief executive officerphilanthropistbusinesspersoninternational forum participant
    Biography

    Hamdi Ulukaya is a Turkish billionaire businessman, activist, and philanthropist of Kurdish ethnicity based in the United States. Ulukaya is the owner, founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Chobani, the #1-selling strained yogurt brand in the US. He established production facilities first in upstate New York, and since then has expanded. According to Forbes, his net worth as of October 2022 is US$2.1 billion. On 26 April 2016, Ulukaya announced to his employees that he would be giving them 10% of the shares in Chobani.

  11. Doğu Perinçek

    Doğu Perinçek
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1942-.. (age 82)
    Occupations
    politician
    Biography

    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 an Eurasianist who favors close relations with China and is strongly anti-American.

  12. Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu

    Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1968-.. (age 56)
    Occupations
    politician
    Biography

    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 6 June 2023.

  13. Mesut Yılmaz

    Mesut Yılmaz
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1947-2020 (aged 73)
    Occupations
    politiciandiplomat
    Biography

    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.

  14. Uğur Mumcu

    Uğur Mumcu
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1942-1993 (aged 51)
    Occupations
    journalistwriterlawyer
    Biography

    Uğur Mumcu was a Turkish investigative journalist for the daily Cumhuriyet. He was assassinated by a bomb placed in his car outside his home.

  15. Mustafa Ceceli

    Mustafa Ceceli
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1980-.. (age 44)
    Occupations
    singercomposer
    Biography

    Mustafa Ceceli is a Turkish singer.

  16. Can Dündar

    Can Dündar
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1961-.. (age 63)
    Occupations
    journalistdocumentarianscreenwritercolumnist
    Biography

    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.

  17. Filiz Akın

    Filiz Akın
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1943-.. (age 81)
    Occupations
    actorfilm actormodel
    Biography

    Filiz Akın is a Turkish actress, writer and TV presenter. Known as Yeşilçam Turkish cinema's "noble, modern, urban and elegant face", Filiz Akın gained a huge fan base in Turkey.

  18. Kartal Tibet

    Kartal Tibet
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1939-2021 (aged 82)
    Occupations
    film directorscreenwriterfilm actoractorfilm producer
    Biography

    Kartal Tibet was a Turkish actor and film director. Some of his famous films include Ölmeyen Aşk, Dağlar Kızı, Senede Bir Gün, Sultan, Zübük, Gol Kralı, and Şalvar Davası. Tibet was also known for his action roles, especially that of the title series.

  19. Barış Falay

    Barış Falay
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1972-.. (age 52)
    Occupations
    actorfilm actortelevision actor
    Biography

    Barış Falay is a Turkish actor.

  20. Erdal İnönü

    Erdal İnönü
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1926-2007 (aged 81)
    Occupations
    diplomatphysicistuniversity teacheracademicpolitician
    Biography

    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.

  21. Melih Gökçek

    Melih Gökçek
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1948-.. (age 76)
    Occupations
    politician
    Biography

    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.

  22. Sırrı Süreyya Önder

    Sırrı Süreyya Önder
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1962-.. (age 62)
    Enrolled in Ankara University
    Studied in 1981
    Occupations
    politiciancolumnistfilm directorfilm actorscreenwriter
    Biography

    Sırrı Süreyya Önder is 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 is not from a 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.

  23. Bülent Arınç

    Bülent Arınç
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1948-.. (age 76)
    Occupations
    politicianlawyer
    Biography

    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.

  24. Abdüllatif Şener

    Abdüllatif Şener
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1954-.. (age 70)
    Occupations
    politicianuniversity teacher
    Biography

    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.

  25. Nihat Hatipoğlu

    Nihat Hatipoğlu
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1955-.. (age 69)
    Occupations
    academic
    Biography

    Nihat Hatipoğlu is a Turkish academician and theologian.

  26. Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu

    Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu
    Born in
    Egypt Flag Egypt
    Years
    1943-.. (age 81)
    Occupations
    historianpoliticianuniversity teacherdiplomat
    Biography

    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.

