100 Notable alumni of Istanbul University

Reşad Ekrem Koçu was a Turkish writer and historian. His best known work is the unfinished Istanbul Encyclopedia (İstanbul Ansiklopedisi), which recounts many tales of Istanbul from Ottoman times. Koçu and his colorful depictions of Ottoman Istanbul are celebrated in Orhan Pamuk's book Istanbul: Memories and the City.

Merve Daşdemir, also known professionally as Merve, is a Turkish-Dutch singer and musician best known as a former vocalist and keyboardist for the Anatolian rock band Altin Gün.

Israel Shochat was a founder of and a key figure in Bar-Giora and Hashomer, two of the precursors of the Israel Defense Forces.

Suraiya N. Faroqhi, is a German scholar, Ottoman historian and a leading authority on Ottoman history. She was elected as a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy for the year 2022, under the "Early Modern History to 1850" category. She served as a professor at the Department of History at Middle East Technical University and is now at Ibn Haldun...

Halide Nusret Zorlutuna was a Turkish poet and novelist.

Nurhan Atasoy is a Turkish art historian. She specializes in history of Ottoman and Islamic art. She served as a chair in the Department of Fine Arts, Archeology and Art History at Istanbul University until 1999 when she retired. She is a resident scholar of the Turkish Cultural Foundation.

İsmail Hakkı Uzunçarşılı was a Turkish politician, educator and historian, who was a member of parliament and the Turkish Historical Association. In the early 1950s he was one of the contributors of the history magazine Tarih Dünyası.

Hilmi Ziya Ülken was a Turkish scholar and writer who had an influential role in the development of sociological and philosophical views in Turkey. In addition to his scientific work, he produced literary work, including poems.

Mehmet Güreli is a Turkish writer, painter, director and musician. He graduated from Istanbul University, majoring in philosophy. He started working for the Hürriyet newspaper in 1976. He is noted for his work across numerous art media.

Rahim Rahmanzadeh is an Iranian-German academic, physician and surgeon at the University of Berlin and University of Mainz. Rahmanzadeh is president of the International Center for Bone and Joint Surgery in Berlin.

Ömer Dinçer is a Turkish politician and academic. Before becoming a member of the Turkish parliament, he taught at Marmara University for years and published many papers in his field.

Raghib al-Nashashibi, CBE (hon), was a Palestinian public figure and wealthy landowner during the Ottoman Empire, the British Mandate and the Jordanian administration. A member of the Nashashibi clan, he was one of the most influential families in Palestine and served as mayor of Jerusalem from 1920 to 1935.

Murat Başesgioğlu is a Turkish politician who was a Minister of State of Turkey and Member of the Turkish Parliament for Kastamonu for the ruling Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (AK Party).

Hatice Beril Dedeoğlu was a Turkish academic who served as the Minister of European Union Affairs in the interim election government led by Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu between 22 September and 17 November 2015. Having taken over from the previous interim cabinet minister Ali Haydar Konca following his resignation, Dedeoğlu served until Davutoğlu formed a new government after the November...

Mercan Dede, also known as DJ Arkin Allen, is a Turkish-Canadian composer, ney and bendir player, DJ, and producer. He is a world music artist, playing a fusion of traditional acoustic Turkish and other oriental styles with electronic sounds. Dede has worked in collaboration with Turkish and international musicians, such as Susheela Raman, Azam Ali, Dhafer Youssef, Sheema Mukherjee (Transglobal...

İlhan Selçuk was a Turkish lawyer, journalist, author, novelist and editor.

Nimet Baş is a Turkish politician and lawyer. She has been a Member of Parliament from the Justice and Development Party since 2002. She was the Minister of State (2005–2009) and the Minister of National Education (2009–2011).

Kanae Yamamoto is a Japanese politician of the Komeito who served as a member of the House of Councillors from 2001 to 2024.

Halet Çambel was a Turkish archaeologist and Olympic fencer. She was the first woman with a Muslim background to compete in the Olympic Games.

Ahmet Selçuk İlkan is a Turkish poet and songwriter.

