Halil Mutlu (born 1971) is a Turkish-born physician, political lobbyist and community activist living in the United States of America. Mutlu is currently serving as a board member of the Turkish American Steering Committee (TASC) and is a former chair of the Türken Foundation which is thought to be closely tied to and probably sponsored by the Turkish Government. His father Kemal is the uncle of

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician serving as the List of presidents of Turkey, 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as prime minister of Turkey from 2003 to 2014 and as Lis ...

which makes Mutlu a cousin of Turkey's current leader. Mutlu has met with former US Vice President

Mike Pence Michael Richard Pence (born June 7, 1959) is an American politician who served as the 48th vice president of the United States from 2017 to 2021 under President Donald Trump. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 50th ...

and retired Army Lt. Gen. and former US national security advisor Michael T. Flynn. Halil Mutlu was born in Güneysu in 1971 and grew up in Turkey. He attended Medical School at

Selçuk University Selçuk University ( tr, Selçuk Üniversitesi) is a state-owned higher educational institution which was founded 1975 in Konya, Turkey. It is one of the largest universities in Turkey with a student body of 63,000 of which 2,200 are foreign stu ...

in the city of

Konya Konya () is a major city in central Turkey, on the southwestern edge of the Central Anatolian Plateau, and is the capital of Konya Province. During antiquity and into Seljuk times it was known as Iconium (), although the Seljuks also called it D ...

in the Central Anatolia Region of Turkey and after graduation became an emergency physician. While staying in the United States for an academic visit, he became a licensed physician, was allowed to practice in the US and specialized in internal medicine at University of Massachusetts Medical School. Mutlu is working at the Baystate Medical Center in Springfield Massachusetts since 2010.

Political Activities

In July 2016, immediately in the aftermath of the coup attempt in Turkey, Mutlu drove to Saylorsburg with a carload of friends and participated in a protest outside the residency of preacher and political figure

Fethullah Gülen Muhammed Fethullah Gülen (born 27 April 1941) is a Turkish Islamic scholar, preacher, and a one-time opinion leader, as de facto leader of the Gülen movement. Gülen is designated an influential neo-Ottomanist, Anatolian panethnicist, Isla ...

who he accused of being behind the coup attempt – a claim which is strongly doubted by US officials and international intelligence experts and could not be backed by evidence.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mutlu, Halil Living people 1971 births Erdoğan family People from Güneysu