42 Notable alumni of
Bilkent University
Updated:
Bilkent University is 946th in the world, 198th in Asia, and 11th in Turkey by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 42 notable alumni from Bilkent 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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Hakan Fidan
- Enrolled in Bilkent University
- Graduated with doctorate
- Occupations
- officialdiplomatintelligence officersoldier
- Biography
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Hakan Fidan is a Turkish politician serving as the Minister of Foreign Affairs since June 2023. He was previously the director of the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) from March 2010 until June 2023.
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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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Radiy Khabirov
- Enrolled in Bilkent University
- Studied in 1992-1994
- Occupations
- politicianlegal scholarlawyerlecturerstatesperson
- Biography
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Radiy Faritovich Khabirov is a Russian politician and statesman. He is the current Head of the Republic of Bashkortostan since 11 October 2018; he is also the Candidate of Sciences in Law and Honored Lawyer of the Republic of Bashkortostan. He is a member of United Russia.
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Cevdet Yılmaz
- Occupations
- businesspersonpolitician
- Biography
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Cevdet Yılmaz is a Turkish politician who has been the 2nd and current vice president of Turkey since 2023. Previously, he served as a Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey in the interim election government formed by Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu from 28 August to 17 November 2015. He previously served as the Minister of Development from 2011 to 2015 and again from 2015 to 2016.
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Tamer Karadağlı
- Occupations
- actortelevision actor
- Biography
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Tamer Karadağlı is a Turkish actor and director of Turkish State Theatres.
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Nevşin Mengü
- Occupations
- journalisttelevision presenter
- Biography
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Nevşin Mengü is a Turkish journalist and television presenter.
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Gültekin Uysal
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Gultekin Uysal is a Turkish politician and businessman who has been the chairman of the Democrat Party (DP), since May 2012. In 2018 election he was elected on the İYİ Party list but then he rejoined his party.
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Binnur Kaya
- Occupations
- actor
- Biography
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Binnur Kaya is a Turkish actress.
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Nasuh Mahruki
- Occupations
- photographer
- Biography
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Ali Nasuh Mahruki is a professional mountaineer, writer, photographer and documentary film producer. He climbed to the summit of Mount Everest and was the first ever Turkish person to climb the Seven Summits.
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Orkut Büyükkökten
- Occupations
- computer scientistengineernon-fiction writer
- Biography
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Orkut Büyükkökten is a Turkish software engineer who developed the social networking services Club Nexus, inCircle and Orkut. He is a former product manager at Google.
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Yiğit Bulut
- Occupations
- journalisteconomist
- Biography
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Yiğit Bulut was a Turkish journalist, conspiracy theorist, and from July 2013, a senior advisor to president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. He was editor-in-chief at news channels Habertürk TV (2009–2012) and Kanal 24 (2012–2013). He was also a contributor to the daily newspapers Radikal (2001–2007), Vatan and Referans (until 2009), Habertürk (2009–2012) and Star (2012–2013). He was appointed a senior advisor to current president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan while he was serving as prime minister in July 2013. His appointment drew criticism for remarks he had made about the 2013 protests in Turkey that had alleged various conspiracies aimed at toppling Erdoğan, including a claim that foreign forces were trying to murder Erdoğan using "telekinesis and other methods".
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Kaan Tangöze
- Occupations
- singer
- Biography
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Kaan Tangöze is a Turkish musician. He is the left-handed lead vocalist and guitarist of the Turkish rock band Duman. He graduated from Bilkent University, Department of Tourism and Hotel Management. He has a master's degree in economics from Seattle University in the United States.
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Fatma Betül Sayan Kaya
- Occupations
- physicianengineerministerpolitician
- Biography
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Fatma Betül Sayan Kaya is a Turkish politician who serves as the Minister of Family and Social Policies since 24 May 2016. Sayan Kaya is the vice-chair of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) responsible for foreign affairs.
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Zehra Zümrüt Selçuk
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Zehra Zümrüt Selçuk Koç is a former minister of Family, Labour and Social Services of Turkey.
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Kalben
- Occupations
- recording artistsinger
- Biography
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Kalben Sağdıç, known mononymously as Kalben, is a Turkish singer-songwriter.
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Emrah Safa Gürkan
- Occupations
- academicuniversity teacherhistorianYouTuberresearcher
- Biography
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Emrah Safa Gürkan is a Turkish public intellectual and historian. He is a professor at Istanbul 29 Mayıs University and specializes in Ottoman studies.
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Alper Çağlar
- Occupations
- screenwriterfilm directorfilm editor
- Biography
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Süleyman Alper Çağlar, is Turkish film director, editor and screenwriter.
