42 Notable alumni of Bilkent University
Updated: June 07, 2026 EliteDegrees
Bilkent University is 880st in the world, 1st in North America, and 10st in the United States by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 42 notable alumni from Bilkent University sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff. Many individuals affiliated with Bilkent University won Nobel Prizes for Peace, in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, and Economics.
1. Ayşe Ören
1980-. (aged 46)
sculptor
Ayşe Ören is a multidisciplinary artist, architect, and designer. Her works include abstract art, sculpture, furniture and product design, as well as graphic design. Educated as an architect, her broad interests span such fields as history, philosophy and psychology, and space architecture.
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2. Umit Catalyurek
university teacher
researcher
academic
Ümit V. Çatalyürek is a professor of computer science at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and adjunct professor in department of Biomedical Informatics at the Ohio State University. He is known for his work on graph analytics, parallel algorithms for scientific applications, data-intensive computing, and large scale genomic and biomedical applications. He was the director of the High Performance Computing...
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3. Murat Aktihanoglu
businessperson
Murat Aktihanoglu is an American venture capitalist who is notable for helping create the fastest political crowdfunding campaign in history for Turkish Gezi Protests. Aktihanoglu helped create a crowdsourced and crowdfunded advertisement in the New York Times with Oltac Unsal and Duygu Atacan. It was the fastest political crowdfunding campaign in history. The ad featured demands for "an end to...
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4. Hande Dalkılıç
1974-. (aged 52)
pianist
Hande Dalkılıç is a Turkish concert pianist.
5. Özalp Özer
1974-. (aged 52)
academic
university teacher
researcher
operations researcher
economist
Özalp Özer is an American business professor specializing in pricing science and operations research. He is the Ashbel Smith Professor of Management Science at the Naveen Jindal School of Management and also currently serves as an affiliated faculty at the MIT Sloan School of Management.
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6. Ali Ertürk
1980-. (aged 46)
neuroscientist
Ali Maximilian Ertürk is a neuroscientist, inventor, and artist living in Munich, Germany. He is the director of a new Helmholtz Institute of Intelligent Biotechnologies (iBIO) in Munich since July 2019 and professor at the medical faculty. After his undergraduate study at Bilkent University in Ankara, he joined Max-Planck-Institute for Neurobiology for his PhD and Genentech Inc. for postdoctoral research.
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7. Gizem Girişmen
1981-. (aged 45)
archer
Gizem Girişmen is a Turkish Paralympic archer competing in the women's recurve ARW2 event.
8. İbrahim Sirkeci
1972-. (aged 54)
researcher
political scientist
demographer
social scientist
university teacher
Ibrahim Sirkeci is a British Turkish social scientist. He is currently the director of International Business School, Manchester, United Kingdom. Previously, he was the Head of Enterprise Subject Group at Salford Business School, University of Salford, Manchester. He served as a Professor at various British universities including his 16 years long service at the European Business School London, Regent's University...
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9. Burçin Mutlu Pakdil
researcher
academic
university teacher
astronomer
Burçin Mutlu-Pakdil is a Turkish-American astrophysicist, and Assistant Professor at Dartmouth College. She formerly served as a National Science Foundation and Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics (KICP) Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Chicago. Her research led to a discovery of an extremely rare galaxy with a unique double-ringed elliptical structure, which is now commonly referred to as Burcin's Galaxy....
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10. Bedük
1980-. (aged 46)
singer
songwriter
composer
Serhat Bedük, better known by his surname Bedük, is a Turkish musician, producer, and director.
11. Yasemin Mori
1982-. (aged 44)
singer
songwriter
composer
Yasemin Aygün Savgı, better known as Yasemin Mori, is a Turkish alternative rock singer.
12. Arzu Geybullayeva
1983-. (aged 43)
journalist
human rights defender
Arzu Geybulla gizi Geybullayeva, also known as Arzu Geybulla (Azerbaijani: Arzu Qeybulla), is an Azerbaijani columnist, blogger, and journalist for several newspapers and media news outlets including Al Jazeera, Foreign Policy, Global Voices, and Agos. She has also worked with several non-profit organizations and think-tanks including the National Democratic Institute and European Stability Initiative. Geybullayeva was included in the BBC's...
