Kürşad Tüzmen is a former Minister of State of Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

 responsible for foreign trade. He has been in this position between 2002 and 2009.

Education and career

He is a graduate in management science from Middle East Technical University

Middle East Technical University

Middle East Technical University is a public technical university located in Ankara, Turkey...

. Tüzmen holds a Master's degree

Master's degree

A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...

 in international relations from the University of Illinois, USA. He was formerly a high-ranking civil servant in the Ministry of Foreign Trade.

Personal life

He is married and has two children. He is a diver and a former champion swimmer, winning a race across the Bosphorus in 2004, in the 46-50 year-old category, and even now is occasionally photographed in swimwear.

Sayings and quotations

(In response to Jacques Chirac

Jacques Chirac

Jacques René Chirac is a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He previously served as Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988 , and as Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.After completing his studies of the DEA's degree at the...

's comment that Turkey belongs in Europe as we are all children of Byzantium....Many Christian converts were put to service under the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans united many races for a single purpose. Europe knows whose son he is but I am the son of Ottomans