Reha Denemeç
Reha Denemeç (born in 1961, Turkey) is a Senior Advisor to the President of the Republic of Turkey.
Denemeç co-founder and was a Board Member of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) in Turkey between 2001-2015. He was the Chairman of the Turkish Delegation and Vice President in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. He served as a Member of Parliament representing Ankara between 2002-2015, for three consecutive terms and served for ten years as the Vice Chairman in charge of Research and Development within the AK Party. He was also a member of the Democracy Committee in the Turkish Grand National Assembly and member of the International Board of the Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA), a non-profit, non-partisan international network of elected legislators. In the formative period of the party leading up to its first national election victory in 2002, he was an advisor to the Chairman of AK Party, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
In 2001, he worked as a senior executive of an energy group of conglomerate with wide ranging interests throughout Central Asia.
In 1997, while working as an expert for the Directorate of Economic Models and Strategic Research of the State Planning Organization (now the Ministry of Development), Denemeç was appointed as Deputy Secretary General, and shortly after, Acting Secretary General of the same organization. He was on the Technical Board of the Turkish Standards Institute and the board of Başak Insurance Company. He became the Chairman of Ataköy Otelcilik A.Ş., the entity that owns Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza Hotels in İstanbul.
In 1993 Denemeç was the Advisor to the Chairman of Yeni Parti (New Party), founded by Yusuf Özal to reestablish his deceased brother, former President Turgut Özal’s “second transformation program”, which aimed at bringing an executive presidency with constitutional powers to Turkey.
Denemeç started to work in the public sector as the Executive Assistant to the Undersecretary of the State Planning Organization. He was later appointed as the Executive Assistant and Advisor to the Minister of State, in charge of the treasury, foreign trade, planning, privatization and public banks in 1987.
Denemeç also served in the Turkish Armed Forces as a commando second lieutenant until 1986.
In 1984, Denemeç graduated from the Middle East Technical University, Ankara, with a B.S. in economics. In 1991, he received an M.A. in economics from the University of Delaware. He also completed programs titled "Managing and Shaping Change in the Information Age" and "Innovation for Economic Development" at Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Denemeç is married with two children.