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Alparslan Bayraktar
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Alparslan Bayraktar is a Turkish academic, engineer, and politician. He has served as the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources since 2023. Before being elected to this position, he served as the deputy minister and a commissioner of the Energy Market Regulatory Authority. Bayraktar has also served as the chair of the World Energy Council for Turkey since 2015, and as the chair of the Istanbul Center for Regulation since 2018.
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Bekir Pakdemirli
- Occupations
- economist
- Biography
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Bekir Pakdemirli is a Turkish businessman and former Minister of Agriculture and Forestry.
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Vuslat Doğan Sabancı
- Occupations
- businessperson
- Biography
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Vuslat Doğan Sabancı a former publisher of the Hürriyet daily newspaper, is a prominent figure in both the business world and civil society. As the vice chair of Aydın Doğan Foundation and a board member of Doğan Holding and Hepsiburada, Turkey's leading e-commerce platform which is no longer part of the Group, she has played pivotal roles in these organizations. She is the founder of the Vuslat Foundation, established in 2020.
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Demir Demirkan
- Occupations
- singersongwritercomposeractormusician
- Biography
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Demir Demirkan is a Turkish musician, Eurovision Song Contest winning composer, guitarist for thrash metal band Mezarkabul and writer. Demir Demirkan started playing music when he was 13 and played guitar with various groups in college. Demir Demirkan also wrote television jingles and composed soundtracks for television and films.
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Murat Han
- Occupations
- film actoractortelevision actor
- Biography
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Murat Han is a Turkish-American stage and film actor. He is best known for Bliss, Vicdan, Ömre bedel, Sensiz Olmaz and Thophy.
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Mete Atatüre
- Enrolled in Bilkent University
- 1992-1996 graduated with Bachelor of Science
- Occupations
- physicistresearcher
- Biography
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Mete Atatüre is a Turkish physicist working on experimental solid-state quantum optics, in particular on the optical control of spin-photon coupling for quantum networks as well as investigation of many-body physics in atomically-thin heterostructures, with the aim of developing new materials and devices for quantum sensing applications.
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Jehan Barbur
- Occupations
- singer-songwritersinger
- Biography
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Jehan İstiklal Barbur is a Turkish singer of Arab Christian descent. In 2002, she moved from Ankara to Istanbul to pursue a professional music career, and initially worked as a vocalist in different pop and jazz groups. With Bülent Ortaçgil's help she signed a contract with the production company Ada Müzik. In 2009, her debut studio album, Uyan, was released. She continued her music career with the release of her second studio album, Hayat, in 2010. She released the albums Sarı, Sizler Hiç Yokken and Evim Neresi in 2012, 2014, and 2017 respectively.
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Erdem Başçı
- Occupations
- engineereconomist
- Biography
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Erdem Başçı is a Turkish economist and the former Governor of the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey in the 2010s.
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Burçin Mutlu Pakdil
- Occupations
- researcheracademicuniversity teacherastronomer
- Biography
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Burçin Mutlu-Pakdil is a Turkish-American astrophysicist, and Assistant Professor at Dartmouth College. She formerly served as a National Science Foundation and Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics (KICP) Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Chicago. Her research led to a discovery of an extremely rare galaxy with a unique double-ringed elliptical structure, which is now commonly referred to as Burcin's Galaxy. She was also a 2018 TED Fellow, and a 2020 TED Senior Fellow.
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İlker Aycı
- Biography
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Mehmet İlker Aycı is a Turkish businessperson. Aycı was the advisor of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in 1994 and served as the CEO of several Turkish companies before becoming the chairman of Turkish Airlines from 2015 to 2022. He accepted an offer as the Board Member of Oman Air in April 2024.
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Bedük
- Occupations
- singersongwritercomposer
- Biography
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Serhat Bedük, better known by his surname Bedük, is a Turkish musician, producer, and director.
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Yasemin Mori
- Occupations
- singersongwritercomposer
- Biography
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Yasemin Aygün Savgı, better known as Yasemin Mori, is a Turkish alternative rock singer.
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Arzu Geybullayeva
- Occupations
- journalisthuman rights defender
- Biography
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Arzu Geybulla gizi Geybullayeva, also known as Arzu Geybulla (Azerbaijani: Arzu Qeybulla), is an Azerbaijani columnist, blogger, and journalist for several newspapers and media news outlets including Al Jazeera, Foreign Policy, Global Voices, and Agos. She has also worked with several non-profit organizations and think-tanks including the National Democratic Institute and European Stability Initiative. Geybullayeva was included in the BBC's list of top women in 2014. She advocates a peaceful resolution among Armenians and Azerbaijanis over the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. However, in recent years, she has received various threats mainly stemming from Azerbaijan due to her work with Agos, an Armenian newspaper. The threats were internationally condemned by various human rights organizations.
