İlhan Kesici

Early life and career

İlhan Kesici was born on 22 November 1948 in Zara, Sivas Province and graduated from Middle East Technical University Faculty of Industrial Engineering. He obtained a masters degree from the same university. He later studied at the University of Bradford Project Planning Centre in the United Kingdom, where he focused on development and infrastructure projects. He also studied high public management at the Royal Institute of Public Administration (RIPA).

Employment

Kesici began work at the Turkish State Railways (TCDD) Research, Planning and Coordination Department, as a chief project engineer in 1972. He became the deputy manager of the Research, Planning and Coordination Department in 1977. In 1979, he joined the state planning organisation in the Prime Ministry of Turkey and worked as an expert in the Transport and Communications Sector. He became the manager of the state planning organisation in 1981 and became general director in 1984. In 1985, he became the Deputy Permanent Representative of Turkey to the European Community in Brussels. In 1987, he returned to the state planning organisation to become an advisor to the organisation undersecretary, later becoming the undersecretary in 1991. He was appointed as a member of the Council of Higher Education (YÖK) in the same year.

1994–99

Kesici became the Motherland Party (ANAP) candidate for the Mayor of İstanbul in the 1994 local elections, losing narrowly to Recep Tayyip Erdoğan from the Welfare Party (RP). He became a Member of Parliament for the electoral district of Bursa in the 1995 general election. As an MP, he was a member of the Foreign Relations Commission, a member of the Turkish delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and a member of the Turkey-EU Joint Parliamentary Committee.

2007–present

On 22 May 2007, Kesici became a member of the Republican People's Party (CHP) and was elected as an MP for İstanbul's first electoral district in the 2007 general election. He was again a member of the Foreign Relations Commission and the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. He resigned from the CHP on 28 September 2010 and subsequently stood down at the end of the Parliament in 2011. He rejoined the CHP before the June 2015 general election, in which he was again elected as an MP for İstanbul's first electoral district. He was again appointed as a member of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.

Kesici was one of the five CHP politicians who were offered ministerial positions by Justice and Development Party leader Ahmet Davutoğlu in August 2015. Davutoğlu had been tasked by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to form an interim election government after coalition negotiations proved unsuccessful and resulted in Erdoğan calling an early election. Since the CHP had 131 MPs during the formation of the interim government, the party was entitled to 5 ministries in the cabinet, though Kılıçdaroğlu announced that the CHP would not take part and give up their five ministries to independent politicians. Kesici subsequently declined Davutoğlu's offer, as did the four other CHP MPs that had been offered ministerial positions.