Bilal Erdoğan

Necmettin Bilal Erdoğan (born 23 April 1981) is a Turkish businessman, the second child of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the President of Turkey.

Bilal Erdoğan
Born	Necmettin Bilal Erdoğan 23 April 1981 Istanbul, Turkey
Nationality	Turkish
Alma mater	Indiana University Harvard University
Spouse(s)	Reyyan Uzuner ​ (m. 2003)​
Children	3
Parent(s)	Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Emine Erdoğan
Relatives	Ahmet Burak Erdoğan (brother) Esra Erdoğan (sister) Sümeyye Erdoğan (sister)

Early life

Necmettin Bilal was born on 23 April 1981,[1] the second child of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Emine Erdoğan. He has three siblings: Ahmet Burak, Sümeyye Erdoğan and Esra Erdoğan. After finishing secondary school at Kartal Anadolu İmam Hatip Lisesi in 1999, Erdoğan moved to the United States, and graduated from Indiana University Bloomington with a bachelor's degree in political science and economics.[2] He then earned a master's degree from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in 2004.

Career

After graduation, he served at the World Bank as an intern for a while.[1] He returned to Turkey in 2006 and started his business life. Erdoğan is one of the three equal shareholders of BMZ Group Denizcilik ve İnşaat Sanayi Anonym Şirketi, a marine transportation corporation.[3][4] He is also on the governing board of Türkiye Gençlik ve Eğitime Hizmet Vakfı (TÜRGEV), an education and youth foundation.[5]

Personal life

Erdoğan married Reyyan Uzuner in 2003.[6] The couple have two sons, Ömer Tayyip and Ali Tahir, and a daughter, Fatıma Serra.[7]

In October 2015, Today's Zaman reported that Erdoğan and his family had moved to Bologna, Italy, after his father's AK Party lost its parliamentary majority in June. It is stated that he will finish his PhD at The Johns Hopkins University SAIS Bologna Center there, but that all he has to do is complete his thesis, which does not require his permanent presence in Bologna, but does enable him to obtain a two-year residence permit.[8]

In February 2016 the prosecuting attorney of Bologna started a lawsuit for money laundering against him.[9]

Corruption scandal

Erdoğan came under accusations of corruption during the 2013 corruption scandal in Turkey that extended to other top members of TÜRGEV,[10][11][12] for which he gave testimony.[13]

References

1. "Bilal Erdoğan". Biyografi.info. 23 April 1981. Retrieved 26 November 2015.
2. "IU Goes to Turkey: Indiana University". global.iu.edu. Archived from the original on 9 March 2016. Retrieved 18 February 2016.
3. "Erdoğan: Oğlum gemi değil gemicik aldı". Hurriyet.com.tr. 17 July 2007. Retrieved 26 November 2015.
4. "Küçük Erdoğan holdingleşiyor". Yurtgazetesi.com.tr. Retrieved 26 November 2015.
5. Other board members are: Esra Albayrak, Serhat Albayrak, Reyhan Uzuner, Ziya İlgen, Şule Albayrak, Ahmet Ergün, Bülent Turan, Mustafa Ataş, Doğan Kubat, Hasan Can, Mevlüt Uysal, Mustafa Demir, Yasemin Solmaz, Zeynep Eker Ayhan
6. "Gul ve Erdoganin cocuk gelinleri" (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 30 October 2014. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
7. "İki oğlu vardı". www.haberturk.com.
8. "Report: President Erdoğan's son has settled in Italy with his family". Today's Zaman. 6 October 2015. Archived from the original on 26 November 2015. Retrieved 26 November 2015.
9. "riciclaggio, indagato il figlio di Erdogan" (in Italian). Bologna: Corriere della Sera. 16 February 2016. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
10. "Cumhuriyet Gazetesi - Maliye, TÜRGEV'e arazi verdiğini kabul etti". Cumhuriyet.com.tr. Retrieved 26 November 2015.
11. "Türkiye'yi, Bilal'in üstüne yapacakmış". Patronlardunyasi.com. 19 November 2013. Retrieved 26 November 2015.
12. "Bilal Erdogan da gozaltina alinacak mi". Archived from the original on 13 December 2014. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
13. "Bilal Erdoğan salı günü savcılara ifade verdi! - Türkiye Haberleri". Radikal. 14 February 2014. Retrieved 26 November 2015.