Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu, a senior academic and diplomat nominated June 16 by Turkey’s two major opposition parties as their joint candidate to run against an expected bid by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the August presidential election, has actually become a more visible figure for the Turkish public after his election as the head of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in 2004.
Along his diplomatic career, İhsanoğlu, born in Cairo in 1943, focused on history institutions of learning in Islam, scientific and cultural exchanges between Islam and the West. Both during his academic and diplomatic career, İhsanoğlu has been actively involved in bilateral and multilateral efforts for the rapprochement between cultures, particularly between the Muslim world and the West.
İhsanoğlu’s close involvement with the Turkish national diplomacy, thus Turkish governmental officials, dates back to his tenure at the Research Centre for Islamic History, Art and Culture (IRCICA), the first subsidiary body of the OIC, headquarters of which is based in Istanbul.
Serving as the founding director-general of the IRCICA for 24 years through 1980, in 2004, İhsanoğlu became the first by-vote-elected Secretary General of the OIC, the name of which was changed from the Organization of the Islamic Conference the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation during his tenure, in June 2011.
He received his B.S. in 1966 and master’s degree in chemistry in 1970 at Ain Shams University, Cairo. After completing his Ph.D. studies at Ankara University, Turkey in 1974, he did his post-doctoral research from 1975 to 1977 as a research fellow at University of Exeter, the United Kingdom. In addition to Turkish, he is fluent in English and Arabic languages and has a working knowledge in French and Persian. He is married and father of three young men.
Source/Fuente: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/who-is-presidential-candidate-ihsanoglu...