  27. İsmet Yılmaz

    İsmet Yılmaz
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1961-.. (age 63)
    Occupations
    ministerpoliticianengineer
    Biography

    İsmet Yılmaz is a Turkish politician who was a member of the Grand National Assembly from 2011 to 2023.

  28. Mustafa Cengiz

    Mustafa Cengiz
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1949-2021 (aged 72)
    Occupations
    businesspersonsports executive
    Biography

    Mustafa Cengiz was a Former Bureaucrat and Turkish businessman who served as the president of sports club Galatasaray S.K.

  29. Muazzez İlmiye Çığ

    Muazzez İlmiye Çığ
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1914-..
    Occupations
    assyriologistarchaeologist
    Biography

    Muazzez İlmiye Çığ is a Turkish archaeologist and Assyriologist who specializes in the study of Sumerian civilization. She stirred controversy in the Muslim world and received worldwide media coverage in 2006 with her assertion, outlined in her book from the previous year, that the headscarf worn by Arab women did not originate in the Muslim world, but was actually worn five thousand years earlier by Sumerian priestesses as a means of initiating young men into sex.

  30. Besim Tibuk

    Besim Tibuk
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1945-.. (age 79)
    Occupations
    politicianbusinessperson
    Biography

    Besim Tibuk is a Turkish businessman and former politician. He is the chairman of the board of directory of Net Holding, and the founder and the ex-chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

  31. Murathan Mungan

    Murathan Mungan
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1955-.. (age 69)
    Occupations
    writerscreenwriterpoetshort story writerlyricist
    Biography

    Murathan Mungan is a Turkish author, short story writer, playwright, and poet.

  32. Adalet Ağaoğlu

    Adalet Ağaoğlu
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1929-2020 (aged 91)
    Occupations
    journalistprose writerplaywrightwriter
    Biography

    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.

  33. Metin Feyzioğlu

    Metin Feyzioğlu
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1969-.. (age 55)
    Occupations
    politicianlawyer
    Biography

    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. He is the grandson of Turhan Feyzioğlu, a former CHP politician and deputy prime minister.

  34. Mert Fırat

    Mert Fırat
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1981-.. (age 43)
    Occupations
    actoraudiobook narratorscreenwriter
    Biography

    Şahabettin Mert Fırat is a Turkish actor and screenwriter.

  35. Dilhan Eryurt

    Dilhan Eryurt
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1926-2012 (aged 86)
    Occupations
    professorastrophysicist
    Biography

    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.

  36. Mithat Sancar

    Mithat Sancar
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1963-.. (age 61)
    Occupations
    politician
    Biography

    Mithat Sancar is a Turkish professor of public and constitutional law, 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.

  37. Emine Ülker Tarhan

    Emine Ülker Tarhan
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1963-.. (age 61)
    Occupations
    politicianjudgelawyer
    Biography

    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.

  38. Yusuf Tekin

    Yusuf Tekin
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1970-.. (age 54)
    Occupations
    education minister
    Biography

    Yusuf Tekin is a Turkish bureaucrat and politician. He is the Minister of National Education of the 67th government of Turkey.

  39. Zekeriya Yapıcıoğlu

    Zekeriya Yapıcıoğlu
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1966-.. (age 58)
    Occupations
    lawyer–politician
    Biography

    Zekeriya Yapıcıoğlu is a Turkish-Kurdish politician and lawyer who led the Kurdish Islamist Free Cause Party from June 2013 to May 2018 and again from June 2021 on.

  40. İclal Aydın

    İclal Aydın
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1971-.. (age 53)
    Occupations
    actorjournalist
    Biography

    İclal Aydın is a Turkish actress, writer, journalist, and TV presenter. She is best known for popular comedy family series "İki Aile".

  41. Mustafa Destici

    Mustafa Destici
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1966-.. (age 58)
    Occupations
    bureaucratpoliticianteacher
    Biography

    Mustafa Destici is a Turkish politician and the current leader of the Great Union Party (BBP). He graduated from Ankara University.

  42. Cüneyt Özdemir

    Cüneyt Özdemir
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1970-.. (age 54)
    Occupations
    writerjournalist
    Biography

    Cüneyt Özdemir is a Turkish journalist, television host and producer. Özdemir is the anchorman of the leading local and foreign affairs program 5N1K, broadcast on CNN Türk Television for 20 years now.

