100 Notable alumni of
Istanbul University
Updated:
Istanbul University is 209th in the world, 40th in Asia, and 2nd in Turkey by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 100 notable alumni from Istanbul 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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David Ben-Gurion
- Occupations
- trade unionistpoliticianzionist
- Biography
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David Ben-Gurion was the primary national founder of the State of Israel as well as the state's first prime minister. Born in Płońsk, then part of Congress Poland, to Polish Jewish parents, he immigrated to the Palestine region of the Ottoman Empire in 1906. Adopting the name of Ben-Gurion in 1909, he rose to become the preeminent leader of the Jewish community in British-ruled Mandatory Palestine from 1935 until the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, which he led until 1963 with a short break in 1954–55.
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Çağatay Ulusoy
- Occupations
- actorfilm actormodel
- Biography
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Çağatay Ulusoy is a Turkish actor and model who started his acting career in the TV series Adını Feriha Koydum (2011–2012) as Emir Sarrafoğlu. Since then, he has had further lead roles in Medcezir (2013–2015), a remake of the television series The O.C., in the TV series İçerde and from 2018 to 2020 he played the lead role in the first Turkish Netflix series The Protector.
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Orhan Pamuk
- Occupations
- writerscreenwriterjournalistacademicessayist
- Biography
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Ferit Orhan Pamuk is a Turkish novelist, screenwriter, academic, and recipient of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature. One of Turkey's most prominent novelists, he has sold over 13 million books in 63 languages, making him the country's best-selling writer.
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Cansu Dere
- Occupations
- film actormodel
- Biography
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Cansu Dere is a Turkish actress, model and former Miss Turkey.
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Abdullah Gül
- Occupations
- diplomatpoliticianeconomist
- Biography
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Abdullah Gül is a Turkish politician who served as the 11th president of Turkey, in office from 2007 to 2014. He previously served for four months as Prime Minister from 2002 to 2003, and concurrently served as both Deputy Prime Minister and as Foreign Minister between 2003 and 2007. He is currently a member of the Advisory Panel for the President of the Islamic Development Bank.
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Meral Akşener
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Meral Akşener is a Turkish politician, teacher, historian and academic who is the founder and current leader of the Good Party (İYİ Party).
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Aziz Sancar
- Occupations
- university teacherscientistbiochemistmolecular biologistgeneticist
- Biography
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Aziz Sancar is a Turkish-American molecular biologist specializing in DNA repair, cell cycle checkpoints, and circadian clock. In 2015, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry along with Tomas Lindahl and Paul L. Modrich for their mechanistic studies of DNA repair. He has made contributions on photolyase and nucleotide excision repair in bacteria that have changed his field.
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Adnan Oktar
- Enrolled in Istanbul University
- In 1986 studied philosophy
- Occupations
- cult leader
- Biography
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Adnan Oktar, also known as Adnan Hoca or Harun Yahya, is a Turkish cult leader, preacher, creationist, conspiracy theorist, and pamphleteer.
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Ekrem İmamoğlu
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Ekrem İmamoğlu is a Turkish businessman, real estate developer, and social democratic politician serving as the 32nd Mayor of Istanbul. He was first elected with 4.1 million votes and won with a margin of 13 thousand votes against his AKP opponent in the March 2019 mayoral election as the joint Nation Alliance candidate of the Republican People's Party (CHP) and the Good Party, but served only from 17 April 2019 until 6 May 2019, when the election was annulled. He was then reelected in a renewed election on 23 June 2019 by an even larger margin of 800,000 votes. He had previously been the Mayor of Beylikdüzü, a western district of Istanbul, between 2014 and 2019.
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Leyla Lydia Tuğutlu
- Occupations
- actormodelbeauty pageant contestant
- Biography
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Leyla Lydia Tuğutlu is a Turkish-German actress, singer, model and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss Turkey 2008. She represented Turkey at the Miss World 2008 pageant.
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Birce Akalay
- Occupations
- film actormodeltelevision actoractortelevision presenter
- Biography
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Birce Akalay is a Turkish actress.
