List of Albanians in Turkey

This list features prominent Turkish people of full or partial Albanian descent, arranged by occupation.

Politics

Sultans

• Bayezid II – Eldest son and successor of Mehmed II, ruling as Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1481 to 1512

• Mehmed III – Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1595 until his death in 1603

Grand viziers

• Bayezid Pasha – Ottoman statesman who served as grand vizier of the Ottoman Empire from 1413 to 1417
• Zagan Pasha – Grand vizier of the Ottoman Empire from 1453 to 1456
• Ishak Pasha – Ottoman general, statesman, and later grand vizier
• Koca Davud Pasha – Albanian general and grand vizier of the Ottoman Empire from 1482 to 1497
• Dukakinzade Ahmed Pasha – Ottoman statesman, serving as Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire from 1512 to 1515

• Ayas Mehmed Pasha – Ottoman statesman and grand vizier of the Ottoman Empire from 1536 to 1539
• Lütfi Pasha – Ottoman statesman and grand vizier of the Ottoman Empire
• Kara Ahmed Pasha – Ottoman statesman and grand vizier
• Semiz Ahmed Pasha – Ottoman statesman and Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire from 1579 to 1580
• Koca Sinan Pasha – Ottoman Grand vizier, military figure, and statesman
• Serdar Ferhad Pasha – Ottoman Grand vizier
• Hadım Hasan Pasha – Ottoman Grand vizier He was also the Ottoman governor of Egypt from 1580 to 1583.
• Yemişçi Hasan Pasha – Ottoman Grand vizier
• Nasuh Pasha – Ottoman statesman
• Ohrili Hüseyin Pasha – Ottoman statesman
• Mere Hüseyin Pasha – Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire in 1622 and 1623
• Tabanıyassı Mehmed Pasha – Ottoman statesman, who held the office of grand vizier
• Kemankeş Kara Mustafa Pasha – Ottoman military officer and statesman. He served as Kapudan Pasha and as grand vizier

• Kara Murat Pasha – Ottoman statesman and military officer
• Tarhoncu Ahmed Pasha – Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire from 20 June 1652 until 21 March 1653
• Zurnazen Mustafa Pasha – Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire for 4 hours
• Köprülü Mehmed Pasha – founder of the Köprülü political dynasty of the Ottoman Empire
• Köprülüzade Fazıl Ahmed Pasha – member of the renowned Köprülü family originating from Albania, which produced six grand viziers of the Ottoman Empire.
• Köprülüzade Fazıl Mustafa Pasha – Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire from 1689 to 1691
• Arabacı Ali Pasha – Ottoman grand vizier from 1691 to 1692
• Amcazade Köprülü Hüseyin Pasha – Grand vizier of the Ottoman Empire under Mustafa II from September 1697 until September 1702
• Köprülüzade Numan Pasha – Ottoman statesman who was the grand vizier of the Ottoman Empire
• Hacı Halil Pasha – Ottoman Grand vizier
• Ivazzade Halil Pasha – Ottoman statesman who served as grand vizier in 1769
• Alemdar Mustafa Pasha – Ottoman military commander and a grand vizier
• Mustafa Naili Pasha – Ottoman statesman, who held the office of grand vizier twice during the reign of Abdülmecid I
• Mehmed Ferid Pasha – Ottoman statesman and Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire
• Said Halim Pasha – Ottoman statesman and Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire
• Tabanıyassı Mehmed Pasha – Ottoman statesman

Other figures

• Safiye Sultan – (albanian: Sulltanesha Safije) Was Valide Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1595-1603 as mother of Mehmed III and an important figure of the Sultanate of Women.
• Abdi Pasha the Albanian – Ottoman politician and military leader
• Mehmet Akif Ersoy – Ottoman born Turkish poet, writer, academic, member of parliament, and the author of the Turkish National Anthem
• Djevdet Bey – Governor of the Van vilayet of the Ottoman Empire during World War I and the Siege of Van
• Reshid Akif Pasha – Ottoman statesman during the last decades of the Ottoman Empire
• Abdülhalik Renda – Turkish civil servant and politician.
• Abdülkadir Aksu – Turkish politician
• Eyüp Sabri Akgöl – Adjutant Major, CUP member and a leader of the Young Turk revolution (1908), parliamentarian
• Koçi Bey – high-ranking Ottoman bureaucrat
• Ahmet Piriştina – two term mayor (1999–2004) of Turkey's third largest city, Izmir
• Hüseyin Numan Menemencioğlu – Turkish diplomat and politician
• Elyesa Bazna – Secret agent for Nazi Germany during World War II
• Mehmet Fuat Köprülü – Influential Turkish Turcologist, scholar, minister of foreign affairs and Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey.
• Ahmet Erdem – Turkish civil servant who served as the minister of labour and social security in the interim election government formed by Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu between 28 August and 17 November 2015
• Necdet Menzir – Turkish bureaucrat and politician who served as minister of transport from 1997 to 1998
• Kemal Derviş – Turkish economist and politician, and former head of the United Nations Development Programme
• Mustafa Kemal Kurdaş – Turkish politician

