Ruhsar Pekcan (born 1958) is a politician and electrical engineer who served as the

Minister of Trade A Commerce minister (sometimes business minister, industry minister, trade minister or international trade minister) is a position in many governments that is responsible for regulating external trade and promoting economic growth (commercial polic ...

of Turkey between 2018 and 2021.

Professional career

Pekcan started her professional career joining the development and investment bank (). After working at different positions in several companies, she became a member of executive boards. In 2005, she co-founded an engineering company, which supplies pipelines for drinking water, irrigation, petroleum and natural gas. She was the managing director of the company. She was chairperson of the Turkey-Syria business councils of the Turkish Foreign Economic Relations Corporation ( tr, Dış Ekonomik İlişkiler Kurumu, DEİK) on three occasions. She served as the chairperson of the Turkey-Jordan business council, and as a member of the executive boards of the Turkey-Iraq and Turkey-Libya business councils of the same corporation. She served as deputy chairperson of the women entrepreneurs committee at the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB), and as a member of women entrepreneurs committee at the

Istanbul Chamber of Commerce The Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (ICOC) () is an institution that organizes and records the commercial transactions of individuals and commercial institutions located in Istanbul; in addition the ICOC also keeps records for these companies. The a ...

(İTO) as well as some other business organizations. Pekcan is recipient of the ''IWEC 2010 Award'', and she was named ''Global Ambassador of IWEC''.

Political career

On 9 July 2018, the newly elected President of Turkey

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 ...

announced his cabinet of the new Turkish political system. Ruhsar Pekcan was appointed

. On 16 April 2021, it was claimed that Ruhsar Pekcan sold disinfectants to her ministry from the company which she owned with her husband in 2020. Some opposite politicians also asked to Ruhsar Pekcan about these claims. On 20 April 2021, the Ministry of Trade confirmed the purchases but stated the amounts was less. She was succeeded by AKP's parliamentary group chairman Mehmet Muş on 21 April 2021.

Private life

Ruhsar Pekcan was born in Manisa, Turkey in 1958. She was educated in electrical engineering at Istanbul Technical University. Following her bachelor's degree, she obtained a master's degree from the same faculty. She is married with two children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pekcan, Ruhsar Living people 1958 births People from Manisa Istanbul Technical University alumni Turkish electrical engineers Turkish businesspeople Turkish business executives Women government ministers of Turkey Government ministers of Turkey Ministers of customs and trade of Turkey Members of the 66th government of Turkey 21st-century Turkish businesspeople 21st-century Turkish businesswomen 21st-century Turkish women politicians 20th-century Turkish businesspeople 20th-century Turkish businesswomen 20th-century Turkish women politicians Turkish women engineers