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Fahrettin Koca
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Fahrettin Koca is a Turkish physician and politician. He is the minister of health of the 66th government of Turkey.
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Pınar Deniz
- Occupations
- film actortelevision actor
- Biography
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Pınar Deniz is a Turkish actress. She is best known for her roles in Wounded Love (2016–2018), Love 101 (2020–2021) and Family Secrets (2021–present). Deniz earned a Turkish Film Critics Association Award nomination and won a Golden Artemis in the International Izmir Film Festival for her performance in Two Types of People (2020). In 2022 and 2023, she won the Golden Butterfly Award for Best Actress for her role in Family Secrets, for which she also received international acclaim, winning the Produ award for Best Actress in Foreign Series in 2023.
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Ziya Gökalp
- Occupations
- university teacherturkologistwriterpoliticianphilosopher
- Biography
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Mehmet Ziya Gökalp was a Turkish sociologist, writer, poet, and politician. After the 1908 Young Turk Revolution that reinstated constitutionalism in the Ottoman Empire, he adopted the pen name Gökalp ("celestial hero"), which he retained for the rest of his life. As a sociologist, Ziya Gökalp was influential in the negation of Islamism, pan-Islamism, and Ottomanism as ideological, cultural, and sociological identifiers. In a 1936 publication, sociologist Niyazi Berkes described Gökalp as "the real founder of Turkish sociology, since he was not a mere translator or interpreter of foreign sociology".
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Moshe Sharett
- Occupations
- translatorzionistpoliticiandiplomat
- Biography
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Moshe Sharett was an Israeli politician who served as the second prime minister of Israel from 1954 to 1955. A member of Mapai, Sharett's term was both preceded and succeeded by the premiership of David Ben-Gurion. He also served as the country's first foreign minister between 1948 and 1956.
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Sagopa Kajmer
- Occupations
- composerpianistsongwriterdisc jockeyrecord producer
- Biography
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Yunus Özyavuz, better known by his stage name Sagopa Kajmer or formerly known as DJ Mic Check and Silahsız Kuvvet ( Turkish: [sɑgopɑ kɑʒmæɾ]), is a Turkish rapper, songwriter, record producer, and DJ. He is the first and only rapper to have given concerts in all of 81 provinces of Turkey.
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Hrant Dink
- Occupations
- writercolumnistopinion journalistjournalistassociation football player
- Biography
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Hrant Dink was a Turkish-Armenian intellectual, editor-in-chief of Agos, journalist, and columnist. As editor-in-chief of the bilingual Turkish-Armenian newspaper Agos, Dink was a prominent member of the Armenian minority in Turkey best known for advocating Turkish–Armenian reconciliation and human and minority rights in Turkey. He was often critical of both Turkey's denial of the Armenian genocide and of the Armenian diaspora's campaign for its international recognition. Dink was prosecuted three times for denigrating Turkishness, while receiving numerous death threats from Turkish nationalists.
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Orhan Veli Kanık
- Occupations
- writerpoet
- Biography
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Orhan Veli Kanık or Orhan Veli was a Turkish poet. Kanık is one of the founders of the Garip Movement together with Oktay Rıfat and Melih Cevdet. Aiming to fundamentally transform traditional form in Turkish poetry, he introduced colloquialisms into the poetic language. Besides his poetry, Kanık crammed a large volume of works including essays, articles and translations into just 36 years.
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Nazim Al-Haqqani
- Occupations
- writer
- Biography
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Shaykh Muhammad Nazim Adil Al-Qubrusi Al-Haqqani, commonly known as Shaykh Nazim (Turkish: Şeyh Nâzım), was a Turkish Cypriot Sunni Muslim imam and one of the most influential members of the sublime Naqshbandi order (tariqa) of Sunni Islam.
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Nureddin Nebati
- Occupations
- politicianbusinessperson
- Biography
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Nureddin Nebati, is a Turkish politician who served as the Minister of Finance and Treasury of Turkey from 2021 to 2023. He has previously served in the Grand National Assembly as a member of Justice and Development Party. Nebati was appointed by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on 2 December 2021, after the former Minister of Finance Lütfi Elvan resigned from the position.