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Aldo Bumçi
- Occupations
- diplomatpolitician
- Biography
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Aldo Tonin Bumçi is a member of the Assembly of the Republic of Albania for the Democratic Party of Albania. He was Minister of Justice from 2005 to 2007, Minister of Foreign Affairs on 2013. He is also member of Committee on Legal Affairs, Public Administration and Human Rights and Committee on European Integration.
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Hatice Altuğ
- Occupations
- researcheracademicphysicistuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Hatice Altug is a Turkish physicist and professor in the Bioengineering Department and head of the Bio-nanophotonic Systems laboratory at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), in Switzerland. Her research focuses on nanophotonics for biosensing and surface enhanced spectroscopy, integration with microfluidics and nanofabrication, to obtain high sensitivity, label-free characterization of biological material. She has developed low-cost biosensor allowing the identification of viruses such as Ebola that can work in difficult settings and therefore particularly useful in case of pandemics.
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Ali Ertürk
- Years
- 1980-.. (age 46)
- Occupations
- neuroscientist
- Biography
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Ali Maximilian Ertürk is a neuroscientist, inventor, and artist living in Munich, Germany. He is the director of a new Helmholtz Institute of Intelligent Biotechnologies (iBIO) in Munich since July 2019 and professor at the medical faculty. After his undergraduate study at Bilkent University in Ankara, he joined Max-Planck-Institute for Neurobiology for his PhD and Genentech Inc. for postdoctoral research.
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Gizem Girişmen
- Occupations
- archer
- Biography
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Gizem Girişmen is a Turkish Paralympic archer competing in the women's recurve ARW2 event.
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İbrahim Halil Baran
- Occupations
- poetwriter
- Biography
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İbrahim Halil Baran is a Kurdish poet, politician, writer and designer. He is founder and first party chairman for Partiya Kurdistani (PAKURD).
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İbrahim Sirkeci
- Enrolled in Bilkent University
- 1990-1997 graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- researcherpolitical scientistdemographersocial scientistuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Ibrahim Sirkeci is a British Turkish social scientist. He is currently the director of International Business School, Manchester, United Kingdom. Previously, he was the Head of Enterprise Subject Group at Salford Business School, University of Salford, Manchester. He served as a Professor at various British universities including his 16 years long service at the European Business School London, Regent's University London, and was the Director of Regent's Centre for Transnational Studies.
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Murat Aktihanoglu
- Occupations
- businessperson
- Biography
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Murat Aktihanoglu is an American venture capitalist who is notable for helping create the fastest political crowdfunding campaign in history for Turkish Gezi Protests. Aktihanoglu helped create a crowdsourced and crowdfunded advertisement in the New York Times with Oltac Unsal and Duygu Atacan. It was the fastest political crowdfunding campaign in history. The ad featured demands for "an end to police brutality"; "a free and unbiased media"; and "an open dialogue, not the dictate of an autocrat." The editing of the final advertisement involved thousands of people, and the ad was published on 7 June 2013.
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Hande Dalkılıç
- Occupations
- pianist
- Biography
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Hande Dalkılıç is a Turkish concert pianist.
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Evrim Demirel
- Occupations
- composerpianist
- Biography
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Evrim Demirel is a Turkish composer and jazz pianist.
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Özalp Özer
- Years
- 1974-.. (age 52)
- Occupations
- academicuniversity teacherresearcheroperations researchereconomist
- Biography
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Özalp Özer is an American business professor specializing in pricing science and operations research. He is the Ashbel Smith Professor of Management Science at the Naveen Jindal School of Management and also currently serves as an affiliated faculty at the MIT Sloan School of Management.
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Ayşe Ören
- Occupations
- sculptor
- Biography
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Ayşe Ören is a multidisciplinary artist, architect, and designer. Her works include abstract art, sculpture, furniture and product design, as well as graphic design. Educated as an architect, her broad interests span such fields as history, philosophy and psychology, and space architecture.
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Umit Catalyurek
- Enrolled in Bilkent University
- In 2000 graduated with Doctor of Philosophy
- Occupations
- university teacherresearcheracademic
- Biography
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Ümit V. Çatalyürek is a professor of computer science at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and adjunct professor in department of Biomedical Informatics at the Ohio State University. He is known for his work on graph analytics, parallel algorithms for scientific applications, data-intensive computing, and large scale genomic and biomedical applications. He was the director of the High Performance Computing Lab at the Ohio State University. He was named Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in 2016 for contributions to combinatorial scientific computing and parallel computing.