Bülent Ortaçgil is a Turkish composer and singer.

Orkuncan Işıtmak, better known as Orkun Işıtmak, is a Turkish YouTuber known for producing a variety of videos.

Aziz Kocaoğlu is a Turkish politician who was Mayor of İzmir, Turkey's third largest city, from 2004 to 2019.

Ali Suat Hayri Ürgüplü was a Turkish politician who served a brief term as Prime Minister of Turkey in 1965. He was also the last Prime Minister to be born outside the territory of present-day Turkey, being born in Damascus, which was then part of the Ottoman Empire.

Metin Göktepe was a Kurdish photojournalist who was tortured and murdered in police custody in Istanbul on January 8, 1996.

Leyla Erbil was a Turkish writer. She was one of the leading female contemporary writers of Turkey, author of six novels, three collections of short stories and a book of essays. She was the first Turkish female writer to be nominated for a Nobel Prize in Literature by PEN International in 2002. Erbil was a co-founder of the Union of...

Köksal Toptan is a Turkish lawyer, politician and a member of the Justice and Development Party. He earlier served as government minister in three cabinets. He was the speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey between August 2007 and August 2009.

Ayşe Arman is a Turkish journalist and columnist. She is best known for her interviews. Arman is the author of two books, one of which is a compilation of best moments of her interviews made over the past decade. Arman also holds German citizenship.

Şebnem Korur Fincancı is a Turkish medic, former professor, and former president of the Turkish Medical Association (TBB). She is a member of the Turkish Human Rights Association (TİHV). In Turkish popular culture she is being called to be the "Turkish female villain".

Aydilge Sarp is a Turkish writer, poet and singer-songwriter.

Türkan Saylan was a Turkish medical doctor in dermatology, academic, writer, teacher and social activist. She was famous for fighting leprosy, and for founding a charitable foundation called "Association for the Support of Contemporary Living" (Çağdaş Yaşamı Destekleme Derneği, ÇYDD).

Yusuf Halaçoğlu is a Turkish historian and politician. He is a former president of the Turkish Historical Society and was a member of the Turkish Parliament from 2011 to 2017 representing the electoral district of Kayseri for the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and from 2017 for the Good Party. As of 2024 he is Leader of the Blessed Party (Kutlu...

İskender Pala is a Turkish Divan (Ottoman) Poetry Professor and author of best seller novels. He also used to write a column in the Turkish daily newspaper Zaman.

Judd Alan Gregg is an American politician and attorney who served as the 76th governor of New Hampshire from 1989 to 1993 and a United States senator from New Hampshire from 1993 to 2011 where he was Chairman of the Health Committee and the Budget Committee. A member of the Republican Party, he was a businessman and attorney in Nashua...

Sevil Atasoy is a Turkish internationally distinguished leader in the field of Forensic Sciences, substance abuse and addiction. Atasoy is the daughter of forensic pathologist Prof. Dr. Şemsi Gök (1921–2002) and bacteriologist Dr. Ferda Gök (1924–2003). She is currently the executive director of the Innocence Project (Turkey), the International Forensic Science Services, Vice-Rector of Üsküdar University, Istanbul, chairs the Crime...

Feride Çetin is a Turkish actress. She has appeared in more than ten films since 2005.

Sunay Akın is a Turkish poet, writer, TV host, journalist, and a philanthropist. He is the founder of Istanbul Toy Museum.

Levent Uğur Yüksel is a Turkish pop singer and multi instrumentalist. He has been active in live music industry since 1993.

Hasan Polatkan was a Turkish politician and Minister of Labor and Finance, who was executed by hanging after the 1960 Turkish coup d'état along with two other cabinet members.

Nedim Şener is a Turkish writer and journalist who has written for the Milliyet (since 1994) and Posta newspapers. He has received a number of journalism awards, including the Turkish Journalists' Association Press Freedom Award, the International Press Institute's World Press Freedom Heroes award, and PEN Freedom of Expression Award. He is particularly known for his 2009 book on the...

Mehmet Ali Şahin is a Turkish politician. He was the Speaker of the Parliament of Turkey from 2009 to 2011.

