List of Turkish Americans

This is a list of notable Turkish Americans, are people who have Turkish ancestry (or have or had Turkish citizenship for those of non-Turkish ethnic descent) and are citizens of the United States.

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

To be included in this list, the person must have a Wikipedia article showing they are Turkish American or must have references showing they are Turkish American and are notable.

Academics

• Daron Acemoglu, economist, of Armenian descent
• Taner Akçam, University of Minnesota professor, historian specializing in the Armenian Genocide[1]
• İlhan Aksay, professor, Princeton University[2]
• Özalp Babaoğlu, professor of computer science at University of Bologna
• Ciğdem Balım
• Asım Orhan Barut, University of Colorado-Boulder physicist[3]
• Mine Çetinkaya-Rundel, associate professor of the practice in statistics at Duke University
• Faruk Gül, Professor of Economics, Princeton University[4]
• Feza Gürsey, mathematician and physicist
• M. Şükrü Hanioğlu, Professor of Near Eastern Studies, Princeton University
• Alp Ikizler, nephrologist, holder of the Catherine McLaughlin Hakim chair in Medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
• Cemal Kafadar, historian, Vehbi Koç Professor of Turkish Studies at Harvard University
• Merve Kavakçı, George Washington University Professor and former Fazilet Party Parliamentarian exiled from Turkey for violating the Public Head Scarf Ban
• Hasan Özbekhan
• Mehmet Toner, cryobiologist, professor of surgery at the Harvard Medical School, and professor of biomedical engineering at the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology[5]
• Turgay Üzer, Georgia Institute of Technology Physicist[6]
• Vamık Volkan,[7] Princeton University Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry
• Nur Yalman,[8] octolingual Harvard University Professor of Social Anthropology and Middle Eastern Studies
• Osman Yaşar, professor and chair of the computational science department at State University of New York College at Brockport[9]
• K. Aslıhan Yener,[10] University of Chicago archaeologist who uncovered a new source of Bronze Age Anatolian tin mines

Artists

• Haluk Akakçe, artist
• Burhan Doğançay, painter, photographer, and former soccer player
• Sururi Gümen, Illustrator and ghost artist behind Alfred Andriola's comic strip Kerry Drake
• Shevaun Mizrahi, filmmaker
• Jihan Zencirli, visual artist

Astronomers

• Janet Akyüz Mattei, astronomer and director of the AAVSO
• Feryal Özel, astrophysicist

Authors

• Bülent Atalay, physicist and author
• Yalman Onaran, financial journalist and author

Business people

• Melih Abdulhayoğlu, founder, CEO, and president of Comodo Group[11]
• Ahmet Ertegün, founder and president of Atlantic Records
• Nesuhi Ertegün, executive at Atlantic Records, brother of Ahmet
• James Ben Ali Haggin, investor and founder of the Ben Ali Stakes
• Muhtar Kent, CEO and chairman of The Coca-Cola Company
• Murat Köprülü, investment professional and chairman of the American Turkish Society, and founder and chairman of the American Immigrant Society
• Tarkan Maner, CEO of Nexenta Systems
• Erol Onaran, founder of Erol's
• Hamdi Ulukaya, founder and owner of Chobani

Cinema

• Jack Bannon
• Aclan Bates, director [12]
• Bea Benaderet
• Turhan Bey, 1940s and 1950s film star
• Süleyman "Sully" Geldzvek Boyar, actor best known for his work on Dog Day Afternoon, Serpico, Car Wash, and The Sopranos
• Traci Dinwiddie, actress
• Bilge Ebiri, journalist and filmmaker
• Ayda Field, actress, married to British singer-songwriter Robbie Williams[13]
• Nicholas Kadi
• Erol Onaran, founder of Erol's TV, Erol's Video and Erol's Internet
• Eren Özker, puppeteer on The Muppet Show
• Paul Shenar

Composer

• Emir Işılay, composer and pianist

Doctors

• Ibrahim Ben Ali, doctor, casualty in a Baltimore yellow fever epidemic
• Zeynel A. Karcıoğlu, M.D., ophthalmic oncology and orbital diseases specialist, surgeon
• Behram Kurşunoğlu, physicist, co-founder of the Center for Theoretical Studies, University of Miami
• Mehmet Öz, cardiothoracic surgeon and award-winning author who has made frequent appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show, NBC, ABC, CBS, and CNN
• Dr. Hasan Özbekhan, Professor Emeritus at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, founding member and first director of the think tank The Club of Rome, systems scientist, cyberneticist, philosopher, and planner[14]

Economics

• Kamer Daron Acemoğlu - Turkish economist of Armenian descent
• Nouriel Roubini

Historians

• Arif Dirlik

House of Osman

• Ertuğrul Osman, the 43rd Head of the Imperial House of Osman

Judges

• Halil Süleyman Özerden, United States District Judge for the Southern District of Mississippi