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13. Aldo Bumçi
1974-. (aged 52)
diplomat
politician
Aldo Tonin Bumçi is a member of the Assembly of the Republic of Albania for the Democratic Party of Albania. He was Minister of Justice from 2005 to 2007, Minister of Foreign Affairs on 2013. He is also member of Committee on Legal Affairs, Public Administration and Human Rights and Committee on European Integration.
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14. Hatice Altuğ
1978-. (aged 48)
researcher
academic
physicist
university teacher
Hatice Altug is a Turkish physicist and professor in the Bioengineering Department and head of the Bio-nanophotonic Systems laboratory at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), in Switzerland. Her research focuses on nanophotonics for biosensing and surface enhanced spectroscopy, integration with microfluidics and nanofabrication, to obtain high sensitivity, label-free characterization of biological material. She has developed low-cost biosensor allowing the...
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15. Vuslat Doğan Sabancı
1971-. (aged 55)
businessperson
Vuslat Doğan Sabancı a former publisher of the Hürriyet daily newspaper, is a prominent figure in both the business world and civil society. As the vice chair of Aydın Doğan Foundation and a board member of Doğan Holding and Hepsiburada, Turkey's leading e-commerce platform which is no longer part of the Group, she has played pivotal roles in these organizations....
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16. Demir Demirkan
1972-. (aged 54)
singer
songwriter
composer
actor
musician
Demir Demirkan is a Turkish musician, Eurovision Song Contest winning composer, guitarist for thrash metal band Mezarkabul and writer. Demir Demirkan started playing music when he was 13 and played guitar with various groups in college. Demir Demirkan also wrote television jingles and composed soundtracks for television and films.
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17. Murat Han
1975-. (aged 51)
film actor
actor
television actor
Murat Han is a Turkish-American stage and film actor. He is best known for Bliss, Vicdan, Ömre bedel, Sensiz Olmaz and Thophy.
18. Jehan Barbur
1980-. (aged 46)
singer-songwriter
singer
Jehan İstiklal Barbur is a Turkish singer of Arab Christian descent. In 2002, she moved from Ankara to Istanbul to pursue a professional music career, and initially worked as a vocalist in different pop and jazz groups. With Bülent Ortaçgil's help she signed a contract with the production company Ada Müzik. In 2009, her debut studio album, Uyan, was released....
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19. Erdem Başçı
1966-. (aged 60)
engineer
economist
Erdem Başçı is a Turkish economist and the former Governor of the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey in the 2010s.
20. Emrah Safa Gürkan
1981-. (aged 45)
academic
university teacher
historian
YouTuber
researcher
Emrah Safa Gürkan is a Turkish public intellectual and historian. He is a professor at Istanbul 29 Mayıs University and specializes in Ottoman studies.
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21. Alper Çağlar
1981-. (aged 45)
screenwriter
film director
film editor
Süleyman Alper Çağlar, is Turkish film director, editor and screenwriter.
22. Kaan Tangöze
1973-. (aged 53)
singer
Kaan Tangöze is a Turkish musician. He is the left-handed lead vocalist and guitarist of the Turkish rock band Duman. He graduated from Bilkent University, Department of Tourism and Hotel Management. He has a master's degree in economics from Seattle University in the United States.
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23. Zehra Zümrüt Selçuk
1979-. (aged 47)
politician
Zehra Zümrüt Selçuk Koç is a former minister of Family, Labour and Social Services of Turkey.
24. Kalben
1986-. (aged 40)
recording artist
singer
Kalben Sağdıç, known mononymously as Kalben, is a Turkish singer-songwriter.
25. Gültekin Uysal
1976-. (aged 50)
politician
Gultekin Uysal is a Turkish politician and businessman who has been the chairman of the Democrat Party (DP), since May 2012. In 2018 election he was elected on the İYİ Party list but then he rejoined his party.
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26. Binnur Kaya
1972-. (aged 54)
actor
Binnur Kaya is a Turkish actress.
27. Nasuh Mahruki
1968-. (aged 58)
photographer
Ali Nasuh Mahruki is a professional mountaineer, writer, photographer and documentary film producer. He climbed to the summit of Mount Everest and was the first ever Turkish person to climb the Seven Summits.
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28. Orkut Büyükkökten
1975-. (aged 51)
computer scientist
engineer
non-fiction writer
Orkut Büyükkökten is a Turkish software engineer who developed the social networking services Club Nexus, inCircle and Orkut. He is a former product manager at Google.
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29. Yiğit Bulut
1972-2025 (aged 53)
journalist
economist
Yiğit Bulut was a Turkish journalist, conspiracy theorist, and from July 2013, a senior advisor to president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. He was editor-in-chief at news channels Habertürk TV (2009–2012) and Kanal 24 (2012–2013). He was also a contributor to the daily newspapers Radikal (2001–2007), Vatan and Referans (until 2009), Habertürk (2009–2012) and Star (2012–2013). He was appointed a senior advisor...
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30. Hakan Fidan
1968-. (aged 58)
official
diplomat
intelligence officer
soldier
Hakan Fidan is a Turkish politician serving as the Minister of Foreign Affairs since June 2023. He was previously the director of the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) from March 2010 until June 2023.
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31. Onur Saylak
1977-. (aged 49)
actor
television director
film director
Arif Onur Saylak is a Turkish actor, filmmaker and director. He was married for six years to Tuba Büyüküstün, with whom he has twin daughters.
32. Cevdet Yılmaz
1967-. (aged 59)
businessperson
politician
Cevdet Yılmaz is a Turkish politician who has been the 2nd and current vice president of Turkey since 2023. Previously, he served as a Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey in the interim election government formed by Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu from 28 August to 17 November 2015. He previously served as the Minister of Development from 2011 to 2015 and...
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33. Tamer Karadağlı
1967-. (aged 59)
actor
television actor
Tamer Karadağlı is a Turkish actor and director of Turkish State Theatres.
34. İbrahim Halil Baran
1981-. (aged 45)
poet
writer
İbrahim Halil Baran is a Kurdish poet, politician, writer and designer. He is founder and first party chairman for Partiya Kurdistani (PAKURD).
35. Fatma Betül Sayan Kaya
1981-. (aged 45)
physician
engineer
minister
politician
Fatma Betül Sayan Kaya is a Turkish politician who serves as the Minister of Family and Social Policies since 24 May 2016. Sayan Kaya is the vice-chair of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) responsible for foreign affairs.
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36. Alparslan Bayraktar
1975-. (aged 51)
politician
Alparslan Bayraktar is a Turkish academic, engineer, and politician. He has served as the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources since 2023. Before being elected to this position, he served as the deputy minister and a commissioner of the Energy Market Regulatory Authority. Bayraktar has also served as the chair of the World Energy Council for Turkey since 2015, and...
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37. İlker Aycı
1971-. (aged 55)
Mehmet İlker Aycı is a Turkish businessperson. Aycı was the advisor of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in 1994 and served as the CEO of several Turkish companies before becoming the chairman of Turkish Airlines from 2015 to 2022. He accepted an offer as the Board Member of Oman Air in April 2024.
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38. Nevşin Mengü
1982-. (aged 44)
journalist
television presenter
Nevşin Mengü is a Turkish journalist and television presenter.
39. Bekir Pakdemirli
1973-. (aged 53)
economist
Bekir Pakdemirli is a Turkish businessman and former Minister of Agriculture and Forestry.
40. Mete Atatüre
1975-. (aged 51)
physicist
researcher
Mete Atatüre is a Turkish physicist working on experimental solid-state quantum optics, in particular on the optical control of spin-photon coupling for quantum networks as well as investigation of many-body physics in atomically-thin heterostructures, with the aim of developing new materials and devices for quantum sensing applications.
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41. Radiy Khabirov
1964-. (aged 62)
politician
legal scholar
lawyer
lecturer
statesperson
Radiy Faritovich Khabirov is a Russian politician and statesman. He is the current Head of the Republic of Bashkortostan since 11 October 2018; he is also the Candidate of Sciences in Law and Honored Lawyer of the Republic of Bashkortostan. He is a member of United Russia.
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42. Evrim Demirel
1977-. (aged 49)
composer
pianist
Evrim Demirel is a Turkish composer and jazz pianist.