Behçet Necatigil, Turkish poet, teacher and translator who is often considered to be one of the most important poets of modern Turkish poetry. His paternal family originated from Kastamonu, a city in Turkey's Western Black Sea region. His father, Mehmet Necati Gönül, was from the Çörekçiler family of Kastamonu. The family moved to Kastamonu when Behçet was young, and he...

Mehmet Nuri Ersoy is a Turkish businessman and current Turkish Minister of Culture and Tourism.

İoanna Kuçuradi is a Turkish philosopher from Istanbul. She is currently the president of Philosophical Society of Turkey and a full-time academic of Maltepe University and member of the board of trustees at Koç University.

Peker Açıkalın is a Turkish actor who usually appears in comedic roles.

Nihal Tuğba Özay is a Turkish model and singer. She was elected the first runner-up in the Miss Model of the World contest in 1995.

Dilhan Eryurt was a Turkish astrophysicist who made major contributions to scientific research on the formation and evolution of the Sun and other main sequence stars.

Neslihan Yeldan is a Turkish actress.

Demet Evgar is a Turkish actress and singer known for her roles in feature films and TV series. She also pursues an active career as an actress in theatre where she made her debut. She has founded theatre institutions such as "Pangar", "Hata Yapım Atölyesi", "Müşterek", "Multi Arts Production".

Halit Ahmet Kıvanç was a Turkish television and radio presenter, humorist, sports journalist and writer. He was best known as a sports commentator.

Cemil Çiçek is a Turkish politician who was the Speaker of the Parliament of Turkey between 4 July 2011 and 7 June 2015. Previously he was Minister of Justice from 2002 to 2007 and Deputy Prime Minister from 2007 to 2011. He was also a Justice and Development Party Member of Parliament from Ankara.

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.

Abdurrahman Cahit Zarifoğlu was a Turkish poet and writer.

Ahmet Serhat Hacıpaşalıoğlu, known as Serhat, is a Turkish singer, songwriter, producer and television presenter.

Özgür Çevik is a Turkish actor and singer who gained fame and intense fan following as a result of having appeared in his country's version of the television pop music talent contest, Star Academy and, subsequently, as a variety performer and actor.

Hande Subaşı is a Turkish actress and beauty pageant titleholder. She was the winner of the 2005 Miss Turkey competition. As an actress, she has appeared in more than nine films and theatre since 2006.

Fazıl Küçük was a Turkish Cypriot politician and a medical doctor who served as the first Vice President of the Republic of Cyprus.

Huseyn Javid, was born Huseyn Abdulla oghlu Rasizadeh (24 October 1882 in Nakhchivan – 5 December 1941 in Shevchenko, Tayshetsky District), was a prominent Azerbaijani poet and playwright of the early 20th century. He was one of the founders of progressive romanticism movement in the contemporary Azerbaijani literature. He was exiled during the Stalin purges in the USSR.

Candan Erçetin is a Turkish singer-songwriter. Over the twenty five years of her singing career, she has been recognized for preparing and singing songs about human life. Despite the fact that she made her albums without much publicity, her work influenced other artists. Erçetin has released many music videos with different themes. Because her family originate from the Balkans, she...

Arif Mardin was a Turkish-American music producer, who worked with hundreds of artists across many different styles of music, including jazz, rock, soul, disco and country. He worked at Atlantic Records for over 30 years, as producer, arranger, studio manager, and vice president, before moving to EMI and serving as vice president and general manager of Manhattan Records.

Kamile Burcu Esmersoy is a Turkish actress, anchorwoman, journalist, model, occasional and beauty pageant titleholder who represented her nation at Miss International 1997 in Japan. She received a Golden Butterfly Award for Best Female Presenter. Burcu Esmersoy is one of Turkey's leading female reality show hosts and highest-paid television personalities. Amongst the Turkish television shows hosted by Esmersoy are Ver...

Ara Güler was a Turkish photojournalist of Armenian descent, nicknamed "the Eye of Istanbul" or "the Photographer of Istanbul". He was "one of Turkey's few internationally known photographers".

