Ümit Özdağ (born 3 March 1961) is a Turkish politician and current Member of the

Grand National Assembly of Turkey The Grand National Assembly of Turkey ( tr, ), usually referred to simply as the TBMM or Parliament ( tr, or ''Parlamento''), is the unicameral Turkish legislature. It is the sole body given the legislative prerogatives by the Turkish Consti ...

. He was deputy leader of the

Nationalist Movement Party The Nationalist Movement Party (alternatively translated as Nationalist Action Party; tr, Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi, MHP) is a Turkish far-right and ultranationalist political party. The group is often described as neo-fascist, and has been ...

(MHP) from November 2015 to February 2016. He announced his candidacy for the party leadership for the 8th MHP Ordinary Congress in 2006, but had his membership revoked two days later. After returning to the party following a successful lawsuit, he again announced his candidacy for the MHP leadership in April 2016 for the 2016 Nationalist Movement Party Extraordinary Congress, which was eventually called off after numerous legal disputes. He had his party membership revoked by the MHP High Disciplinary Board on 15 November 2016 joined the

İYİ Party The Good Party ( Turkish: ''İyi Parti'') is a nationalist, national conservative, Kemalist, and liberal democrat political party in Turkey, established on 25 October 2017 by its current leader Meral Akşener. Their fraternal party is the liber ...

. In April 2019, he resigned from party's executive board but announced that he will continue to be in the party and continue his party-related activities. On 16 November 2020, Özdağ was also dismissed from the İYİ Party.

Early life and career

Ümit Özdağ was born on 3 March 1961 in Tokyo, Japan, where his father Muzaffer Özdağ served as a Turkish government advisor. His mother, Gönül Özdağ, would go on to serve as the first MHP Women's Wing President. His father was a close ally of MHP founder

Alparslan Türkeş Alparslan Türkeş (; 25 November 1917 – 4 April 1997) was a Turkish politician, who was the founder and president of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and the Grey Wolves ''(Ülkü Ocakları)''. He represented the far-right of the Turkish ...

and served as a member of the National Unity Committee that was installed following the

1960 Turkish coup d'état The 1960 Turkish coup d'état ( tr, 27 Mayıs Darbesi) was the first Turkish coup d'état, coup d'état in the Turkey, Republic of Turkey. It took place on May 27, 1960. The coup was staged by a group of 38 young Turkish Armed Forces, Turkish m ...

. Özdağ studied philosophy, politics and economics at the

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's sixth-oldest university in continuous operatio ...

, before completing a master's degree on Turkish strategic development and state planning institutions. He married Dr. Burçin Özdağ and has one child.

Academic career

In 1986, Özdağ joined the Faculty of Economic and Administrative Sciences at

Gazi University Gazi University ( tr, Gazi Üniversitesi) is a public university primarily located in Ankara, Turkey. It was established in 1926 by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk as Gazi Teacher Training Institute. In 1982, it was reorganized by merging with the Bolu ...

as a research fellow. In 1990, he completed a doctorate on military-political affairs in the Atatürk and İnönü period. In 1993, he became a

docent The title of docent is conferred by some European universities to denote a specific academic appointment within a set structure of academic ranks at or below the full professor rank, similar to a British readership, a French " ''maître de conf ...

in political theory following his work on the 1960 military coup and political-military relations in the

Adnan Menderes Adnan Menderes (; 1899 – 17 September 1961) 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 ...

era. In 1994, Özdağ became the editor of an international relations and strategic research magazine named ''Avrasya Dosyası'' (Eurasia Files). Following research into terrorism and ethnic divisions in the late 1980s, he conducted sociopolitical ground research in the east and southeastern Anatolia regions of Turkey in 1995. Between 1997 and 1998, Özdağ conducted research and gave lectures on globalisation and ethnic issues in Eurasia in

Towson University Towson University (TU or Towson) is a public university in Towson, Maryland. Founded in 1866 as Maryland's first training school for teachers, Towson University is a part of the University System of Maryland. Since its founding, the university h ...

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, United States. He founded the Eurasian Strategic Research Centre (ASAM) in 1999, and launched the Armenian Research Institute in 2000. He served as the President and chair of the executive board of ASAM until 2004. Becoming a Professor in 2001, he left Gazi University in 2005 and became the President of the 21st Century Turkey Institute in the same year.

Political career

First MHP leadership bid

In 2006, Özdağ announced his candidacy for the leadership of the

(MHP). His candidacy was rejected and his party membership was revoked two days later, with incumbent leader

Devlet Bahçeli Devlet Bahçeli (born 1 January 1948) is a Turkish politician, economist, former deputy prime minister, and current chairman of the far-right, ultranationalist Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). An academic in economics from Gazi University, Ba ...

being re-elected. Özdağ subsequently returned to

as a lecturer. He returned to the MHP in 2010 following a successful lawsuit, being fielded as a parliamentary candidate from İstanbul's second electoral district for the 2011 general election. Being in fourth place in his party's candidate list, he was not elected.

Second MHP leadership bid

During the 11th Nationalist Movement Party Ordinary Congress, he was elected as a member of the MHP Central Executive Committee. He was elected as a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for

Gaziantep Gaziantep (), previously and still informally called Aintab or Antep (), is a major city and capital of the Gaziantep Province, in the westernmost part of Turkey's Southeastern Anatolia Region and partially in the Mediterranean Region, approximat ...

in the June 2015 general election and was re-elected in the November 2015 general election. On 14 November, he became a Deputy Leader of the Party responsible for the Turkish world and international relations. Özdağ resigned as deputy leader on 24 February 2016, calling for the party to hold an extraordinary congress following its heavy defeat in the November 2015 election. He announced his candidacy for the party leadership on 9 April 2016 after fellow leadership candidates began collecting delegate signatures for an extraordinary congress. The process of holding the 2016 Nationalist Movement Party Extraordinary Congress became embroiled in legal disputes and was eventually disbanded after an intervention from the Supreme Electoral Council of Turkey. On 20 October, Özdağ was again referred to the MHP High Disciplinary Board pending dismissal from the party, which took effect on 15 November 2016. Özdağ claimed that his dismissal also originated from his opposition to an

executive presidency An executive president is the head of state who exercises authority over the governance of that state, and can be found in presidential, semi-presidential, and parliamentary systems. They contrast with figurehead presidents, common in most parli ...

, which Devlet Bahçeli supported. The MHP announced that they would jointly draft a new constitution that included an executive presidency with the governing

Justice and Development Party Justice and Development Party may refer to several political parties, the best-known ones being: * Justice and Development Party (Morocco) * Justice and Development Party (Turkey) Justice and Development Party may also refer to: * Justice and Dev ...

(AKP) in October 2016.

References

External links

MP profile on the Grand National Assembly websitePersonal websitePersonal twitter
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ozdag, Umit Living people Nationalist Movement Party politicians Members of the 25th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 26th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 27th Parliament of Turkey Turkish academics Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni Deputies of Gaziantep People from Tokyo Gazi University alumni 1961 births People of Kumyk descent Former Good Party politicians