Aytun Çıray (born 1957,

Bayındır Bayındır is a district of İzmir Province of Turkey and the central town of the district which is situated in the valley of the Küçük Menderes. The cited information may be out of date. History Its name in classical antiquity was Caystrus ...

) is a

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

politician who currently serves as the general secretary of the İYİ Party since 25 October 2017. He is currently 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 Izmir's second electoral district, having first been elected in the 2011 general election. He is a former member of the

Republican People's Party The Republican People's Party ( tr, Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi, , acronymized as CHP ) is a Kemalist and social-democratic political party in Turkey which currently stands as the main opposition party. It is also the oldest political party ...

(CHP) and the Democrat Party (DP).

Early life and career

Çıray was born in 1957 in

, a district of

İzmir Province İzmir Province ( tr, İzmir ili) is a province and metropolitan municipality of Turkey in western Anatolia, situated along the Aegean coast. Its capital is the city of İzmir, which is in itself composed of the province's central 11 distri ...

. He graduated from

Ege University Ege University or Aegean University ( tr, Ege Üniversitesi) is a public research university in Bornova, İzmir. It was founded in 1955 with the faculties of Medicine and Agriculture. It is the first university to start courses in İzmir and the ...

Faculty of Medicine and specialised in internal illnesses. He later worked as an undersecretary to the Ministry of Health and as an advisor to the

Prime Minister of Turkey The prime minister of the Republic of Turkey (Turkish language, Turkish: ''Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Başbakanı'') was the head of government of the Republic of Turkey from 1920 to 2018, who led a political coalition in the Grand National Assembly of ...

. He later joined the private sector and held positions in the executives of Petkim, Erdemir and İsdemir. He was the chairman on behalf of

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

during the 2nd Health Plan loan agreement talks with the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...

. He can speak

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

to an advanced degree.

Political career

DYP, ANAP and DP

In the 1995 general election, Çıray became a prospective parliamentary candidate for the İzmir electoral district from the True Path Party (DYP). In primary elections to determine the party's candidate lists, he placed third but was knocked back to fifth place by the order of the party executive. His party did not receive enough votes in İzmir for him to be elected. Çıray became a prospective candidate for a second time for the 1999 general election. He placed first on his party's primary list but was barred from standing by the DYP executive. He subsequently left the party and joined the rival centre-right Motherland Party (ANAP). Despite becoming ANAP's second top candidate for İzmir in the 2002 general election, the party fell below the 10% election threshold needed to win seats and was therefore not elected. In 2007, Çıray joined the Democrat Party and stood for the party leadership in the congress the same year. Although he admitted that he was one of the three top highest polling candidates, he withdrew from the election after criticising the conduct.

Republican People's Party (CHP)

In the 2011 general election, Çıray 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 İzmir's second electoral district from the

(CHP). He was re-elected in the June 2015 general election and the November 2015 snap general election. He announced his resignation from the CHP in October 2017, accusing the opposition parties of being uninterested in formulating solutions for problems faced by voters.

İYİ Party

Çıray announced that he would join the new party being formed by Meral Akşener in an attempt to 'search for solutions for people's problems'. The new party was announced on 25 October 2017, with the name being unveiled as the İYİ Party. Çıray was appointed as the party's first general secretary by Akşener, becoming the first and most prominent CHP defector to join the new party.

References