Ezgi Eyüboğlu is a Turkish actress.

Ezgi Asaroğlu is a Turkish film and television actress.

İsmail Nihat Erim was a Turkish politician and jurist. He served as the 13th prime minister of Turkey for almost 14 months after the 1971 Turkish military memorandum. He was assassinated by the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front in Istanbul in 1980.

Memet Ali Alabora is a Turkish film and theatre actor. He is the son of actors Mustafa Alabora and Betül Arım.

Fahrettin Altun is a Turkish politician, researcher, academic, who served as the head of media and communications in the Turkish presidency from 2018 to 2025.

Bilgin Özçalkan, also known by his stage name Ceza ( pronounced [dʒeˈzaː], Turkish for "punishment"), is a Turkish rapper, singer, and songwriter.

Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar was a Turkish poet, novelist, literary scholar and essayist, widely regarded as one of the most important representatives of modernism in Turkish literature. In addition to his literary and academic career, Tanpınar was also a member of the Turkish Parliament between 1944 and 1946.

Fazlı Teoman Yakupoğlu is a Turkish acoustic rock singer and songwriter. His biggest hits include Paramparça, Senden Önce Senden Sonra, 17 and Papatya. On Papatya, Turkish rock singer Özlem Tekin is featured as a backing vocalist. Şebnem Ferah has also been featured on a couple of Teoman's tracks.

Abdi İpekçi was a Turkish journalist, intellectual and human rights activist. He was murdered when he was editor-in-chief of one of the main Turkish daily newspapers Milliyet which then had a centre-left political stance.

Uğur Dündar is a Turkish journalist, anchorman, political commentator, and writer.

Pervin Buldan is a Turkish politician of Kurdish origin. She was a member of the Democratic Society Party (DTP). She was President of Yakay-Der and one of the deputy speakers in the 26th Parliament of Turkey. On 11 February 2018, she was elected co-leader of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) in the party's 3rd ordinary congress.

Orhan Veli Kanık or Orhan Veli was a Turkish poet. He was one of the founders of the Garip Movement together with Oktay Rıfat and Melih Cevdet.

Hrant Dink was a Turkish-Armenian intellectual, editor-in-chief of Agos, journalist, and columnist. As editor-in-chief of the bilingual Turkish-Armenian newspaper Agos, Dink was a prominent member of the Armenian minority in Turkey best known for advocating Turkish–Armenian reconciliation and human and minority rights in Turkey. He was often critical of both Turkey's denial of the Armenian genocide and of the Armenian...

Yunus Özyavuz, better known by his stage name Sagopa Kajmer ( Turkish: [sɑgopɑ kɑʒmæɾ]) or formerly known as DJ Mic Check and Silahsız Kuvvet (lit. 'Unarmed Force'), is a Turkish rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and DJ. He is the first and only rapper to have given concerts in all of 81 provinces of Turkey.

Reşat Nuri Güntekin was a Turkish novelist, storywriter, and playwright. His best known novel, Çalıkuşu ("The Wren", 1922) is about the destiny of a young Turkish female teacher in Anatolia. This work is translated into Persian by Seyyed Borhan Ghandili. His other significant novels include Dudaktan Kalbe ("From the Lips to the Heart", 1925), and Yaprak Dökümü ("The Fall of...

Muhammad Nazim Adil al-Qubrusi al-Haqqani, commonly known as Shaykh Nazim, was a Turkish Cypriot Sufi Muslim leader and scholar. He was the spiritual leader (Grand Shaykh) of the Haqqani branch of the Naqshbandi order (tariqa) of Sufism.

Mehmet Ziya Gökalp was a Turkish sociologist, writer, poet, and politician. After the 1908 Young Turk Revolution that reinstated constitutionalism in the Ottoman Empire, he adopted the pen name Gökalp ("celestial hero"), which he retained for the rest of his life. As a sociologist, Ziya Gökalp was influential in the negation of Islamism, pan-Islamism, and Ottomanism as ideological, cultural, and...