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Reşat Nuri Güntekin
- Occupations
- prose writerwriterplaywrightdiplomatpolitician
- Biography
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Reşat Nuri Güntekin was a Turkish novelist, storywriter, and playwright. His best known novel, Çalıkuşu ("The Wren", 1922) is about the destiny of a young Turkish female teacher in Anatolia. This work is translated into Persian by Seyyed Borhan Ghandili. His other significant novels include Dudaktan Kalbe ("From the Lips to the Heart", 1925), and Yaprak Dökümü ("The Fall of Leaves", 1930). Many of his novels have been adapted to cinema and television. Because he visited Anatolia with his duty as an inspector, he knew Anatolian people closely. In his works he dealt with life and social problems in Anatolia; reflects people in the human-environment relationship.
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Ceza
- Occupations
- singerrappersongwriter
- Biography
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Bilgin Özçalkan, also known by his stage name Ceza ( pronounced [dʒeˈzaː], Turkish for 'punishment'), is a Turkish rapper and songwriter.
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Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar
- Occupations
- university teacherpoliticianwriter
- Biography
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Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar was a Turkish poet, novelist, literary scholar and essayist, widely regarded as one of the most important representatives of modernism in Turkish literature. In addition to his literary and academic career, Tanpınar was also a member of the Turkish Parliament between 1944 and 1946.
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Teoman
- Occupations
- film score composerfilm directorsingerfilm actoractor
- Biography
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Fazlı Teoman Yakupoğlu is a Turkish acoustic rock singer and songwriter. His biggest hits include Paramparça, Senden Önce Senden Sonra, 17 and Papatya. On Papatya, Turkish female rock singer Özlem Tekin features as backing vocals. Şebnem Ferah has also featured on a couple of Teoman's tracks.
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Abdi İpekçi
- Occupations
- journalisthuman rights activistwriterradio personality
- Biography
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Abdi İpekçi was a Turkish journalist, intellectual and an activist for human rights. He was murdered while editor-in-chief of one of the main Turkish daily newspapers Milliyet which then had a centre-left political stance.
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Uğur Dündar
- Occupations
- television presenterjournalistwriter
- Biography
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Uğur Dündar is a Turkish journalist, anchorman, political commentator, and writer.
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Demet Evgar
- Occupations
- actor
- Biography
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Demet Evgar is a Turkish actress and singer known for her roles in feature films and TV series. She also pursues an active career as an actress in theatre where she had made her debut. She has founded theatre institutions such as "Pangar", "Hata Yapım Atölyesi", "Müşterek", "Multi Arts Production".
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Pervin Buldan
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Pervin Buldan is a Kurdish politician. She was a member of the Democratic Society Party (DTP). She was President of Yakay-Der and one of the deputy speakers in the 26th Parliament of Turkey. On 11 February 2018, she was elected co-leader of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) in the party's 3rd ordinary congress.
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Nihat Erim
- Occupations
- journalistpoliticianuniversity teacherdiplomat
- Biography
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İsmail Nihat Erim was a Turkish politician and jurist. He served as the 13th Prime Minister of Turkey for almost 14 months after the 1971 Turkish military memorandum. He was assassinated by the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front in Istanbul in 1980.
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Huseyn Javid
- Occupations
- playwrightwriterpoet
- Biography
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Huseyn Javid,was born Huseyn Abdulla oghlu Rasizadeh (24 October 1882, Nakhchivan – 5 December 1941, Shevchenko, Tayshetsky District), was a prominent Azerbaijani poet and playwright of the early 20th century. He was one of the founders of progressive romanticism movement in the contemporary Azerbaijani literature. He was exiled during the Stalin purges in the USSR.
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Kadir Topbaş
- Occupations
- civil servantarchitecttheologianentrepreneurinternational forum participant
- Biography
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Kadir Topbaş was a Turkish architect, businessperson and politician who served as Mayor of Istanbul from 2004 to 2017.
