Valeriu Turcan (born May 22, 1976) is a

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

n political consultant and journalist. From 2007 to 2012, he served as press secretary to

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Traian Băsescu Traian Băsescu (; born 4 November 1951) is a Romanian politician who served as the president of Romania from 2004 to 2014. Prior to his presidency, Băsescu served as Romanian minister of transport on multiple occasions between 1991 and 2000, ...

, as well as being an adviser of his in the Presidency's Communications Department. He has been married to Raluca Turcan, a member of the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...

, since 2004. The couple have a son, Eric, born in 2007.

Biography

From 1994 to 1998, he studied at the

University of Bucharest The University of Bucharest (UB) () is a public university, public research university in Bucharest, Romania. It was founded in its current form on by a decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza to convert the former Princely Academy of Bucharest, P ...

's Journalism and Communication Science Faculty, specialising in journalism. In 2003, he earned an MA in International Communications from the

University of Leeds The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed Y ...

. Since 2007, he has been associate lecturer at his alma mater.Profile
at the Romanian Presidency site; accessed August 27, 2010 From 1996 to 1999, he was political editor and reporter for Radio Contact. From 1999 to 2002, working in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, he was a producer for the

Romanian-language Romanian (obsolete spelling: Roumanian; , or , ) is the official and main language of Romania and Moldova. Romanian is part of the Eastern Romance languages, Eastern Romance sub-branch of Romance languages, a linguistic group that evolved fr ...

edition of

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is a British Public broadcasting, public service broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception area, language selection and audience reach. It broadcas ...

. From 2003 to 2005 he was a political consultant for local and parliamentary elections in Romania, as well as a public relations consultant; one of his clients was the politician Cristian Boureanu. In January 2005 he served as a state counsellor to

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu Călin Constantin Anton Popescu-Tăriceanu (; born 14 January 1952) is a Romanian politician who served as Prime Minister of Romania, prime minister of Romania from 2004 to 2008. He was also president of the National Liberal Party (Romania), Na ...

, and from that month until Tăriceanu fired him in March 2006 when his wife came into conflict with the National Liberal Party (PNL) leadership, he was president of the Agency for Government Strategies. From that October until March 2007, he was consultant on communications projects. In April, following the resignation of

Adriana Săftoiu Ana Adriana Săftoiu (born 11 September 1967) is a Romanian journalist and politician. While a member of the National Liberal Party (Romania), National Liberal Party (PNL), she was a member of the Chamber of Deputies (Romania), Romanian Chamber o ...

, Mircea Marian
"Săftoiu, înlocuită cu finul lui Stolojan" ("Săftoiu, Replaced by Stolojan's Godson")
''Adevărul'', 31 March 2007; accessed August 27, 2010 he became press secretary to Băsescu, remaining his spokesman when Băsescu was shortly thereafter suspended from office, and retaining the for nearly five years. He resigned in February 2012, stating his intention to return to the private sector. Romulus Georgescu
"Traian Băsescu, părăsit de încă un consilier" ("Traian Băsescu, Abandoned by yet Another Adviser")
''Adevărul'', 16 February 2012; accessed February 16, 2012

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Turcan, Valeriu Romanian presidential advisors Romanian public relations people Romanian journalists University of Bucharest alumni 1976 births Living people Alumni of the University of Leeds