Mahir Ünal (born 1 July 1966) 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 A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for the electoral district of Kahramanmaraş since being elected in the 2011 general election. He was re-elected in both the

June June is the sixth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and is the second of four months to have a length of 30 days, and the third of five months to have a length of less than 31 days. June contains the summer solstice in ...

and November 2015 general elections. Prior to becoming an MP, Ünal was a campaign strategist for the AKP during the 2007 general and the 2004 and 2009 local elections. He has also worked as an election strategist for elections held in

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

and

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

, having served as an advisor to local administrations on the issues of political relations and local policies.

Early life and career

Education

Mahir Ünal was born on 1 July 1966 in the

Elbistan Elbistan ( 1ca, Ablasta, Ablastayn, Ablastin, Ablistan;Aksüt, Ali"''On the Alevism of Elbistan, Nurhak, Ekinozu and Afsin - Elbistan Nurhak Ekinözü Afşin Aleviliği Üzerine - Zum Alevitentum in Elbistan, Nurhak, Ekinözü und Afşin''"- Alevi ...

district of

Kahramanmaraş Province Kahramanmaraş Province kurdish( tr, Kahramanmaraş ili ) is a province of Turkey. Its provincial capital is the city of Kahramanmaraş, the traffic code is 46. Geography Kahramanmaraş is traversed by the northeasterly line of equal latitude and ...

. Having completed his primary and secondary education in Elbistan, he attended Bahçelievler Koca Sinan High School in

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

and graduated in 1984. In 1991, he graduated from

Marmara University Marmara University ( Turkish: ''Marmara Üniversitesi'') is a public university in Istanbul, Turkey. The university is named after the Sea of Marmara and was founded as a university in 1982. However, it was created in 1883 under the name of ''H ...

Faculty of Theology. He received his

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an 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 practice.

from Istanbul University Institute of Social Sciences in 1997, specialising in social structures and social change. He has continued pursuing a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...

in the same university's Faculty of Sciences and Literature, in the field of

sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation an ...

Early career

In 1992, Ünal became a teacher. He later became an advisor on the fields of urban policy, local government and political communication. In 2005, he became an advisor at the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce. Between 2007 and 2009, he became a member of the executive board of İstanbul Büyükşehir Belediyesi Spor Kulübü. He later became the director of the behavioural sciences department of a private university and also taught on the subject of organisational behaviour.

Political career

Election strategist

Ünal joined the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in 2003 and began teaching at the AKP Political Academy. Since 2004, he has participated in the electoral strategy boards that organised the AKP's election campaigns since the 2004 local elections. Internationally, he has served as an election strategist for political parties in

and

during elections.

Justice and Development Party

In the 3rd Justice and Development Party Ordinary Congress held in 2009, Ünal was elected to the party Central Decision Executive Committee (MKYK) and became the party's Vice President on Research and Development policy. In the same year, he became the AKP's Political Academy co-ordinator. He was not fielded as a MKYK candidate in the 4th Justice and Development Party Ordinary Congress held in 2012.

Member of Parliament

Ünal was fielded as an AKP candidate in the electoral district of Kahramanmaraş for the 2011 general election. He was subsequently elected as

but did not participate in the AKP government formed by party leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. He was re-elected as an MP in the June 2015 general election and the November 2015 general election.

Minister of Culture and Tourism

With the AKP winning a parliamentary majority in the November 2015 general election, party leader

Ahmet Davutoğlu Ahmet Davutoğlu (; born 26 February 1959) is a Turkish academic, politician and former diplomat who served as the 26th Prime Minister of Turkey and Leader of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) from 2014 to 2016. He previously served as ...

formed the 64th government of Turkey in which Ünal was appointed Minister of Culture and Tourism on 24 November 2015. He succeeded Yalçın Topçu, who had temporarily served in the position during the interim election government since August 2015.

Personal life

Ünal is married with one child, and can speak Turkish,

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

and

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

References

External links

MP profile on the Grand National Assembly websiteCollection of all relevant news items on Haberler.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Unal, Mahir 1966 births Living people People from Elbistan Justice and Development Party (Turkey) politicians Deputies of Kahramanmaraş Marmara University alumni Istanbul University alumni Members of the 24th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 25th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 26th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 64th government of Turkey Ministers of Culture and Tourism of Turkey