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Memet Ali Alabora
- Occupations
- actorhuman rights activisttelevision actor
- Biography
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Memet Ali Alabora is a Turkish film and theatre actor. He is the son of actors Mustafa Alabora and Betül Arım. He is best known for hit crime comedy "Yılan Hikayesi".
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Burcu Esmersoy
- Occupations
- actormodelbeauty pageant contestant
- Biography
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Kamile Burcu Esmersoy is a Turkish actress, anchorwoman, journalist, model, occasional and beauty pageant titleholder who represented her nation at Miss International 1997 in Japan. She received a Golden Butterfly Award for Best Female Presenter. Burcu Esmersoy is one of Turkey's leading female reality show hosts and highest-paid television personalities. Amongst the Turkish television shows hosted by Esmersoy are Ver Fırına, Survivor, Popstar, Nedir Ne Değildir, Late Summer Night with Burcu Esmersoy, Komedi Türkiye, En Güzel Bölüm, Elin Oğlu, and Dancing with the Stars. As an actress, she starred in Romantik Komedi (2010), Dedektif Memoli (2011), as Aylin Youlin in Çocuklar Duymasın (2012), and as special guest star Melda in Bir Erkek Bir Kadın (2013), Turkish adaptation of the French-language Canadian comedy television series Un gars, une fille.
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Candan Erçetin
- Occupations
- actorsingercomposer
- Biography
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Candan Erçetin is a Turkish singer-songwriter. Over the twenty five years of her singing career, she has been recognized for preparing and singing songs about human life. Despite the fact that she made her albums without much publicity, her work influenced other artists. Erçetin has released many music videos with different themes. Because her family originate from the Balkans, she has often used elements of Balkan music in her songs and works. In addition to Turkish, she has written songs in French and Greek.
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Arif Mardin
- Occupations
- composersongwriterrecord producer
- Biography
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Arif Mardin was a Turkish-American music producer, who worked with hundreds of artists across many different styles of music, including jazz, rock, soul, disco and country. He worked at Atlantic Records for over 30 years, as producer, arranger, studio manager, and vice president, before moving to EMI and serving as vice president and general manager of Manhattan Records.
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Dilhan Eryurt
- Occupations
- professorastrophysicist
- 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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Serhat
- Occupations
- television producerrecord producersingertelevision presenter
- Biography
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Ahmet Serhat Hocapaşalioğlu, known as Serhat, is a Turkish singer, songwriter, producer and television presenter.
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Cahit Zarifoğlu
- Occupations
- linguistpoet
- Biography
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Abdurrahman Cahit Zarifoğlu was a Turkish poet and writer.
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Fatma Betül Sayan Kaya
- Occupations
- engineerphysicianpoliticianminister
- 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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Fahrettin Altun
- Occupations
- university teacherpoliticianspokesperson
- Biography
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Fahrettin Altun is a Тurkish politician, researcher, academic, member of the Justice and Development Party and head of media and communications in the Turkish presidency.
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Hande Subaşı
- Occupations
- film actormodeltelevision actor
- Biography
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Hande Subaşı is a Turkish actress and beauty pageant titleholder. She was the winner of the 2005 Miss Turkey competition. As an actress, she has appeared in more than nine films and theatre since 2006.
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Zeynep Tüfekçi
- Enrolled in Istanbul University
- In 1995 graduated with Bachelor of Arts in sociology
- Occupations
- university teachersociologistwriterjournalistopinion journalist
- Biography
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Zeynep Tufekci is a Turkish-American sociologist, and the Henry G. Bryant Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs at Princeton University. She is also a columnist for The New York Times. Her work focuses on social media, media ethics, the social implications of new technologies, such as artificial intelligence and big data, as well as societal challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic using complex and systems-based thinking. According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, she is one of the most prominent academic voices on social media and the new public sphere. In 2022, Tufekci was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for her "insightful, often prescient, columns on the pandemic and American culture", which the committee said "brought clarity to the shifting official guidance and compelled us towards greater compassion and informed response."