  43. Hanefi Avcı

    Hanefi Avcı
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1956-.. (age 68)
    Occupations
    police officerwriter
    Biography

    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 JITEM intelligence unit.

  44. Murat Karayalçın

    Murat Karayalçın
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1943-.. (age 81)
    Occupations
    politiciandiplomat
    Biography

    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.

  45. Volkan Bozkır

    Volkan Bozkır
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1950-.. (age 74)
    Occupations
    diplomatpoliticianinternational forum participant
    Biography

    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.

  46. Sadullah Ergin

    Sadullah Ergin
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1964-.. (age 60)
    Occupations
    politicianlawyer
    Biography

    Sadullah Ergin is a Turkish politician.

  47. Hulki Cevizoğlu

    Hulki Cevizoğlu
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1958-.. (age 66)
    Occupations
    politicianjournalist
    Biography

    Mustafa Hulki Cevizoğlu is a Turkish journalist, writer and television programmer and 28th Term AKP Istanbul Deputy.

  48. Bahriye Üçok

    Bahriye Üçok
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1919-1990 (aged 71)
    Occupations
    university teachersociologisthistorianwriterpolitician
    Biography

    Bahriye Üçok was a Turkish academic of theology, left-wing politician, writer, columnist, and women's rights activist whose assassination in 1990 remains unresolved.

  49. Cemil Çiçek

    Cemil Çiçek
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1946-.. (age 78)
    Occupations
    politicianlawyer
    Biography

    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.

  50. Ahmet Taner Kışlalı

    Ahmet Taner Kışlalı
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1939-1999 (aged 60)
    Occupations
    politicianacademiccolumnist
    Biography

    Ahmet Taner Kışlalı was a Turkish professor, politician, and commentator who was assassinated. He served in the Parliament of Turkey in 1977 and was Minister of Culture in 1978 and 1979.

  51. Abdulhamit Gül

    Abdulhamit Gül
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1977-.. (age 47)
    Occupations
    politician
    Biography

    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.

  52. Mehmet Görmez

    Mehmet Görmez
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1959-.. (age 65)
    Enrolled in Ankara University
    In 1995 graduated with doctorate in Islamic studies
    Occupations
    university teacherimam'ālim
    Biography

    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.

  53. Uğur Rıfat Karlova

    Uğur Rıfat Karlova
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1980-.. (age 44)
    Occupations
    film actortelevision presentertelevision actor
    Biography

    Uğur Rıfat Karlova is a Turkish-Taiwanese stand-up comedian, actor, TV host, showman, and writer.

  54. Tunç Soyer

    Tunç Soyer
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1959-.. (age 65)
    Occupations
    mayorlawyer
    Biography

    Mustafa Tunç Soyer is a Turkish politician from the Republican People's Party (CHP) who currently serves as the Mayor of İzmir, Turkey's third largest city. He was elected to the position in the 2019 mayoral election. He previously served as the mayor of Seferihisar, a coastal district of İzmir, from 2009 to 2019.

  55. Hasan Cemal

    Hasan Cemal
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1944-.. (age 80)
    Occupations
    journalistwriterinternational forum participant
    Biography

    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.

  56. Altan Erkekli

    Altan Erkekli
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1955-.. (age 69)
    Occupations
    actor
    Biography

    Reşit Altan Erkekli is a Turkish theatre, film and television actor.

  57. Ataol Behramoğlu

    Ataol Behramoğlu
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1942-.. (age 82)
    Occupations
    linguistwriterpoet
    Biography

    Ataol Behramoğlu is a prominent Turkish poet, author, and Russian-into-Turkish literary translator.

  58. İhsan Doğramacı

    İhsan Doğramacı
    Born in
    Iraq Flag Iraq
    Years
    1915-2010 (aged 95)
    Occupations
    scientistacademicpediatricianphilanthropist
    Biography

    İhsan Doğramacı was a Turkish paediatrician, entrepreneur, philanthropist, educationalist and college administrator of Iraqi Turkmen descent born in today's Erbil, Kurdistan Region, Iraq then Ottoman Empire.

