Turki bin Abdul Mohsen bin Abdul Latif Al Al-Sheikh ( ar, تركي بن عبد المحسن بن عبد اللطيف آل الشيخ; born August 4, 1981), is a

Saudi Saudi may refer to: * Saudi Arabia * Saudis, people from Saudi Arabia * Saudi culture, the culture of Saudi Arabia * House of Saud The House of Saud ( ar, آل سُعُود, ʾĀl Suʿūd ) is the ruling royal family of Saudi Arabia. It is ...

adviser at the Royal Court under the rank of Minister and the current Chairman of General Authority for Entertainment.

Education and career

Al-Sheikh graduated from King Fahad Security College in 2001 with a bachelor's degree in Security Sciences. He then worked in several government sectors including the I nterior Ministry, the Emirate of

Riyadh Riyadh (, ar, الرياض, 'ar-Riyāḍ, Literal translation, lit.: 'The Gardens' Najdi Arabic, Najdi pronunciation: ), formerly known as Hajr al-Yamamah, is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of the Riyad ...

and the office of the

Defense Minister A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...

and the

Crown Prince A crown prince or hereditary prince is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The female form of the title is crown princess, which may refer either to an heiress apparent or, especially in earlier times, to the wife ...

. He was appointed an adviser to the royal court in 2015 and later, in 2017, he was promoted to be a royal advisor with the rank of minister. In September 2017, a royal decree was issued to appoint him as the new chairman of the

General Sports Authority The Ministry of Sport (MoS; ), formerly the General Sports Authority (GSA; ), is a government ministry responsible for sports in Saudi Arabia. The Ministry of Sport was previously known as the General Sports Authority and before that as the General ...

. In December 2018, he was appointed as chairman of the General Authority for Entertainment.

Sport

Al-Sheikh is Chairman of the Islamic Solidarity Sports Federation (ISSF), and previously Honorary President of Al-Taawoun in

Buraidah Buraidah ( ar, بريدة ') is the capital and largest city of Al-Qassim Region in north-central Saudi Arabia in the heart of the Arabian Peninsula. Buraydah lies equidistant from the Red Sea to the west and Persian Gulf to the east. Its known ...

. He used to be the owner of the Egyptian club

Pyramids FC Pyramids Football Club ( ar, نادي بيراميدز لكرة القدم or ) is an Egyptian professional association football, football club based in Cairo that competes in the Egyptian Premier League, the highest league in the Egyptian Foot ...

from 2018 to 2019. On 2 August 2019, he became the owner of

UD Almería Unión Deportiva Almería, S.A.D. () is a Spanish professional football club based in Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded on 26 July 1989 and known as ''Almería Club de Fútbol'' until 2001, when it was renamed ''Unión D ...

, replacing Alfonso García Gabarrón. He named Mohamed El Assy as

general director A director general or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals'' ) or general director is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer, within a governmen ...

of the club. In December 2020, Al-Sheikh became the honorary president of the Sudanese club

Al-Hilal Hilal or Al-Hilal may refer to: *Hilal ( ar, هلال, ''hilāl''), a crescent ** the crescent Moon visible after a new Moon, determining the beginning of a month in the Islamic calendar * Banu Hilal, a confederation of tribes of Arabia Arts ...

Personal

In addition to his official and honorary career, Turki Al-Sheikh was known for his artistic writing, and his lyrics were enriched by a number of Arab artists. He was married to Egyptian singer

Amal Maher Amal Maher ( ar, آمال ماهر; born 19 February 1985) is an Egyptian singer. She is heavily influenced by Umm Kulthum. She began singing as a child and was discovered by the general public at the age of fifteen by taking up the songs of U ...

, who is now rumoured to have been missing for months; with more rumours alleging that Al-Sheikh has kept her in a detention centre to slowly and brutally torture her, so as to punish Maher for filing a lawsuit of assault against him. The story started an outrage on Egyptian social media following the brutal murder of a Mansoura University student, Naira Ashraf, after which a picture of Maher was posted on her Facebook account, with a suspicious slew of news outlets began citing it as proof that Maher is living her life normally. However, many are alleging this is an old picture, and that the records will only be set straight if Maher appears on live video, which she still has not.

Criticism

Madawi al-Rasheed noted about Sheikh: "Sheikh is revealing himself to be much like the other coterie of aides that the

crown prince A crown prince or hereditary prince is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The female form of the title is crown princess, which may refer either to an heiress apparent or, especially in earlier times, to the wife ...

has ushered in to lead his many new initiatives" .."We now have Sheikh, mixing entertainment with the vulgarity of the new Saudi nationalism. His portfolio is to entertain Saudis, but he is doing it with bad taste, excessive hype and populist propaganda."

Awards

* The most influential Arab sports personality of the year 2017 at the 12th Dubai International Sports Conference. * The Arab Sports Personality Award in Mohammed bin Rashid Award of the year 2018. * The Arab Sport Culture Award of 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheikh, Turki al 1981 births Living people 21st-century Saudi Arabian poets Saudi Arabian military personnel