Military

• Hayreddin Barbarossa – Ottoman admiral of the fleet
• Patrona Halil – Instigator of a mob uprising in 1730 which replaced Sultan Ahmed III with Mahmud I and ended the Tulip period
• Nuri Killigil – Ottoman general in the Ottoman Army
• Yakup Ağa – Ottoman Sipahi
• Oruç Reis – Greek-Albanian Ottoman bey
• Kâzım Özalp – Turkish military officer, politician, and one of the leading figures in the Turkish War of Independence.
• Hayrullah Fişek – Officer in the Turkish army
• Mehmet Esat Bülkat – Ottoman general active during the First Balkan War

• Enver Pasha – Ottoman military officer and leader of the Young Turks.
• Faik Pasha – General of the Ottoman Army, and the grandmaster of Freemasonry in the Ottoman Empire
• Mahmud Dramali Pasha – Ottoman statesman and military leader
• Hasan Tahsin Pasha – Ottoman military officer, who served in Yemen and in the First Balkan War.
• Alemdar Mustafa Pasha – Ottoman military commander and a grand vizier
• Ahmed Izzet Pasha – Ottoman general during World War I
• Wehib Pasha – General in the Ottoman Army
• Ismail Fazıl Pasha – General of the Ottoman Army
• Ishak Pasha – Ottoman general, statesman, and later grand vizier
• Şefik Aker – Officer of the Ottoman Army and the Turkish Army
• Kara Murat Pasha – Ottoman statesman and military officer
• Hasan Rami Pasha – Ottoman career officer
• Ä°zzettin Çalışlar – Officer of the Ottoman Army and the general of the Turkish Army
• Nurettin Ersin – Turkish general. He was the commander of the 6th Corps during the 1974 invasion of Cyprus, and the commander of the Turkish Army during the 1980 military coup
• Çevik Bir – Turkish army general

Business

• Özhan Canaydın – Businessman, basketball player and former chairman of the Turkish sports club Galatasaray
• Kâzim Taşkent – founder of Yapi Kredi bank

Science and academia

• Murat Çetinkaya – Governor of the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey appointed in April 2016
• Erdem Başçı – Turkish economist and the former governor of the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey
• Osman Birsen – Turkish high-ranking civil servant for finance and was the CEO of the Istanbul Stock Exchange between 1997 and 2007
• Meltem Arıkan – Turkish novelist and playwright
• Musa Hakan Asyalı – Turkish scientist and professor of biomedical engineering
• Necati Cumalı – Turkish writer of novels, short-stories, essays and poetry
• Erhan Tabakoglu – Turkish professor of medicine at Trakya University
• Can Dündar – Turkish journalist, columnist and documentarian
• Bilgin Çelik – Turkish historian
• Müge Anlı – Turkish journalist
• Celal Şengör – Turkish geologist

Authors and architects

• Şemseddin Sâmi – The first Turkish language novelist and lexicographer.
• Rıza Tevfik Bölükbaşı – Turkish philosopher, poet, politician of liberal signature and a community leader
• Abedin Dino – Turkish artist and a well-known painter
• Hodja Ali Rıza – Turkish painter and art teacher
• Sedefkar Mehmed Agha – Turkish architect
• Architect Kasemi – Turkish architect
• Mesihi of Prishtina – Ottoman-Turkish architect
• Pelin Batu – Turkish author, actress, historian, and television personality

Cinema

• Kıvanç Tatlıtuğ – Turkish actor
• Halit Ergenç – Actor, Ergenç's mother was of Albanian descent
• Barış Arduç – actor and model, born in Switzerland in the family of Albanian immigrants
• Bergüzar Korel – Turkish actress
• Kaan Urgancıoğlu – Turkish actor
• Ä°rem Helvacıoğlu – Turkish actress
• Filiz Akın – Turkish actress
• Fikret Kuşkan – Turkish actor
• Nur Fettahoğlu – Turkish female actress
• Can Yaman – Turkish actor and lawyer
• Evrim Akın – Turkish actress
• Nur Sürer – Turkish actress
• Deniz Barut – Turkish actress
• Çağla Demir – – Turkish actress
• Hülya Darcan – Turkish actress
• Meral Çetinkaya – Turkish film actress
• Şehnaz Dilan – Turkish former women's footballer, model, film and TV actress and singer