Çağatay Ulusoy is a Turkish actor who started his career in the TV series Adını Feriha Koydum (2011–2012) as Emir Sarrafoğlu. Since then, he has had further lead roles in Medcezir (2013–2015), a remake of the television series The O.C., in the TV series İçerde and from 2018 to 2020 he played the lead role in the first Turkish Netflix...

Cansu Dere is a Turkish actress, model, TV host and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss Turkey Universe 2000.

Leyla Lydia Tuğutlu is a Turkish-German actress, singer, model and beauty pageant titleholder. She was crowned Miss Turkey 2008, and represented Turkey at the Miss World 2008 pageant.

Fahrettin Koca is a Turkish physician and politician. He was the minister of health of the 67th government of Turkey.

Zeynep Tufekci is a Turkish-American sociologist, and the Henry G. Bryant Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs at Princeton University. She is also a columnist for The New York Times. Her work focuses on social media, media ethics, the social implications of new technologies, such as artificial intelligence and big data, as well as societal challenges such as the COVID-19...

Nihat Zeybekci is a Turkish economist, politician, a member of parliament for Denizli Province of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and former Minister of the Economy.

Mahir Ünal is a Turkish politician and academic from the Justice and Development Party (AKP) who served as the Minister of Culture and Tourism from 24 November 2015 to 24 May 2016. He has been a Member of Parliament for the electoral district of Kahramanmaraş since being elected in the 2011 general election. He was re-elected in both the June...

Cihat Yaycı is a Turkish author, former rear admiral, and theoretician of the irredentist and expansionist strategic–maritime doctrine known as "Blue Homeland".

Şahap Kavcıoğlu is a Turkish banker and politician. He was a Member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey for the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and was the Governor of the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey from 2021 to 2023. He is also a contributor to the newspaper Yeni Safak and is described as a supporter of...

Kadir Topbaş was a Turkish architect, businessman and politician who served as Mayor of Istanbul from 2004 to 2017.

Meral Akşener is a Turkish politician, teacher, historian and academic who is the founder of the Good Party (İYİ Party).

Erdoğan Bayraktar is a Turkish politician. He is the former Minister of Environment and Urban Planning of Turkey under Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's government and member of parliament for Trabzon from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), resigning from both offices on 25 December 2013.

Birce Akalay is a Turkish actress. She has appeared in over 20 films and TV series, gaining popularity for her performances. She has also presented sports on national television in Turkey and anchored many programs, making her name associated with sports and TV anchoring for about five years. Projects such as the series Yer Gök Aşk and the play 7...

Adnan Oktar, also known as Adnan Hoca or Harun Yahya, is a Turkish Muslim televangelist, Islamic creationist, author, and religious leader. His organization is commonly referred to as a cult, and he has been described as a cult leader.

İbrahim Refik Saydam was a Turkish physician, politician and the fourth Prime Minister of Turkey, serving from 25 January 1939 until his death on 8 July 1942.

Nureddin Nebati, is a Turkish politician who served as the Minister of Finance and Treasury of Turkey from 2021 to 2023. He has previously served in the Grand National Assembly as a member of Justice and Development Party. Nebati was appointed by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on 2 December 2021, after the former Minister of Finance Lütfi Elvan resigned from the...

Feza Gürsey was a Turkish mathematician and physicist. Among his contributions to theoretical physics, his work on the chiral model and on SU(6) symmetry of the quark model are the most well-known.

Moshe Sharett was an Israeli politician who was Prime Minister of Israel from 1954 to 1955 and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1948 to 1956. He signed the Israeli Declaration of Independence and was a principal negotiator in the cease-fire agreements that concluded the Israeli War of Independence. Beginning in 1933, he headed the political department of the Jewish Agency....

Abdullah Gül is a Turkish politician who served as the president of Turkey from 2007 to 2014. He previously served for four months as Prime Minister from 2002 to 2003, and concurrently served as both Deputy Prime Minister and as Foreign Minister between 2003 and 2007. He is currently a member of the Advisory Panel for the President of the...

Hüseyin Çelik is a Turkish former Minister of National Education of Turkey and member of parliament for Van for the Justice and Development Party (AKP).