Prof. Dr. Yusuf Ziya Irbec M.P. (Turkey)

Prof. Dr. Yusuf Ziya Irbec was born in Kas, Antalya in 1959. He is an economist, foreign policy specialist and academic. He currently serves as a Member of the Turkish Parliament for Antalya since 2007 and an Executive Board Member of the Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA) in which he is the Deputy Convenor of Peace and Democracy Program.

He served in the Turkish Parliament as Member, Clerk Member and Vice-Chairman of the European Union Harmonization Commission. He also served as a Member of the Joint Parliamentary Committee of the European Union.

He completed his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at Vienna University of Economics where he earned his PhD degree with highest honors. At the same time he was also graduated from the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna and completed his specialization at Paris National Graduate School of Management (École Nationale d'Administration-ENA).

He worked at every level of the university as an academician and played major roles in the management levels including President, Founder President and Vice-Chairman of the Board of Trusties of various universities. His experiences within the private sector and international institutions from the advisor to a range of administrative duties include the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB), Foreign Economic Relations Board of Turkey (DEIK), Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (PABSEC), Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Ankara Chamber of Commerce, and Institute for Cultural Diplomacy in Berlin.

His national and internationally published works include over 100 scientific articles and 3 books. Prof. Dr. Irbec speaks 8 languages: Turkish (Native language), French, German, English, Italian, Arabic, Russian and Spanish.