Music

• Bülent Arel, composer of contemporary classical music and electronic music
• Ahmet Ertegün, founder of Atlantic Records, chairman of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, and co-founder of the New York Cosmos soccer team of the North American Soccer League
• Nesuhi Ertegün, record producer and executive of Atlantic Records
• Eydie Gormé
• Isaac Guillory
• Kamran İnce, composer
• Tolga Katas, singer, songwriter, and record producer
• Arif Mardin, music producer
• Neil Sedaka, pop singer, pianist, and songwriter
• Pamela Spence, pop-rock singer
• Deniz Tek
• Özlem Tekin, singer
• Pınar Toprak, composer

NASA

• Ismail Akbay, served in various managerial capacities during NASA’s Apollo, Skylab and Apollo-Soyuz projects

Painters

• Sevgi Çağal

Philosophers

• Nathan Salmon

Politics

• Zeyno Baran, scholar on issues on US-Turkey relations
• Osman "Oz" Bengür, Maryland Democratic Party Congressional candidate
• Fetullah Gülen, leader of the Gülen Movement

Producers

• Leslie Bates-Büyüktürkoğlu

Sports

• Chris Başak, Major League Baseball infielder
• Dave Coskunian, soccer player of Armenian descent
• Bobby Dixon, basketball player for the Turkish national team, known in Turkey as Ali Muhammed
• Erwin Dudley, basketball player with Turkish passport, known in Turkey as Ersin Dağli
• Korel Engin, basketball player
• Erden Eruç, completed first solo human-powered circumnavigation of the Earth by rowboat, sea kayak, bicycle and foot
• Tunç İlkin, former Pittsburgh Steelers player and sports commentator
• Ersan İlyasova, Milwaukee Bucks player
• Enes Kanter, basketball player
• Şebnem Kimyacıoğlu, basketball player
• Yasemin Kimyacıoğlu, basketball player
• Mehmet Okur, Utah Jazz player and 2007 NBA All-Star
• Nevin Nevlin, basketball player
• Lisa Marie Varon, former professional wrestler known as Tara in TNA and Victoria in WWE
• Hidayet Türkoğlu, Orlando Magic player
• Nevriye Yılmaz, basketball player

Talk show hosts

• Cenk Uygur, host of the liberal talk radio show The Young Turks on Air America Radio, and a regular blogger on The Huffington Post

Other

• Ibrahim Ben Ali
• Asım Orhan Barut, theoretical physicist
• Orkut Büyükkökten, software engineer
• Tantek Çelik, computer scientist
• Furkan Doğan student, known for being killed in the Gaza flotilla raid
• Brittanee Drexel, woman missing since 2009
• Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine film critic
• Sibel Deniz Edmonds, former FBI translator
• James Ben Ali Haggin, namesake of the Ben Ali Stakes
• Kenan Şahin, establishing partner in Lucent Technologies
• Ahmet Yıldız biophysicist, GE/Science Young Scientist Award winner

See also

• List of Turkish people
• List of British Turks
• List of Turkish Germans
• Turkish-Cypriot

References

1. "Narratives and Testimonies". College of Liberal Arts | University of Minnesota. Retrieved 2018-06-02.
2. Chemical Engineering - People - Ilhan A. Aksay Archived 2007-12-31 at the Wayback Machine
3. "Asim Orhan Barut". phys.lsu.edu. Retrieved 2018-06-02.
4. Economics: Permanent Faculty Members Archived 2008-01-01 at the Wayback Machine
5. Harvard Üniversitesi'nde Türk Profesör
6. "Homepages of Turkish Faculty Members". www.turkishnews.com. Retrieved 2018-06-02.
7. P-ROK| Vol. 2 Num.2 | The Color of Leadership: On psychological biography of Ataturk: An Interview With Norman Itzkowitz, Professor Emeritus of Near Eastern Studies
8. Nur O. Yalman Archived 2007-10-18 at the Wayback Machine
9. "Professor Osman Yasar Named One of "Top 30 Most Successful Turks in the World"". hub.mspnet.org. Retrieved 2018-06-02.
10. Daughters of Ataturk - Biographies
11. "Free Internet Security and Antivirus | Security Solutions from Comodo". comodo.com. Retrieved 2018-06-02.
12. "Aclan Bates". The New York Times.
13. « Robbie Williams marries Ayda Field at home in LA », peoplestar.co.uk, Retrieved on 2010-08-08.
14. Pearce, Jeremy (26 February 2007). "Hasan Ozbekhan, 86, Economist Who Helped Found Global Group, Dies". The New York Times.

External links

• Turks in entertainment