AFAD head appointed as Prime Ministry undersecretary

Oktay was born in 1964 in Çekerek in the Central Anatolian province of Yozgat. He completed his bachelor’s degree in business management in Turkey, and received his MBA and PhD in the United States. He has a master’s in manufacturing engineering and a PhD in industrial engineering.

In the early 2000s he specialized in enterprise-based crisis management and worked as vice-dean and head of the business management department at Beykent University.

Along with working in the field of aviation, Oktay has served as deputy director general responsible for strategic planning and business development, sales and marketing, production planning and information technology, at Turkish Airlines. He has been the president of AFAD since 2012.

AFAD is responsible for major relief projects inside Turkey, as well as in the surrounding region and throughout the world. With the influx of Syrian refugees into Turkey, AFAD’s burden was increased enormously. The organization, working under the Prime Ministry, is currently running some 26 refugee camps, which host approximately 285,000 Syrians.