Zehra Zümrüt Selçuk Koç (born 1979) is a former minister of Family, Labour and Social Services of Turkey.

Private life

Zehra Zümrüt Selçuk was born in

Ordu Ordu () or Altınordu is a port city on the Black Sea coast of Turkey and the capital of Ordu Province. The city forms the urban part of the Altınordu, Ordu, Altınordu district, with a population of 235,096 in 2023. Name Kotyora, the origina ...

, Turkey in 1979. She is the daughter of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) politician and former Minister of Culture and Tourism

Atilla Koç Atilla Koç (born March 1, 1946) is a Turkish politician of the Justice and Development Party. He was the Minister of Culture and Tourism in the first cabinet of Recep Tayyip Erdogan. After graduating from Ankara University, he worked in the M ...

(in office 2005–2007). After completing her secondary education at Ankara Atatürk Anadolu High School, she studied on full scholarship at

Bilkent University Bilkent University () is a private non-profit research university located in Ankara, Turkey. It was founded by İhsan Doğramacı, the first president of the Council of Higher Education and the head of the prominent Doğramacı family, with th ...

earning a

Bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

in Economics. She went to the United States and attended

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

for a doctoral thesis. She continued her studies at

University of Texas at Dallas The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD or UT Dallas) is a public research university in Richardson, Texas, United States. It is the northernmost institution of the University of Texas System. It was initially founded in 1961 as a private res ...

, and received 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 ...

in Accounting and Information Resources Management. Between 2003 and 2007, she served as a

research assistant A research assistant (RA) is a researcher employed, often on a temporary contract, by a university, research institute, or privately held organization to provide assistance in academic or private research endeavors. Research assistants work under ...

at the same university. In 2007, she joined the Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Countries (SESRIC) as a senior research specialist, and became later director of the Department for Statistics and Information. During this time, her working fields were gender,

demography Demography () is the statistical study of human populations: their size, composition (e.g., ethnic group, age), and how they change through the interplay of fertility (births), mortality (deaths), and migration. Demographic analysis examine ...

workforce In macroeconomics, the workforce or labour force is the sum of people either working (i.e., the employed) or looking for work (i.e., the unemployed): \text = \text + \text Those neither working in the marketplace nor looking for work are out ...

, multi dimensional measurement of

poverty Poverty is a state or condition in which an individual lacks the financial resources and essentials for a basic standard of living. Poverty can have diverse Biophysical environmen ...

, education and

innovation Innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or service (economics), services or improvement in offering goods or services. ISO TC 279 in the standard ISO 56000:2020 defines innovation as "a n ...

, knowledge performance systems, banking and finance,

development aid Development aid (or development cooperation) is a type of aid given by governments and other agencies to support the economic, environmental, social, and political International development, development of developing countries. It is distinguishe ...

. She coordinated many projects aimed at

Sustainable Development Goals The ''2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development'', adopted by all United Nations (UN) members in 2015, created 17 world Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The aim of these global goals is "peace and prosperity for people and the planet" – wh ...

and programs for

capacity building Capacity building (or capacity development, capacity strengthening) is the improvement in an individual's or organization's facility (or capability) "to produce, perform or deploy". The terms capacity building and capacity development have often ...

. She married Ali Aydın Selçuk 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 ( ...

on 12 April 2008. Selçuk is member of various associations like "Women's Union Platform" () and Bilkent University Alumni, as well as she is on the board of the Ankara Office of the "Women and Democracy Association" (''Kadın ve Demokrasi Derneği'', KADEM) and the "I Grow Up With Chess Association" (''Satrançla Büyüyorum Derneği'').

Political career

On 9 July 2018, the newly elected

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 ...

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 ...

announced his cabinet of the new Turkish political system. Zehra Zümrüt Selçuk was appointed Minister of Family, Labour and Social Services, which combined the two former ministries Labour and Social Security and Family and Social Policy. On 21 April 2021, she was dismissed and the Ministry split again, with

Derya Yanık Derya Yanık (born 30 May 1972) is a Turkish politician and lawyer. She served as the Turkish Minister of Family and Social Services from 2021 to 2023. Career She graduated from Istanbul University in the Faculty of Law in 1995 with a BA. Betwe ...

taking over the portfolio Family and Social Services, and

Vedat Bilgin Vedat Bilgin (born 22 September 1954) is a Turkish sociologist, academic, bureaucrat, writer and former Turkish Minister of Labor and Social Security. Academic life Born in Aydıntepe, Bayburt on September 22, 1954, Vedat Bilgin completed h ...

the portfolio Labour and Social Security.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Selcuk, Zehra Zumrut Living people 1979 births People from Ordu Bilkent University alumni University of Michigan alumni Texas State University alumni Women government ministers of Turkey Government ministers of Turkey Ministers of labour and social security of Turkey Ministers of family and social policy of Turkey Members of the 66th government of Turkey