Ali İhsan Arslan (more commonly referred to as Mücahit Arslan) 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

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 ...

(AKP) who has served as a Member of Parliament for Ankara's first electoral district since 7 June 2015. He is the son of

İhsan Arslan Mehmet İhsan Arslan (born 1 January 1948 in Sason) is a Turkish businessman and politician of Kurdish origin, a founding member of the deputy for the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and also a former member of the Grand National Assembly of ...

, the two-term AKP MP from

Diyarbakır Diyarbakır is the largest Kurdish-majority city in Turkey. It is the administrative center of Diyarbakır Province. Situated around a high plateau by the banks of the Tigris river on which stands the historic Diyarbakır Fortress, it is ...

between 2002 and 2011. As one of the closest advisors to former Prime Minister and incumbent President

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 ...

, Arslan has been described as the Turkish media as Erdoğan's "secret-keeper" and "most secretive" advisor. His candidacy to become an MP in the June 2015 general election was viewed by many commentators as Erdoğan's attempt to dominate his former party with politicians loyal to him in order to maintain his influence in the political process.

Early life

Ali İhsan Arslan was born in

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

, but states that he actually originates from

. He claims that his has always been referred to by the name ''Mücahit'' from the day he was born, with his mother only finding out that his official name recorded on his

identity card An identity document (abbreviated as ID) is a documentation, document proving a person's Identity (social science), identity. If the identity document is a plastic card it is called an ''identity card'' (abbreviated as ''IC'' or ''ID card''). ...

was ''Ali İhsan'' after taking him to the doctors for a vaccination. Arslan himself reports that he first heard him being called ''Ali İhsan'' when he first started primary school, claiming that all his friends and family refer to him by the name ''Mücahit''. Arslan's father is

, who served as a Member of Parliament for

between 2002 and 2011. İhsan Arslan, who also worked for the pro-Gülen '' Zaman'' newspaper, was known for his close ties with the

Gülen Movement The Gülen movement () or Hizmet movement () is an Islamist fraternal movement. It is a sub-sect of Sunni Islam based on a Nursian theological perspective as reflected in Fethullah Gülen's religious teachings. It is referred to by its membe ...

headed by exiled cleric

Fethullah Gülen Muhammed Fethullah Gülen (27 April 1941 – 20 October 2024) was a Turkish Ulama, Muslim scholar, preacher, and leader of the Gülen movement who as of 2016 had millions of followers. Gülen was an influential Neo-Ottomanism, neo-Ottomanist, A ...

. He was reported to have been an architect of the now-falsified

Ergenekon Ergenekon is a Turkish term that may refer to: *The Epic of Ergenekon, the founding myth of Turkic and Mongolic peoples * Necabettin Ergenekon (1926-2020), Turkish officer *Ergenekon, Turkish name of Agios Chariton, a village in Cyprus *Ergenekon ...

and

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coup trials, when he was reported to have been a 'gang leader' in developing the trial documents that would lead to the wrongful imprisonment of several military officers and pro-opposition journalists.

Political career

Advisor to Recep Tayyip Erdoğan

Arslan claims that he first met

in the latter half of the 1990s, through their mutual associate

Ömer Çelik Ömer Çelik (born 15 June 1968) is a Turkish journalist and politician. Between 24 January 2013 and 28 August 2015 he served as Minister of Culture and Tourism. He served as the Minister of European Union Affairs and as the Chief Negotiator f ...

. As one of his closest advisors, Arslan was called Erdoğan's 'secret keeper'. When asked about this claim, Arslan stated that knowing about Erdoğan's actions did not necessarily make him a secret keeper. He also stated that their close relationship had also led to exchanges in personal information, though these were far from 'state secrets' according to Arslan. Numerous claims were made about Arslan and Erdoğan's history by the media, which have commonly referred to Arslan as one of Erdoğan's 'deepest' workers who was sceptical of photo and video opportunities. It was reported by a magazine named ''Tempo'' that Arslan was present during the controversial meeting between US President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

and Erdoğan before the latter became Prime Minister and that Arslan's family have links to the

Kurdistan Workers' Party The Kurdistan Workers' Party, or the PKK, isDespite the PKK's 12th Congress announcing plans for total organisational dissolution, the PKK has not yet been dissolved de facto or de jure. a Kurds, Kurdish militant political organization and armed ...

(PKK) and

Hezbollah Hezbollah ( ; , , ) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and paramilitary group. Hezbollah's paramilitary wing is the Jihad Council, and its political wing is the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc party in the Lebanese Parliament. I ...

. He is also allegedly a critic of former President

Abdullah Gül Abdullah Gül (; ; born 29 October 1950) is a Turkish politician who served as the 11th president of Turkey from 2007 to 2014. He previously served for four months as Prime Minister of Turkey, Prime Minister from 2002 to 2003, and concurrently s ...

Member of Parliament

Arslan was formally put forward as an AKP parliamentary candidate for Ankara's first electoral district before the June 2015 general election. His candidacy caused commotion about whether Erdoğan, by this time 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 ...

, was behind the decision to put him forward, due to his close affiliation with the Presidency. Arslan's candidacy was seen as an attempt by Erdoğan to keep his influence over the AKP. Arslan was part of the AKP's delegation during eventually unsuccessful negotiations with 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) over the possible formation of a

grand coalition A grand coalition is an arrangement in a multi-party parliamentary system in which the two largest political party, political parties of opposing political spectrum, political ideologies unite in a coalition government. Causes of a grand coali ...

after the June 2015 election resulted in a

hung parliament A hung parliament is a term used in legislatures primarily under the Westminster system (typically employing Majoritarian representation, majoritarian electoral systems) to describe a situation in which no single political party or pre-existing ...

References

External links