  59. Feridun Sinirlioğlu

    Feridun Sinirlioğlu
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1956-.. (age 68)
    Occupations
    diplomat
    Biography

    Feridun Hadi Sinirlioğlu is a Turkish diplomat and politician. He served as the Permanent Representative of Turkey to the United Nations from 2016 to 2023. He previously served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey from August 2015 to November 2015.

  60. Hikmet Çetin

    Hikmet Çetin
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1937-.. (age 87)
    Occupations
    diplomatpoliticianeconomist
    Biography

    Hikmet Çetin is a Turkish politician of Kurdish origin former minister of foreign affairs and was leader of the Republican People's Party (CHP) for a short time. He served also as the Speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly.

  61. Merve Kavakcı

    Merve Kavakcı
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1968-.. (age 56)
    Occupations
    diplomatuniversity teacherpolitician
    Biography

    Merve Safa Kavakcı is a Turkish politician, who was elected as a Virtue Party (Turkish: Fazilet Partisi) deputy for Istanbul on 18 April 1999. She served as the Turkish ambassador to Malaysia from 2017 but was recalled to Ankara following the appointment of Emir Salim Yüksel as the Turkish Ambassador to Malaysia in June 2022.

  62. Tayfun Talipoğlu

    Tayfun Talipoğlu
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1962-2017 (aged 55)
    Occupations
    journalistchildren's writercolumnisttelevision presenter
    Biography

    Tayfun Talipoğlu was a Turkish journalist and writer.

  63. Muammer Güler

    Muammer Güler
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1949-.. (age 75)
    Occupations
    politician
    Biography

    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.

  64. Hüseyin Rahmi Gürpınar

    Hüseyin Rahmi Gürpınar
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1864-1944 (aged 80)
    Occupations
    journalisttranslatorwriterpolitician
    Biography

    Hüseyin Rahmi Gürpınar was a Turkish writer, civil servant, and politician.

  65. Sema Ramazanoğlu

    Sema Ramazanoğlu
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1959-.. (age 65)
    Occupations
    physiciansurgeonpolitician
    Biography

    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.

  66. Mehmet Haberal

    Mehmet Haberal
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1944-.. (age 80)
    Occupations
    writersurgeonuniversity teacherpolitician
    Biography

    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.

  67. Ece Temelkuran

    Ece Temelkuran
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1973-.. (age 51)
    Occupations
    writertelevision presenterpoet lawyerpoetjournalist
    Biography

    Ece Temelkuran is a Turkish journalist and author. She was a columnist for Milliyet (2000–2009) and Habertürk (2009 – January 2012), and a presenter on Habertürk TV (2010–2011). She was fired from Habertürk after writing articles critical of the government, especially its handling of the December 2011 Uludere massacre. She was twice named Turkey's "most read political columnist". Her columns have also been published in international media such as The Guardian, New York Times, La stampa, Der Spiegel, Internazionale and Le Monde Diplomatique.

  68. Ali Müfit Gürtuna

    Ali Müfit Gürtuna
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1952-.. (age 72)
    Occupations
    politicianlawyer
    Biography

    Ali Müfit Gürtuna is a Turkish lawyer and politician, who was the mayor of Istanbul from 11 November 1998 to 1 April 2004.

  69. Selvi Kılıçdaroğlu

    Selvi Kılıçdaroğlu
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1952-.. (age 72)
    Biography

    Selvi Kılıçdaroğlu wife of former CHP Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.

  70. Beşir Atalay

    Beşir Atalay
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1947-.. (age 77)
    Occupations
    politicianuniversity teacher
    Biography

    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.

  71. Ayhan Bilgen

    Ayhan Bilgen
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1971-.. (age 53)
    Occupations
    journalistwriterpolitician
    Biography

    Ayhan Bilgen is a journalist, politician and former mayor of Kars from the Peoples' Democratic Party.

  72. Necati Cumalı

    Necati Cumalı
    Born in
    Greece Flag Greece
    Years
    1921-2001 (aged 80)
    Occupations
    writerlawyerpoet lawyerpoettranslator
    Biography

    Necati Cumalı was a Turkish writer of novels, short-stories, essays and poetry. He was born in Florina, Greece to a Turkish family and his family had settled in Urla near İzmir in the framework of the 1923 agreement for the population exchange between Greece and Turkey.