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Fazıl Küçük
- Occupations
- politicianjournalist
- Biography
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Fazıl Küçük was a Turkish Cypriot politician and a medical doctor who served as the first Vice President of the Republic of Cyprus.
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Özgür Çevik
- Occupations
- singeractortelevision actor
- Biography
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Özgür Çevik is a Turkish actor and singer who gained fame and intense fan following as a result of having appeared in his country's version of the television pop music talent contest, Star Academy and, subsequently, as a variety performer and actor.
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Refik Saydam
- Years
- 1881-1942 (aged 61)
- Occupations
- physicianpoliticianmilitary physician
- Biography
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İbrahim Refik Saydam was a Turkish physician, politician and the fourth Prime Minister of Turkey, serving from 25 January 1939 until his death on 8 July 1942.
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Halit Kıvanç
- Occupations
- writerjudgetelevision presentersports commentatorradio personality
- Biography
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Halit Ahmet Kıvanç was a Turkish television and radio presenter, humorist, sports journalist and writer. He was best known as a sports commentator.
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Neslihan Yeldan
- Occupations
- stage actorvoice actortelevision actorfilm actor
- Biography
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Neslihan Yeldan is a Turkish actress.
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Tuğba Özay
- Occupations
- volleyball playermodelactorsinger
- Biography
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Nihal Tuğba Özay is a Turkish model and singer. She was elected the first runner-up in the Miss Model of the World contest in 1995.
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Cemil Çiçek
- Occupations
- politicianlawyer
- 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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Halet Çambel
- Occupations
- archaeologistuniversity teacherfencerHittitologistanthropologist
- Biography
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Halet Çambel was a Turkish archaeologist and Olympic fencer. She was the first woman with a Muslim background to compete in the Olympic Games.
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Nedim Şener
- Occupations
- writerjournalist
- Biography
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Nedim Şener is a Turkish writer and journalist who has written for the Milliyet (since 1994) and Posta newspapers. He has received a number of journalism awards, including the Turkish Journalists' Association Press Freedom Award, the International Press Institute's World Press Freedom Heroes award, and PEN Freedom of Expression Award. He is particularly known for his 2009 book on the assassination of Hrant Dink, which showed the role of Turkish security. He is under indictment in the Odatv case of the Ergenekon trials because, he believes, his 2009 book alleged that police officers responsible for the Ergenekon investigation were responsible for the Dink murder.
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Mehmet Ali Şahin
- Occupations
- politicianlawyer
- Biography
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Mehmet Ali Şahin is a Turkish politician. He was the Speaker of the Parliament of Turkey from 2009 to 2011.
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Hasan Polatkan
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Hasan Polatkan was a Turkish politician and Minister of Labor and Finance, who was executed by hanging after the coup d'état in 1960 along with two other cabinet members.
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Judd Gregg
- Occupations
- politicianbusinesspersonlawyer
- Biography
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Judd Alan Gregg is an American politician and attorney who served as the 76th governor of New Hampshire from 1989 to 1993 and a United States senator from New Hampshire from 1993 to 2011 where he was Chairman of the Health Committee and the Budget Committee. A member of the Republican Party, he was a businessman and attorney in Nashua before entering politics. Gregg currently serves as the Chair of the Public Advisory Board at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College.
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Feride Çetin
- Occupations
- journalisttelevision actorfilm directoractor
- Biography
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Feride Çetin is a Turkish actress. She has appeared in more than ten films since 2005.
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Behçet Necatigil
- Occupations
- translatorwriterpoet
- Biography
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Behçet Necatigil was a leading Turkish author, poet and translator.
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Aydilge
- Occupations
- writersinger-songwriterpoetradio personalitycomposer
- Biography
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Aydilge Sarp is a Turkish writer, poet and singer-songwriter.
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Mehmet Müezzinoğlu
- Occupations
- physicianpolitician
- Biography
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Mehmet Müezzinoğlu is a Turkish physician and politician, who served as the Minister of Labour and Social Security between 2016 and 2017, and the Minister of Health from 2013 to 2016.
