Bülent Arınç

He graduated from Ankara University Faculty of Law in 1970. He worked as a freelance lawyer in Manisa. He was elected as Manisa Deputy from the Welfare Party in the elections of 24 December 1995. He worked in the Justice Commission of the Turkish Grand National Assembly and the Turkey-EU Joint Commission. Bülent ARINÇ, who was elected as Manisa Deputy from the Virtue Party in the 18 April 1999 elections, served as Deputy Group Chairman of the Virtue Party for two legislative terms. He also served as a Member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Turkish Grand National Assembly. He joined the Justice and Development Party, which was established after the Virtue Party was closed by the Constitutional Court. He was elected as the Group chairman of the Justice and Development Party. Between 2002-2007, he served as Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. In the 2007 general elections, he was elected as Head of the Turkish Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (PABSEC). In May 2009, he served as the 60th Government’s Minister of the State and Deputy Prime Minister. On 12 June 2011, he was elected as the MP for Bursa Province, and served as Deputy Prime Minister and Spokesman for the 61st Government. He was appointed as a member of the Presidential High Advisory Board in 2019. He resigned from his position on November 24, 2020.