Mr. Abdullah Gül

Mr. Abdullah Gül, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey, was awarded the Honorary Degree of Doctor Honoris Causa of Burgas Free University (12.05.2003) for high achievements in the field of higher education and outstanding contribution to the development of international political, economic and cultural relations.

Abdullah Gül was born in 1950. He studied Economics at the Istanbul University. During his graduate education, he studied for two years in London and Exeter in the United Kingdom. He pursued an academic career and worked at the higher education facilities in Adapazarı, collaborating in the establishment of the Department for Industrial Engineering and teaching Management courses at the ITU Sakarya Engineering Faculty, which later became the Sakarya University in 1992. He received a PhD degree from the Istanbul University in 1983. He is also conferred to an Honorary PhD degree from Amity University, NOIDA -India on 8 February 2009, and an LL.D. degree from University of Dhaka on 13 February 2010.

Gül became a Member of Parliament for Kayseri in 1991 and was re-elected in 1995, 1999, 2002 and 2007.

Abdullah Gül served as the 11th President of Turkey, in office from 2007 to 2014. He previously served for four months as Prime Minister from 2002 to 2003, and concurrently served as both Deputy Prime Minister and as Foreign Minister between 2003 and 2007.