• Demet Evgar – Turkish actress
• Begüm Kütük – Turkish actress and model
• Erdal Beşikçioğlu – Turkish actor
• Saruhan Hünel – Turkish actor
• Pelin Karahan – Turkish actress
• Hilal Altınbilek – Turkish actress
• Melis Sezen – Turkish actress
• Nurettin Sönmez – Turkish actor and martial arts teacher
• Didem Balçın, Turkish actress
• Ezgi Eyüboğlu - Turkish actress
• Su Burcu Yazgı Coşkun - Turkish actress
• Burak Yörük - Turkish actor
• Nasuh Mahruki - Photographer and documentary film producer
• Ä°lker Ayrık - Turkish actor, TV presenter, and director
• Emre Bey - Turkish actor
• Emre Kınay - Turkish actor
• Ata Demirer - Turkish filmmaker, stand-up comedian, actor, and musician
• Burcu Kıratlı - Turkish actress and model
• Uğur Pektaş - Turkish actor
• Sümeyye Aydoğan - Turkish actress, singer and model
• Serkay Tütüncü - Turkish actor

Musicians

• Candan Erçetin – Turkish singer

• Simge Sağın – Turkish female singer, songwriter and composer
• Yeşim Salkım – Turkish singer
• Soner Özbilen – Turkish folk singer, conductor, and compiler
• Engin Noyan – Turkish musician
• Derya Uluğ – Turkish singer
• Fuat Güner – Turkish pop musician
• Arif Şentürk – traditional folk singer and compiler
• Fettah Can – Turkish singer and songwriter
• Metin Şentürk - Turkish pop singer
• Zeynep Bastık – Turkish singer, songwriter and actress
• Sinan Akçıl – Turkish singer

Models

• Gizem Karaca – Turkish actress and model

Sports

• Ali Sami Yen – Albanian-Turkish sports official best known as the founder of the Galatasaray Sports Club.
• Qemal Omari – Turkish former football player and manager and a founder of Istanbulspor.
• Ä°lhan Cavcav – Former president of Gençlerbirliği S.K.
• Hakan Şükür – Footballer Şükür is of Kosovar Albanian origin
• Arif Erdem – football player
• Ayhan Akman – retired Turkish footballer who last played for Galatasaray
• Emre Belözoğlu – Turkish footballer of Albanian origin
• Kenan Sipahi – Kosovo-born Turkish professional basketball player
• Necip Uysal – Uysal's parent are of Kosovo Albanian origin

• Serdar Kurtuluş – Turkish footballer of Albanian origin
• Serkan Kurtuluş – football player
• Ergün Berisha – football player
• Mehmet Okur – Basketball player
• Erkan Kaş – Turkish footballer who plays for Kayserispor
• Erten Ersu – Turkish footballer who plays for Fenerbahçe
• Eray İşcan – Turkish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Süper Lig club Galatasaray.
• Ufuk Ceylan – Turkish professional footballer
• Fuat Yaman – Turkish football coach
• Okan Kocuk – Turkish professional footballer
• Berkay Can Değirmencioğlu – Turkish footballer

• Derya Arhan – Turkish women's football defender
• Sertan Vardar – Turkish professional footballer
• Ersun Yanal – Turkish professional manager
• Orhan Ak – Turkish former professional footballer
• Gökhan Güleç – Turkish former footballer
• Sevgi Salmanlı – Turkish women's football forward
• Emre Mor- Turkish footballer with an Albanian mother form North Macedonia https://beta.bold.dk/fodbold/nyheder/emre-mor-vaelger-tyrkisk-landshold
• Berkay Vardar – Turkish professional footballer
• Arda Kurtulan – Turkish professional footballer
• Batin Tuna – Turkish professional basketball player
• Arda Turan – Turkish professional football player with an Albanian mother from Prishtina
• Yunus Akgün - Turkish professional footballer
• Ä°smail Yüksek - Turkish professional footballer

Writers

• Namık Kemal – Ottoman democrat, writer, intellectual, reformer, journalist, playwright, and political activist
• Gökşin Sipahioğlu – Turkish photographer and journalist who founded the renowned Paris-based photo agency Sipa Press
• Hayati Çitaklar – Young Turkish playwright, director, novelist, actor and poet

References