  73. Dengir Mir Mehmet Fırat

    Dengir Mir Mehmet Fırat
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1943-2019 (aged 76)
    Occupations
    politicianlawyer
    Biography

    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).

  74. Turgut Özakman

    Turgut Özakman
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1930-2013 (aged 83)
    Occupations
    lawyerplaywrightscreenwriterdramaturge
    Biography

    Turgut Özakman was a Turkish lawyer, a civil servant, a dramaturge and a writer.

  75. Ferit Melen

    Ferit Melen
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1906-1988 (aged 82)
    Occupations
    politician
    Biography

    Ferit Sadi Melen was a Turkish civil servant, politician and Prime Minister of Turkey.

  76. Semra Sezer

    Semra Sezer
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1944-.. (age 80)
    Occupations
    politician
    Biography

    Semra Sezer was the First Lady of Turkey from May 2000 until August 2007 during the presidency of her husband Ahmet Necdet Sezer.

  77. Agop Dilaçar

    Agop Dilaçar
    Years
    1895-1979 (aged 84)
    Occupations
    journalistturkologistuniversity teacherlinguist
    Biography

    Agop Dilâçar was a Turkish-Armenian linguist who specialized in Turkic languages and the first Secretary General and head specialist of the Turkish Language Association. He created the Latin-based modern Turkish alphabet and was proficient in 12 languages, including Armenian, Turkish, English, French, Greek, Spanish, Azerbaijani, Latin, German, Russian and Bulgarian.

  78. Cengiz Çandar

    Cengiz Çandar
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1948-.. (age 76)
    Occupations
    journalistwar correspondent
    Biography

    Cengiz Çandar is a Turkish politician, journalist, senior columnist, and a Middle East expert. He is the author of Turkey's Neo-Ottomanist Moment - A Eurasianist Odyssey (Policy Series) (2021); Turkey's Mission Impossible: War and Peace with the Kurds (2020) and Mezopotamya Ekspresi- Bir Tarih Yolculugu (Mesopotamia Express- A Journey in History) (2012), which has been translated into various languages, including Kurdish (Sorani) and Arabic.

  79. İsmail Beşikçi

    İsmail Beşikçi
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1939-.. (age 85)
    Occupations
    academicwriterphilosophersociologist
    Biography

    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.

  80. Faik Öztrak

    Faik Öztrak
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1954-.. (age 70)
    Occupations
    economistpolitician
    Biography

    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.

  81. Ömer Öcalan

    Ömer Öcalan
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1987-.. (age 37)
    Occupations
    politician
    Biography

    Ömer Öcalan is a former politician of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and a current member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey representing Şanliurfa for the Green Left Party (YSP)

  82. Hasan Celal Güzel

    Hasan Celal Güzel
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1945-2018 (aged 73)
    Occupations
    politician
    Biography

    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.

  83. Kemal Burkay

    Kemal Burkay
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1937-.. (age 87)
    Occupations
    writerlawyerpoliticianpoet lawyerpoet
    Biography

    Kemal Burkay is a writer and politician.

  84. Vecdi Gönül

    Vecdi Gönül
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1939-.. (age 85)
    Occupations
    politician
    Biography

    Mehmet Vecdi Gönül is a Turkish politician who served as the Minister of National Defense from 3 July to 17 November 2015. He previously served in the same position from 2002 to 2011 and was a member of the Parliament from 1999 to 2015.

  85. Mehmet Mehdi Eker

    Mehmet Mehdi Eker
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1956-.. (age 68)
    Occupations
    politicianveterinarian
    Biography

    Mehmet Mehdi Eker is a 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.

  86. Lütfullah Kayalar

    Lütfullah Kayalar
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1952-.. (age 72)
    Occupations
    politicianlawyer
    Biography

    Lütfullah Kayalar is a Turkish lawyer from profession and politician, who served twice as government minister.

  87. Mustafa Elitaş

    Mustafa Elitaş
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1957-.. (age 67)
    Occupations
    politician
    Biography

    Mustafa Elitaş is a Turkish politician who served as the Economy Minister of Turkey from 24 November 2015 to 24 November 2016.

