İlhan Kesici (born 22 November 1948) is a

Turkish Turkish may refer to: * Something related to Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire * The w ...

politician from the

Republican People's Party The Republican People's Party (RPP; , CHP ) is a Kemalism, Kemalist and Social democracy, social democratic political party in Turkey. It is the oldest List of political parties in Turkey, political party in Turkey, founded by Mustafa Kemal ...

(CHP), who has served as the Member of Parliament for Istanbul's first electoral district since 2015. He previously served as a CHP MP for the same district from 2007 to 2011 and as an MP for

Bursa Bursa () is a city in northwestern Turkey and the administrative center of Bursa Province. The fourth-most populous city in Turkey and second-most populous in the Marmara Region, Bursa is one of the industrial centers of the country. Most of ...

from 1995 to 1999 while he was a member of the Motherland Party (ANAP). In August 2015, he was offered a ministerial position in the interim election government formed by Prime Minister

Ahmet Davutoğlu Ahmet Davutoğlu (; born 26 February 1959) is a Turkish academic, politician and former diplomat who served as the List of Prime Ministers of Turkey, 26th Prime Minister of Turkey and Leader of the Justice and Development Party (Turkey), Justice ...

, which he turned down.

Early life and career

İlhan Kesici was born on 22 November 1948 in

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Sivas Province Sivas Province () is a province of Turkey. It is located in the eastern part of the Central Anatolia region of Turkey. Its area is 28,164 km2 (the second largest province after Konya), and its population is 634,924 (2022). Its adjacent prov ...

and graduated from

Middle East Technical University Middle East Technical University (commonly referred to as METU; in Turkish language, Turkish, ''Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi'', ODTÜ) is a prestigious public university, public Institute of technology, technical university located in Ankara, ...

Faculty of Industrial Engineering. He obtained a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

from the same university. He later studied at the

University of Bradford The University of Bradford is a public research university located in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. A plate glass university, it received its royal charter in 1966, making it the 40th university to be created in Britain, but ...

Project Planning Centre in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, where he focused on development and infrastructure projects. He also studied high public management at the

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(RIPA).

Employment

Kesici began work at the

Turkish State Railways The State Railways of the Republic of Turkey (), abbreviated as TCDD, is a government-owned national railway company responsible for the ownership and maintenance of railways in Turkey, as well as the planning and construction of new lines. TCDD ...

(TCDD) Research, Planning and Coordination Department, as a chief project engineer in 1972. He became the deputy manager of the Research, Planning and Coordination Department in 1977. In 1979, he joined the state planning organisation in the Prime Ministry of Turkey and worked as an expert in the Transport and Communications Sector. He became the manager of the state planning organisation in 1981 and became general director in 1984. In 1985, he became the Deputy Permanent Representative of Turkey to the

European Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organisation created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...

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. In 1987, he returned to the state planning organisation to become an advisor to the organisation undersecretary, later becoming the undersecretary in 1991. He was appointed as a member of the Council of Higher Education (YÖK) in the same year.

Political career

1994–1999

Kesici became the Motherland Party (ANAP) candidate for the Mayor of

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

in the 1994 local elections, losing narrowly to

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician who is the 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as the 25th prime minister of Turkey, prime minister from 2003 to 2014 as part of the Jus ...

from the

Welfare Party The Welfare Party (, RP) was an Islamist political party in Turkey. It was founded by Ali Türkmen, Ahmet Tekdal, and Necmettin Erbakan in Ankara in 1983 as heir to two earlier parties, National Order Party (MNP) and National Salvation Party ...

(RP). He became a Member of Parliament for the

electoral district An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

in the 1995 general election. As an MP, he was a member of the Foreign Relations Commission, a member of the Turkish delegation to the

NATO Parliamentary Assembly The NATO Parliamentary Assembly serves as the consultative interparliamentary organisation for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). It consists of delegates from the parliaments of the 32 NATO member countries as well as from associate ...

and a member of the

Turkey-EU Joint Parliamentary Committee ''The Turkey-EU Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC)'' is established on the basis of the European Parliament’s resolution of 14 May 1965 and the resolutions of the Turkish National Assembly and the Turkish Senate, adopted respectively on 22 June ...

2007–present

On 22 May 2007, Kesici became a member of the

(CHP) and was elected as an MP for Istanbul's first electoral district in the 2007 general election. He was again a member of the Foreign Relations Commission and the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. He resigned from the CHP on 28 September 2010 and subsequently stood down at the end of the Parliament in 2011. He rejoined the CHP before the June 2015 general election, in which he was again elected as an MP for Istanbul's first electoral district. He was again appointed as a member of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. Kesici was one of the five CHP politicians who were offered ministerial positions by

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 ...

leader

in August 2015. Davutoğlu had been tasked by President

to form an interim election government after coalition negotiations proved unsuccessful and resulted in Erdoğan calling an early election. Since the CHP had 131 MPs during the formation of the interim government, the party was entitled to 5 ministries in the cabinet, though Kılıçdaroğlu announced that the CHP would not take part and give up their five ministries to

independent politicians An independent politician or non-affiliated politician is a politician not affiliated with any political party or Bureaucracy, bureaucratic association. There are numerous reasons why someone may stand for office as an independent. Some politicia ...

. Kesici subsequently declined Davutoğlu's offer, as did the four other CHP MPs that had been offered ministerial positions.

References

External links

Official WebsiteMP profile on the Grand National Assembly website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kesici, Ilhan 1948 births Living people People from Zara, Turkey Deputies of Istanbul Deputies of Bursa Middle East Technical University alumni Contemporary Republican People's Party (Turkey) politicians Motherland Party (Turkey) politicians Members of the 27th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 26th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 25th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 23rd Parliament of Turkey Members of the 20th Parliament of Turkey Turkish civil servants Members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Members of the 28th Parliament of Turkey