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Sunay Akın
- Occupations
- journalistpoetwritertelevision presenter
- Biography
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Sunay Akın is a Turkish poet, writer, TV host, journalist, and a philanthropist. He is the founder of Istanbul Toy Museum.
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Peker Açıkalın
- Occupations
- film actorstage actortelevision actor
- Biography
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Peker Açıkalın is a Turkish actor who usually appears in comedic roles.
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Şahap Kavcıoğlu
- Occupations
- economistpolitician
- Biography
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Şahap Kavcıoğlu is a Turkish banker and politician. He was a Member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey for the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and was the Governor of the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey from 2021 to 2023. He is also a contributor to the newspaper Yeni Safak and is described as a supporter of the economic policies of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
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Levent Yüksel
- Occupations
- singercomposer
- Biography
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Levent Uğur Yüksel is a Turkish pop singer and multi instrumentalist. He has been active in live music industry since 1993.
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Yusuf Halaçoğlu
- Occupations
- historianuniversity teacherpolitician
- Biography
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Yusuf Halaçoğlu is a Turkish historian and politician. He is a former president of the Turkish Historical Society and was a member of the Turkish Parliament from 2011 to 2017 representing the electoral district of Kayseri for the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and from 2017 for the Good Party.
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İskender Pala
- Occupations
- writer
- Biography
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İskender Pala is a Turkish Divan (Ottoman) Poetry Professor and author of best seller novels. He also used to write a column in the Turkish daily newspaper Zaman.
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Feza Gürsey
- Enrolled in Istanbul University
- Studied in 1944
- Occupations
- physicistuniversity teachernuclear physicistmathematiciantheoretical physicist
- Biography
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Feza Gürsey was a Turkish mathematician and physicist. Among his contributions to theoretical physics, his work on the chiral model and on SU(6) symmetry of the quark model are the most well-known.
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Nihat Zeybekci
- Occupations
- economistinternational forum participantpoliticianbusinessperson
- Biography
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Nihat Zeybekci is a Turkish economist, politician, a member of parliament for Denizli Province of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and former Minister of the Economy.
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Ayşe Arman
- Occupations
- actorjournalistwriter
- Biography
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Ayşe Arman is a Turkish journalist and columnist of German descent. She is best known for her interviews. Arman is the author of two books, one of which is a compilation of best moments of her interviews made over the past decade. Arman also holds German citizenship.
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Hüseyin Çelik
- Occupations
- politicianuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Hüseyin Çelik is a former Minister of National Education of Turkey and member of parliament for Van for the Justice and Development Party (AKP).
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Erdoğan Bayraktar
- Occupations
- politicianengineercivil engineer
- Biography
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Erdoğan Bayraktar is a Turkish politician. He is the former Minister of Environment and Urban Planning of Turkey under Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's government and member of parliament for Trabzon from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), resigning from both offices on 25 December 2013.
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Mahir Ünal
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Mahir Ünal is a Turkish politician and academic from the Justice and Development Party (AKP) who served as the Minister of Culture and Tourism from 24 November 2015 to 24 May 2016. He has been a Member of Parliament for the electoral district of Kahramanmaraş since being elected in the 2011 general election. He was re-elected in both the June and November 2015 general elections.
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Yaprak Özdemiroğlu
- Occupations
- stage actortelevision actorballet dancerfilm actor
- Biography
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Yaprak Özdemiroğlu is a Turkish actress, and ballet dancer.
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Şebnem Korur Fincancı
- Occupations
- university teacherphysicianpolitical activist
- Biography
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Şebnem Korur Fincancı is a Turkish medic, former professor, and current president of the Turkish Medical Association (TBB). She is an internationally renowned expert on human rights and a member of the Turkish Human Rights Association (TİHV). In Turkish popular culture she is being called to be the "Turkish female villain".
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İoanna Kuçuradi
- Occupations
- philosopheruniversity teacher
- Biography
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İoanna Kuçuradi is a Turkish philosopher from Istanbul. She is currently the president of Philosophical Society of Turkey and a full-time academic of Maltepe University.
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Leylâ Erbil
- Occupations
- writer
- Biography
-
Leyla Erbil was one of the leading female contemporary writers of Turkey, author of six novels, three collections of short stories and a book of essays. She was the first Turkish female writer to be nominated for a Nobel Prize in Literature by PEN International in 2002. Erbil was a co-founder of the Union of Turkish Artists and the Writers Syndicate of Turkey.
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Türkan Saylan
- Occupations
- writerphysicianactivistteacher
- Biography
-
Türkan Saylan was a Turkish medical doctor in dermatology, academic, writer, teacher and social activist. She was famous for fighting leprosy, and for founding a charitable foundation called "Association for the Support of Contemporary Living" (Çağdaş Yaşamı Destekleme Derneği, ÇYDD).
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Metin Göktepe
- Occupations
- journalist
- Biography
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Metin Göktepe was a Kurdish photojournalist who was tortured and murdered in police custody in Istanbul on January 8, 1996.
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Aziz Kocaoğlu
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Aziz Kocaoğlu is a Turkish politician who was Mayor of İzmir, Turkey's third largest city, from 2004 to 2019.
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Suat Hayri Ürgüplü
- Occupations
- diplomatpoliticianjurist
- Biography
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Ali Suat Hayri Ürgüplü was a Turkish politician who served a brief term as Prime Minister of Turkey in 1965. He was also the last Prime Minister to be born outside the territory of present-day Turkey, being born in Damascus, which was then part of the Ottoman Empire.
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Mehmet Nuri Ersoy
- Occupations
- businessperson
- Biography
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Mehmet Nuri Ersoy is a Turkish businessman and current Minister of Culture and Tourism.
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Nimet Baş
- Occupations
- lawyerjuristpoliticianminister
- Biography
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Nimet Baş is a Turkish politician and lawyer. She has been the Member of Parliament from the Justice and Development Party since 2002. She was the Minister of State (2005–2009) and the Minister of National Education (2009–2011).
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Köksal Toptan
- Occupations
- politicianlawyer
- Biography
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Köksal Toptan is a Turkish lawyer, politician and a member of the Justice and Development Party. He earlier served as government minister in three cabinets. He was the speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey between August 2007 and August 2009.
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Bülent Ortaçgil
- Occupations
- singercomposersongwriter
- Biography
-
Bülent Ortaçgil is a Turkish composer and singer.
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Kanae Yamamoto
- Years
- 1971-.. (age 53)
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Kanae Yamamoto is a Japanese politician of the New Komeito Party, a member of the House of Councillors in the Diet (national legislature). A native of Hiroshima Prefecture and graduate of Kyoto University, she joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1995, attending Istanbul University while in the ministry. In 2001, after leaving the ministry, she was elected to the House of Councillors for the first time.
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Mercan Dede
- Occupations
- musiciancomposer
- Biography
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Mercan Dede, also known as DJ Arkin Allen, is a Turkish-Canadian composer, ney and bendir player, DJ, and producer. He is a world music artist, playing a fusion of traditional acoustic Turkish and other oriental styles with electronic sounds. Dede has worked in collaboration with Turkish and international musicians, such as Susheela Raman, Azam Ali, Dhafer Youssef, Sheema Mukherjee (Transglobal Underground), and Hugh Marsh.
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Beril Dedeoğlu
- Occupations
- politicianuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Hatice Beril Dedeoğlu was a Turkish academic who served as the Minister of European Union Affairs in the interim election government led by Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu between 22 September and 17 November 2015. Having taken over from the previous interim cabinet minister Ali Haydar Konca following his resignation, Dedeoğlu served until Davutoğlu formed a new government after the November 2015 snap general election. She was, as required by the Constitution, of no political affiliation and was one of two women to serve in the interim cabinet, the other being Family and Social Policy Minister Ayşen Gürcan.
