Ilter Turan was born on March 28, 1941 in Istanbul. Currently a professor of Political Science in the Department of International Relations of Istanbul Bilgi University, he has also served as the president of his university 1998-2001. His previous employment has included professorships at Koç University (1993-1998) and Istanbul University (1964-1993) where he has also served as the chair of the International Relations Department (1987-1993) and the Director of the Center for the Study of the Balkans and the Middle East (1985-1993).
Dr. Turan is the past president of the Turkish Political Science Association and has been a member of the Executive Committee and a vice president of the International Political Science Association, 2000-2006. He has served as the Program Chair of the 21st World Congress of Political Science in Santiago, Chile, July 12-16, 2009. He is the Chairman of the Board of the Health and Education Foundation and serves on the board of several foundations and corporations.
He is widely published in English and Turkish on Comparative Politics, Turkish politics and foreign policy. His most recent writings have been on the domestic and international politics of water, the Turkish parliament and its members and Turkish political parties. Dr. Turan does political consulting for business. He is a senior columnist for the economics daily Dunya. He is a frequent commentator on Turkish politics on domestic and foreign TV and newspapers. Dr. Turan is married and has one child.
