Selin Sayek Böke

Early life and career

Selin Sayek Böke was born on 24 August 1972 in Buffalo, New York, United States; her father is İskender Sayek and her mother is Füsun Sayek. One part of her family is Arab Christian, as members of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch, while another part of her family is ethnic Sunni Turkish from Niğde. She graduated from TED Ankara College in 1989. In 1993, she graduated from Middle East Technical University Faculty of Economics. Between 1993 and 1999, she pursued a masters degree and a doctorate at Duke University in the United States, in the field of economics. She later began teaching at Duke while serving as an project advisor at the World Bank. In her role as an advisor, she worked on World Bank projects in South Africa, north and central Europe. She received her Ph.D from Duke in 1999.

Between 1999 and 2001, she worked at the Bentley University Economics Department as an Assistant Professor. She later worked at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) office in Washington D.C. as an economist. During her work at the IMF, she also gave lectures at Georgetown University. In 2003, she became a member of teaching staff at Bilkent University. She became an assistant professor in 2010 and became the President of the Bilkent University Economics Department between 2011 and 2014. Between 2013 and 2014, she served as the vice dean of the Bilkent University Faculty of Economic and Administrative Sciences. Since 2011, she is a member of the advisory board at the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) Social Sciences research Group (SOBAG). She is a founding member of the Füsun Sayek Health and Education Development Foundation.

Academic recognition

Böke's scientific research has been published in several international and national high-profile magazines and books. She received an award from TÜBİTAK in 2010 for her work on international economics and effects of foreign investment. In 2007, she received the Excellence Award in Global Economic Affairs from the Kiel World Economics Institute in Germany. In 2011, she was given an award by the Mustafa Parlar Foundation. She has directed several TÜBİTAK research projects.

Political career

In the 18th Republican People's Party Extraordinary Convention held on 6 September 2014, Böke was elected to the Party Council. On 14 September, she was appointed as the Deputy Leader responsible for economic policies. She was elected as a member of parliament for İzmir's second electoral district at the June 2015 general election.