Akif Çağatay Kılıç (born 15 June 1976) is a Turkish educator, politician, an MP for

Samsun Province Samsun Province ( tr, Samsun ili) is a province of Turkey on the Black Sea coast with a population of 1,252,693 (2010). Its adjacent provinces are Sinop on the northwest, Çorum on the west, Amasya on the south, Tokat on the southeast on the ea ...

of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), and the former Minister of Youth and Sports of Turkey. In September 2016, Kılıç was involved in controversy when after an interview with Michel Friedman on DW-TV's "Conflict Zone", the Turkish government seized the recording. In September 2016, Deutsche Welle filed a lawsuit against Turkish Sports Ministry over the seized interview.

Early life

Akif Çağatay Kılıç was born on 15 June 1976 to Sinan Kılıç and Behire Yıldız in

Siegen Siegen () is a city in Germany, in the south Westphalian part of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located in the district of Siegen-Wittgenstein in the Arnsberg region. The university town (nearly 20,000 students in the 2018–2019 winter semest ...

, North Rhine-Westphalia,

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

. His grandfather İlyas Kılıç was a politician of the Republican People's Party (CHP), who served five consecutive times as MP between 1961 and 1980. His father Sinan Kılıç served as a private physician of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan during his office time as the

Mayor of Istanbul This is a list of mayors of Istanbul, Turkey. This covers the Ottoman Empire to the modern day; the name of the city in English is Constantinople during the Ottoman period and in the Republican era until 1930. Ottoman Empire During 1453–18 ...

in the 1990s. He studied Political Science at

University of Hertfordshire The University of Hertfordshire (UH) is a public university in Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. The university is based largely in Hatfield, Hertfordshire. Its antecedent institution, Hatfield Technical College, was founded in 1948 and was ident ...

in the United Kingdom."Akif Çağatay Kılıç kimdir?"
.''Vatan'', 26 December 2013 He attended further studies in

Economy of Europe The economy of Europe comprises about 748 million people in 50 countries. The formation of the European Union (EU) and in 1999 the introduction of a unified currency, the Euro, brought participating European countries closer through the ...

. Çağatay Kılıç is married to Eda Kılıç, and they have two daughters, Ela and Ece.

Career

Profession

He worked in the purchasing department of

Sabancı Holding Hacı Ömer Sabancı Holding A.Ş., commonly abbreviated as Sabancı Holding, is an industrial and financial conglomerate with headquarters in Istanbul, Turkey. The company's primary activities are in financial services, energy (electricity generat ...

's Universal Trading Company in the UK. Returned to Turkey, he was appointed advisor in the headquarters of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in 2003. Later, Çağatay Kılıç served as advisor and assistant principal clerk of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Politics

Kılıç entered active politics running for a seat in 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 Const ...

in the 2011 general election, and was elected as an MP of

from the AKP. He was appointed a member of the Turkish group at the

NATO Parliamentary Assembly Founded in 1955, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly (NATO PA) serves as the consultative interparliamentary organisation for the North Atlantic Alliance. Its current President is Gerald E. Connolly from the United States, elected in 2019. Its curre ...

. On 26 December 2013, Çağatay Kılıç assumed office as the Minister of Youth and Sports, succeeding Suat Kılıç during Erdoğan's cabinet reshuffle with ten new names that was announced the day before, on 25 December, following the

2013 corruption scandal in Turkey The 2013 corruption scandal in Turkey or 17-25 December Corruption and Bribery Operation was a criminal investigation that involved several key people in the Turkish government. All of the 52 people detained on 17 December were connected in va ...

. At the age of 37, he became the youngest member of the cabinet.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kilic, Akif Cagatay 1976 births People from Siegen Deutsche Schule Istanbul alumni Alumni of the University of Hertfordshire Turkish expatriates in the United Kingdom Justice and Development Party (Turkey) politicians Deputies of Samsun Ministers of Youth and Sports of Turkey Living people Members of the 26th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 25th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 24th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 65th government of Turkey Members of the 64th government of Turkey Members of the 63rd government of Turkey Recipients of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany