63 Notable alumni of Istanbul Technical University
Updated: June 23, 2026 EliteDegrees
Istanbul Technical University is ranked #566 in the world and #4 in Turkey by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 63 notable alumni from Istanbul Technical 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 Istanbul Technical University won Nobel Prizes for Peace, in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, and Economics.
1. Mehmet Gümüşburun
1942-. (aged 84)
bureaucrat
chemical engineer
Mehmet Gümüşburun is a Turkish chemical engineer and bureaucrat.
2. Waleed A. Samkari
1942-2019 (aged 77)
Brigadier General Waleed Ahmad Samkari was director of the Royal Maintenance Corps (سلاح الصيانة الملكي) of the Jordanian Armed Forces responsible for supporting continuous operations for the military. During his command, his unit underwent a change in adopting modern military organization. Samkari helped with getting the ZSU-23-4 "Shilka" and the 9K33 Osa from Russia and the former Soviet Union. He...
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3. R. Cengiz Ertekin
1954-. (aged 72)
scientist
R. Cengiz Ertekin is a professor of Marine Hydrodynamics and Ocean Engineering. He currently holds a guest professor position at Harbin Engineering University of China. He is best known for his contributions to the development of nonlinear water wave theories, hydroelasticity of very large floating structures, wave energy, and tsunami and storm impact on coastal bridges. He is also the...
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4. Safa Giray
1931-2011 (aged 80)
engineer
diplomat
civil engineer
politician
İsmail Safa Giray was a Turkish civil engineer and politician from the Motherland Party (Turkish: Anavatan Partisi, ANAP). He was a member of the Turkish parliament and served as Minister of Public Works and Housing, Minister of National Defense, and Minister of Foreign Affairs.
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5. Uğur Uluocak
1962-2003 (aged 41)
photographer
Yaşar Uğur Uluocak was a Turkish outdoorsman, mountaineer, photographer, and editor.
6. Hakkı Atun
1935-. (aged 91)
politician
Hakkı Atun is a former Prime Minister of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. He held this office between 1994 and 1996. He was born in Famagusta in 1935. In 1959, he graduated from Istanbul Technical University as an engineer architect. He studied urban planning at Manchester and Nottingham Universities. In 1961–1975, he held various public positions. In 1963, he...
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7. Hikmet Temel Akarsu
1960-. (aged 66)
children's writer
playwright
writer
Hikmet Temel Akarsu is a Turkish novelist, short story writer, satirist and playwright.
8. Ali Nihat Yazıcı
1964-. (aged 62)
chess player
engineer
Ali Nihat Yazıcı is the head of Turkish Chess Federation.
9. Cahit Karakaş
1928-2025 (aged 97)
engineer
politician
Cahit Karakaş was a Turkish engineer and politician. He served as government minister and Speaker of the Parliament.
10. Halil İbrahim Akça
1963-. (aged 63)
diplomat
Halil İbrahim Akça is the Turkish ambassador to Brazil, and was the 11th Secretary General of the Economic Cooperation Organization.
11. Süleyman Karaman
1956-. (aged 70)
politician
Suleyman Karaman is a Turkish politician from the Justice and Development Party, who was a former General Manager and chairman of the Board of Directors of Turkish State Railways (TCDD) and Deputy General Manager of Istanbul transportation authority (IETT).
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12. Ali Erdemir
1954-. (aged 72)
researcher
academic
engineer
university teacher
Ali Erdemir, born on July 2, 1954, in Kadirli, Adana, Turkey, is a Turkish American materials scientist specializing in surface engineering and tribology.
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13. Yılmaz Onay
1937-2018 (aged 81)
translator
writer
Yılmaz Onay was a Turkish author, theatre director and translator.
14. Tarhan Erdem
1933-2022 (aged 89)
politician
Tarhan Erdem was a Turkish politician who was the President of KONDA Research and Consultancy, an opinion polling company. He was a member of the Republican People's Party (CHP) and briefly served as the Minister of Industry and Technology during the short-lived 40th government of Turkey headed by CHP leader Bülent Ecevit between 21 June and 21 July 1977.
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15. Halil Pasha
1857-1939 (aged 82)
painter
Halil Pasha was a Turkish painter and art teacher. He was one of Turkey's first Impressionists.
16. Sabiha Gürayman
1910-2003 (aged 93)
volleyball player
civil engineer
Sabiha Rıfat Gürayman (1910 – 4 January 2003) was a Turkish construction engineer and volleyball player. As Turkey's first female civil engineer, she served as chief engineer for 10 years at the construction of Anıtkabir, the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder and first president of Turkey. She was the first female volleyball player of Fenerbahçe SK, and the first...
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17. Şamil Ayrım
1950-. (aged 76)
politician
Şamil Ayrım is a Turkish politician and member of Turkish Parliament. He is a member of Justice and development party in Turkey and deputy for Istanbul
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18. Reza Roosta Azad
1961-2022 (aged 61)
chemical engineer
Reza Roosta Azad was an Iranian academic who was the chancellor of Sharif University of Technology, serving from 2010 until 2014.
19. Doğan Kuban
1926-2021 (aged 95)
writer
historian
architect
architectural historian
restorer
Doğan Kuban was a Turkish architectural historian.
20. Veysel Eroğlu
1948-. (aged 78)
university teacher
politician
Veysel Eroğlu is a Member of Parliament for Afyonkarahisar of the ruling Justice and Development Party and a former Minister of Forestry and Water of Turkey.
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21. Hatip Dicle
1954-. (aged 72)
politician
Mehmet Hatip Dicle, is a Kurdish politician from Turkey. He was a member of the Democracy Party, then of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP).
22. Ahmet Arslan
1944-. (aged 82)
author
Ahmet Arslan is a Turkish politician from the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) who served as the Minister of Transport, Maritime and Communication from 24 May 2016 until 10 July 2018. He is a Member of Parliament for the electoral district of Kars, having first been elected in the November 2015 general election.
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23. Selim Sırrı Tarcan
1874-1957 (aged 83)
sports official
boxer
politician
Selim Sırrı Tarcan was a Turkish educator, sports official and politician. He is best remembered for his contribution to the establishment of the National Olympic Committee of Turkey and the introduction of the sport of volleyball in Turkey.
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24. Ahmet Tevfik İleri
1911-1961 (aged 50)
politician
civil engineer
Ahmet Tevfik İleri was a Turkish civil engineer, civil servant, politician and government minister.
25. Serpil Kemalbay
1964-. (aged 62)
politician
Serpil Kemalbay Pekgözegü is a Turkish politician and former co-leader of the Peoples' Democratic Party.
26. Feridun Hamdullahpur
Feridun Hamdullahpur CM is the chancellor of International Business University. Previously, he was the president and vice-chancellor of the University of Waterloo. Hamdullahpur was named the sixth president of the University of Waterloo in March 2011. Hamdullahpur's term ended on July 1, 2021, when his successor, Vivek Goel, took office.
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27. 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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28. Şarık Tara
1930-2018 (aged 88)
industrialist
civil engineer
businessperson
Şarık Tara was a Turkish billionaire who founded Enka İnşaat ve Sanayi A.Ş., one of Turkey's largest construction company, with Sadi Gülçelik, in 1957. As well as being an international engineer, contractor, industrialist, he was known for his philanthropy.
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29. Mustafa Tuna
1957-. (aged 69)
politician
civil engineer
Mustafa Tuna is a Turkish engineer, academic, and politician, who served as the 28th mayor of Ankara between November 2017 and April 2019.
30. Taner Yıldız
1962-. (aged 64)
politician
Taner Yıldız is a Turkish politician. He is a member of the Justice and Development Party and served as the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources between 2009 and 2015.
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31. Ruhsar Pekcan
1958-. (aged 68)
businessperson
politician
Ruhsar Pekcan is a politician and electrical engineer who served as the Minister of Trade of Turkey between 2018 and 2021.
32. Çağla Kubat
1979-. (aged 47)
model
windsurfer
beauty pageant contestant
engineer
actor
Çağla Kubat is a Turkish actress, model, windsurfer and beauty pageant titleholder. She is member of Fenerbahçe sailing & windsurfing team. She is 5 feet 10 3⁄4 (1.80m) tall.
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33. Erkan Oğur
1954-. (aged 72)
composer
classical guitarist
Erkan Oğur is a Turkish musician. As pioneer of fretless guitars, he invented the first fretless classical guitar in 1976. As composer, he has influenced many musicians with his compositions combining the sounds of Turkish folk music and classical music with the ancient traditional music. He has played many concerts all over the world. He is regarded as a master...
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34. Temel Kotil
1959-. (aged 67)
entrepreneur
engineer
Temel Kotil is an aeronautical engineer and was the CEO of Turkish Aerospace Industries from 2016 to 2024. Previously, he was the CEO of Turkish Airlines from April 2005 to October 2016.
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35. Merve Özbey
1988-. (aged 38)
singer
Merve Özbey is a Turkish singer and songwriter. Due to her collaborations with Erdem Kınay in the songs "Duman" and "Helal Ettim", she became famous in Turkey.
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36. Oğuzhan Asiltürk
1935-2021 (aged 86)
politician
Oğuzhan Asiltürk was a Turkish politician. He served as Minister of Industry and Technology and Minister of the Interior as well as chairman of the executive board of the Felicity Party.
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37. Funda Arar
1975-. (aged 51)
singer
Funda Arar is a Turkish singer.
38. Simge
1981-. (aged 45)
singer
songwriter
lyricist
composer
recording artist
Simge Sağın, known mononymously as Simge, is a Turkish singer. From early 2010s, she started to make Turkish pop songs, and with the release of her single "Miş Miş" in 2015 she became one of the most famous artists in Turkey.
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39. Volkan Konak
1967-2025 (aged 58)
composer
songwriter
singer
musician
Volkan Konak was a Turkish folk singer from the eastern Black Sea region. He was known for blending traditional Black Sea folk music with contemporary musical forms. His song "Cerrahpaşa" achieved widespread popularity, and his 2006 album, Mora, was awarded a gold plaque by the Turkish recording producers association, MÜ-YAP.
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40. Salih Muslim
1951-. (aged 75)
politician
chemist
Salih Muslim Muhammad is the co-chairman of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), the main party of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria. As the deputy coordinator of the National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change, he has been the most prominent Kurdish representative for much of the Syrian civil war.
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41. Recai Kutan
1930-2024 (aged 94)
politician
Mehmet Recai Kutan was a Turkish politician who was the leader of the Felicity Party (SP).
42. Aziz Sancar
1946-. (aged 80)
scientist
university teacher
geneticist
molecular biologist
biochemist
Aziz Sancar is a Turkish-American molecular biologist specializing in DNA repair, cell cycle checkpoints, and circadian clock. In 2015, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry along with Tomas Lindahl and Paul L. Modrich for their mechanistic studies of DNA repair. He has made contributions on photolyase and nucleotide excision repair in bacteria that have changed his field.
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43. Selçuk Bayraktar
1979-. (aged 47)
engineer
businessperson
politician
Selçuk Bayraktar is a Turkish pilot, engineer and businessman. He is the chairman of the board and the chief technology officer of the Turkish technology company Baykar. He is also known as the designer of Turkey's first indigenous unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) Bayraktar TB2 and first unmanned fighter jet Bayraktar Kızılelma. Bayraktar is also the founding chairman of the...
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44. Yılmaz Erdoğan
1967-. (aged 59)
screenwriter
film director
actor
film actor
Yılmaz Erdoğan is a Turkish filmmaker, actor and poet who is most famous for his box-office record-breaking debut comedy film Vizontele (2001) and the television series Bir Demet Tiyatro (1995–2002/2006–2007). He founded BKM Theatre and Film Production. He was awarded the Best Supporting Actor at 4th Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards for his performance in The Water...
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45. Dursun Özbek
1950-. (aged 76)
businessperson
Dursun Aydın Özbek is a Turkish businessman and 36th and 39th club president of Turkish multi-disciplined sports club Galatasaray S.K.
46. Oğuz Atay
1934-1977 (aged 43)
university teacher
writer
playwright
engineer
civil engineer
Oğuz Atay was a Turkish novelist. His first novel, Tutunamayanlar ('The Disconnected'), appeared in 1971–72. Never reprinted in his lifetime and controversial among critics, it has become a best-seller since a new edition came out in 1984. It has been described as "probably the most eminent novel of twentieth-century Turkish literature": this reference is due to a UNESCO survey, which...
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47. Turgut Özal
1927-1993 (aged 66)
engineer
politician
Halil Turgut Özal was a Turkish politician, bureaucrat, engineer and statesman who served as the president of Turkey from 1989 to 1993. He previously served as the prime minister of Turkey from 1983 to 1989 as the leader of the Motherland Party. He was the deputy prime minister of Turkey in the military government of Bülend Ulusu between 1980 and...
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48. Süleyman Demirel
1924-2015 (aged 91)
engineer
politician
Sami Süleyman Gündoğdu Demirel was a Turkish politician, engineer, and statesman who served as the president of Turkey from 1993 to 2000. He previously served as the prime minister of Turkey seven times between 1965 and 1993. He was the leader of the Justice Party (AP) from 1964 to 1980 and the leader of the True Path Party (DYP) from...
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49. Binali Yıldırım
1955-. (aged 71)
marine engineer
engineer
politician
Binali Yıldırım is a Turkish politician who served as the 27th and last prime minister of Turkey from 2016 to 2018 and Speaker of the Grand National Assembly from 2018 to 2019. He was leader of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) from 2016 to 2017, then becoming parliamentary leader until 2018.
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50. Aras Bulut İynemli
1990-. (aged 36)
film actor
actor
television actor
Aras Bulut İynemli is a Turkish actor. He is best known for his performances in As Time Goes by (2010–2013), Insider (2016–2017), The Pit (2017–2021), Miracle in Cell No.7 (2019), and Atatürk 1881 - 1919 (2023, 2024), the latter earned him a Turkish Film Critics Association Award nomination for Best Actor. In 2018, İynemli won the Golden Butterfly Award for...
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51. Orhan Pamuk
1952-. (aged 74)
screenwriter
writer
novelist
essayist
academic
Ferit Orhan Pamuk is a Turkish novelist, screenwriter, academic, and recipient of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature. One of Turkey's most prominent novelists, he has sold over 13 million books in 63 languages, making him the country's best-selling writer.
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52. İvet Bahar
1958-. (aged 68)
researcher
academic
biologist
university teacher
Ivet Bahar is a Turkish-American computational biologist, currently serving as the Director of the Louis and Beatrice Laufer Center for Physical and Quantitative Biology, Louis & Beatrice Laufer Endowed Chair and Professor of Biochemistry and Cell Biology at the Stony Brook University, School of Medicine. Before joining Stony Brook University, she served as Distinguished Professor, John K. Vries Chair and...
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53. Toygar Işıklı
1974-. (aged 52)
singer
lyricist
composer
Toygar Işıklı is a Turkish film score composer, music producer, and singer.
54. İsmet Yılmaz
1961-. (aged 65)
minister
engineer
politician
İsmet Yılmaz is a Turkish politician who was a member of the Grand National Assembly from 2011 to 2023.
55. Burcu Özsoy
1976-. (aged 50)
scientist
Burcu Özsoy is a Turkish scientist who works with sea ice remote sensing in Antarctica. Özsoy is head of the first Turkish polar research center, ITU PolReC.
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56. Feridun Bilgin
1964-. (aged 62)
politician
Feridun Bilgin is a Turkish civil servant and politician who served as the Minister of Transport, Maritime and Communication of Turkey from 7 March to 17 November 2015. Formerly the Undersecretary to the Ministry, Bilgin took over from the Justice and Development Party minister Lütfi Elvan as required by Article 114 of the Turkish constitution. He was one of the...
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57. Faruk Özlü
1962-. (aged 64)
politician
Faruk Özlü is a Turkish politician from the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) who served as the Minister of Science, Industry and Technology of Turkey from 24 May 2016 to 10 July 2018. He was a Member of Parliament for the electoral district of Düzce, having been first elected in the June 2015 general election and re-elected in the...
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58. Fatma Şahin
1966-. (aged 60)
engineer
politician
Fatma Şahin is a Turkish women's footballer who plays as a goalkeeper in the Turkish Super League for Fatih Vatan. She was a member of the Turkey women's national team.
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59. Naci Görür
1947-. (aged 79)
university teacher
geologist
earth scientist
Naci Görür is a Turkish seismologist, geologist, and a former professor at the Istanbul Technical University.
60. Lütfi Elvan
1962-. (aged 64)
economist
engineer
mining engineer
politician
Lütfi Elvan is a Turkish politician. Elvan has served as the Minister of Finance and Treasury of Turkey from November 2020 to December 2021. He previously served as the Minister of Transport, Maritime and Communication from 2013 to 2015. He has served as a Member of Parliament for the electoral district of Karaman from 2007 to June 2015, for Antalya...
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61. Necmettin Erbakan
1926-2011 (aged 85)
university teacher
engineer
politician
Necmettin Erbakan was a Turkish politician and political theorist who served as the 23rd prime minister of Turkey from 1996 to 1997. He was pressured by the military to step down as prime minister and was later banned from politics by the Constitutional Court of Turkey for purportedly violating the separation of religion and state as mandated by the constitution.
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62. Mimar Kemaleddin
1870-1927 (aged 57)
writer
architect
Ahmed Kemaleddin, widely known as Mimar Kemaleddin (Architect Kemaleddin) was a Turkish architect, and one of the leading figures of the First National architectural movement, alongside Vedat Tek.
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63. Fatih Birol
1958-. (aged 68)
economist
Fatih Birol is a Turkish economist and energy expert, who has served as the executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA) since 1 September 2015. During his time in charge of the IEA, he has taken a series of steps to modernise the Paris-based international organisation, including strengthening ties with emerging economies like India and China and stepping up...
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