Fikri Işık

Fikri Işık (born 13 September 1965) is a Turkish educator, politician, a MP for Kocaeli Province of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), and the current Minister of Science, Industry and Technology of Turkey.

Early life

Fikri Işık was born on 13 September 1965 to Tevfik and Mecbure Işık in the village of Babacan in Şiran district of Gümüşhane Province, Turkey.^[1]

He studied Mathematics Education at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara.^[1][2]

He is married and has four children.^[1]

Career

Profession

Işık worked as a mathematics and English language teacher in private schools at İzmit and Istanbul. He served also as manager in the food industry.^[1][2]

Politics

Fikri Işık entered politics on 20 October 2001 through his founding membership of the Justice and Development Party's Kocaeli Province organization. He was elected its chairman on 22 June 2003, serving four years at this post.^[1]

In 2007, he left his chair at the regional level to run for a seat in the parliament. Işık was elected into the Grand National Assembly of Turkey in the 2007 general election as an MP from Kocaeli Province. He was re-elected a second time into the parliament in the 2011 general election. Between 2007 and 2013, he was responsible in the party headquarters for the coordination of the part's regional organizations in 47 provinces across the country. On 31 January 2013, Işık became chairman of the parliamentary National Education, Youth and Sports Commission.^[1][3]

On 26 December 2013, Fikri Işık assumed office as the Minister of Science, Industry and Technology, succeeding Nihat Ergün during Erdoğan's cabinet reshuffle with ten new names that was announced the day before, on 25 December, following the 2013 corruption scandal in Turkey.^{[2][4][5][6][7]}

References