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Cihat Yaycı
- Occupations
- university teacherwritersoldier
- Biography
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Cihat Yaycı is a Turkish author, former rear admiral, and theoretician of the irredentist and expansionist strategic doctrine known as "Blue Homeland".
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Ahmet Selçuk İlkan
- Occupations
- writersongwriterpoet
- Biography
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Ahmet Selçuk İlkan is a Turkish poet and songwriter.
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Ömer Dinçer
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Ömer Dinçer is a Turkish politician and academician. Before being a member of the Turkish parliament, he taught at Marmara University for years and published many papers in his field.
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İlhan Selçuk
- Occupations
- journalistwriterlawyer
- Biography
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İlhan Selçuk was a Turkish lawyer, journalist, author, novelist and editor.
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Orkun Işıtmak
- Occupations
- television producerYouTuber
- Biography
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Orkuncan Işıtmak, better known as Orkun Işıtmak, is a Turkish YouTuber known for producing a variety of videos.
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Murat Başesgioğlu
- Occupations
- politicianlawyer
- Biography
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Murat Başesgioğlu is a Turkish politician who was a Minister of State of Turkey and Member of the Turkish Parliament for Kastamonu for the ruling Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (AK Party).
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Mehmet Güreli
- Occupations
- film directorpainterwritermusician
- Biography
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Mehmet Güreli is a Turkish writer, painter, director and musician. He graduated from Istanbul University, majoring in philosophy. He started working for the Hürriyet newspaper in 1976. He is noted for his work across numerous art media.
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Nurhan Atasoy
- Occupations
- art historian
- Biography
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Nurhan Atasoy is a Turkish art historian. She specializes in history of Ottoman and Islamic art. She served as a chair in the Department of Fine Arts, Archeology and Art History at Istanbul University until 1999 when she retired. She is a resident scholar of the Turkish Cultural Foundation.
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Raghib al-Nashashibi
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Raghib al-Nashashibi, CBE (hon), was a wealthy landowner and public figure in Palestine during the Ottoman Empire, the British Mandate and the Jordanian administration. He was a member of the Nashashibi clan, one of the most influential families in Palestine, and mayor of Jerusalem from 1920 to 1934.
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İsmail Hakkı Uzunçarşılı
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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İsmail Hakkı Uzunçarşılı was a Turkish politician, educator and historian, who was a member of parliament and the Turkish Historical Association. In the early 1950s he was one of the contributors of the history magazine Tarih Dünyası.
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Hilmi Ziya Ülken
- Occupations
- sociologistwriterphilosopher
- Biography
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Hilmi Ziya Ülken was a Turkish scholar and writer who had an influential role in the development of sociological and philosophical views in Turkey. In addition to his scientific work, he produced literary work, including poems.
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Rahim Rahmanzadeh
- Occupations
- surgeon
- Biography
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Rahim Rahmanzadeh is an Iranian-German academic, physician and surgeon at the University of Berlin and University of Mainz. Rahmanzadeh is president of the International Center for Bone and Joint Surgery in Berlin.
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Sibel Siber
- Occupations
- physicianpolitician
- Biography
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Sibel Siber is a Turkish Cypriot politician. She served as the Prime Minister of Northern Cyprus between 13 June 2013, following the fall of the government of İrsen Küçük in a vote of no confidence, and 2 September 2013. She was the first woman to occupy this post. As of November 2015, Siber was the Speaker of Parliament, the Assembly of the Republic of Northern Cyprus. She was the second woman to occupy this post, after Fatma Ekenoğlu.
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Cemil Sait Barlas
- Occupations
- politicianjournalist
- Biography
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Cemil Sait Barlas was a Turkish judge, politician and journalist. He served as government minister.
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Masud Sabri
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Masud Sabri, also known as Masʿūd Ṣabrī, was an ethnic Uyghur politician of the Republic of China who served as the governor of Xinjiang during the Ili Rebellion. He received education at Kulja and Istanbul and was a Pan-Turkist. Chiang Kai-shek appointed him the first Uyghur governor of Xinjiang.
