Aydın Ünal (born 1970) is a Turkish politician from the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) who currently serves as a Member of Parliament for Ankara's second electoral district. He was first elected in the June 2015 general election and was re-elected in November 2015.

Early life and career

Aydın Ünal was born in

Keçiören Keçiören is a municipality and metropolitan district of Ankara Province, Turkey. Its area is 159 km2, and its population is 939,279 (2022). It is a crowded district in the northern part of the city of Ankara. Its elevation is . The Çubuk ...

Ankara Province Ankara Province (, ) is a province and metropolitan municipality of Turkey with the capital city Ankara. Its area is 25,632 km2, and its population is 5,782,285 (2022). History The site of the modern city has been home to settlements ...

in 1970. He is originally from Ankara's Güdül district. After completing his secondary and high-school education in Ankara, he studied at the

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 Scientific Literature Department of Chemistry before graduating from

Hacettepe University Hacettepe University () is a public research university in Ankara, Turkey. It was established on 8 July 1967. It is ranked first among the Turkish universities by University Ranking by Academic Performance in 2021. The university has two main c ...

Faculty of Education as an English teacher. He later wrote in several magazines and newspapers before writing numerous poems and stories.

Political career

In 2002, he was appointed as an advisor to the

Minister of State Minister of state is a designation for a government minister, with varying meanings in different jurisdictions. In a number of European countries, the title is given as an honorific conferring a higher rank, often bestowed upon senior minister ...

responsible for the

Economy An economy is an area of the Production (economics), production, Distribution (economics), distribution and trade, as well as Consumption (economics), consumption of Goods (economics), goods and Service (economics), services. In general, it is ...

. He went on to serve as an advisor to the

Prime Minister of Turkey The prime minister of Turkey, officially the prime minister of the Republic of Turkey (), was the head of government of the Turkey, Republic of Turkey from 1920 to 2018, who led a political coalition in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, Tu ...

, the Chief Undersecretary to the Prime Minister and later to the

President of Turkey The president of Turkey, officially the president of the Republic of Türkiye (), is the head of state and head of government of Turkey. The president directs the executive branch of the national government and is the commander-in-chief of the ...

. Between 2007 and 2015, he wrote articles for

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 ...

. In 2016, he caused controversy for suggesting that the Office of the Prime Minister would be occupied by a 'low profile' politician focusing only on technical issues after the resignation of

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 ...

. In the June 2015 general election, he was elected as a Member of Parliament for Ankara's second electoral district from the Justice and Development Party and was re-elected in the November 2015 general election. He served as a member of the Turkish delegation at 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 ...

in the 25th and 26th Parliaments, while also serving as a member of the Parliamentary Human Rights Investigatory Commission in the 26th Parliament. In December 2017, Ünal published an editorial in the

Yeni Şafak ''Yeni Şafak'' ("New Dawn") is a conservative, Islamist Turkish daily newspaper. The newspaper is known for its hardline support of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the AK Party and has a very close relationship with the Turkish government. ...

listing the names of nine Turkish journalists in exile and seemed to suggest they would be targets for assassination, saying, “Better to get ready for intra-organization extrajudicial killings instead of carrying out operations over judicial theater.”

References

External links

MP profile on the Grand National Assembly websiteCollection of all relevant news items at Haberler.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Unal, Aydin 1970 births Justice and Development Party (Turkey) politicians Hacettepe University alumni Members of the 25th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 26th Parliament of Turkey Deputies of Ankara People from Keçiören People from Güdül Living people