  88. Selma Aliye Kavaf

    Selma Aliye Kavaf
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1962-.. (age 62)
    Occupations
    politician
    Biography

    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).

  89. Vamik Volkan

    Vamik Volkan
    Born in
    Cyprus Flag Cyprus
    Years
    1932-.. (age 92)
    Occupations
    peace activistpsychiatristacademicuniversity teacher
    Biography

    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).

  90. İdris Baluken

    İdris Baluken
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1976-.. (age 48)
    Occupations
    physiciansurgeonpolitician
    Biography

    İdris Baluken is a Turkish politician of Kurdish origin 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.

  91. Emrullah İşler

    Emrullah İşler
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1960-.. (age 64)
    Occupations
    politician
    Biography

    Emrullah İşler is a Turkish theologian, university lecturer, and politician. On 25 December 2013, he was appointed as a deputy prime minister in the third cabinet of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

  92. Mehmet Bekaroğlu

    Mehmet Bekaroğlu
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1954-.. (age 70)
    Occupations
    politicianpsychiatristhuman rights activist
    Biography

    Mehmet Bekaroğlu is a Turkish human rights activist, a scientist, professor, a psychiatrist, a writer, and a politician of Laz origin. He was well known in the Turkish Parliament by his actions against tortures at jails. He took part in the Human Rights Commission in the parliament. His commitment to human rights activism is controversial due to his support of Hamas.

  93. Emine Işınsu

    Emine Işınsu
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1938-2021 (aged 83)
    Occupations
    journalistwriterpoet
    Biography

    Emine Işınsu Öksüz was Turkish writer, poet, and journalist.

  94. Naci Bostancı

    Naci Bostancı
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1957-.. (age 67)
    Occupations
    politician
    Biography

    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.

  95. Hüseyin Özgürgün

    Hüseyin Özgürgün
    Born in
    Cyprus Flag Cyprus
    Years
    1965-.. (age 59)
    Occupations
    politician
    Biography

    Hüseyin Özgürgün is a Turkish Cypriot politician and a former Prime Minister of Northern Cyprus. He is the current leader of the National Unity Party (UBP). He was formerly the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. From 23 April to 17 May 2010 he was also Acting Prime Minister. Moreover, he was prime minister of Northern Cyprus from 16 April 2016 to 2 February 2018.

  96. Mümtaz'er Türköne

    Mümtaz'er Türköne
    Years
    1956-.. (age 68)
    Occupations
    author
    Biography

    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.

  97. Füsun Önal

    Füsun Önal
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1947-.. (age 77)
    Occupations
    singer
    Biography

    Füsun Önal is a Turkish pop singer, theatre actress, and writer.

  98. Levent Gök

    Levent Gök
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1959-.. (age 65)
    Occupations
    politician
    Biography

    Levent Gök is a Turkish politician from the Republican People's Party (CHP) who currently serves as one of the three parliamentary group leaders for his party since 22 August 2014. He succeeded Muharrem İnce, who resigned to contest the 18th CHP Extraordinary Convention as a leadership candidate. He has been a Member of Parliament for Ankara's first electoral district since the 2011 general election.

  99. Tufan Erhürman

    Tufan Erhürman
    Born in
    Cyprus Flag Cyprus
    Years
    1970-.. (age 54)
    Occupations
    politicianuniversity teacher
    Biography

    Tufan Erhürman is a Turkish Cypriot academic, lawyer, diplomat and a former Prime Minister of Northern Cyprus. 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 is the current leader of Republican Turkish Party. 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.

  100. Bülent Tüfenkci

    Bülent Tüfenkci
    Born in
    Turkey Flag Turkey
    Years
    1966-.. (age 58)
    Occupations
    politicianlawyer
    Biography

    Bülent Tüfenkci is a Turkish politician from the Justice and Development Party (AKP) was the Minister of Customs and Trade from 2015 in the third government of Ahmet Davutoğlu. He was also a Member of Parliament for the electoral district of Malatya since 7 June 2015. His surname is sometimes spelt 'Tüfekçi', without an 'n'.