Born in Ankara in 1971, Cem Erdem is originally from Çaykara, Trabzon. He completed his primary, secondary, and high school education in Ankara. In 1992, he graduated from Istanbul Technical University, Maritime Faculty, Department of Marine Engineering. Between 1992 and 1997, he served as an Ocean-Going Watchkeeping Engineer and Ocean-Going Second Engineer in public and private sector organizations operating in the field of maritime transport.

Between 1997 and 1999, he served as an Assistant Maritime Expert at the Prime Ministry Undersecretariat for Maritime Affairs of the Republic of Türkiye, and between 1999 and 2003, he worked as an engineer and manager in the private sector within the energy and construction industries. He served as the Head of the Ship Inspection Department between 2005 and 2008, and as the Head of the Maritime Affairs Department between 2008 and 2012 at the Prime Ministry Undersecretariat for Maritime Affairs.

Between 2012 and 2015, he continued his duties as a Ministerial Advisor at the Ministry of Transport and Communication of the Republic of Türkiye; between 2015 and 2019, he served as the Head of the Training and Certification Department within the Directorate General for Regulation of Maritime and Inland Waters, and between 2019 and 2020, he served as the Deputy Director General for Maritime Affairs.

Cem Erdem, who served as the Head of the Maritime Operations Department at Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) between 2020 and 2022, served as the Deputy General Manager at Turkish Petroleum Offshore Technology Center A.Ş. (TP-OTC), a subsidiary of TPAO, between 2022 and 2023. Between 11.01.2024 and 31.10.2025, he served as a Member of the Board of Directors and General Manager of TP-OTC A.Ş. As of November 1, 2025, he has been serving as the acting Chairman of the Board of Directors and General Manager of TPAO. Cem Erdem is married and has two children.

Mr. Abdulvahit FİDAN completed his undergraduate studies at the Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering at Middle East Technical University (METU). He completed his master’s degree in the field of Economic Theory at Gazi University, Institute of Social Sciences, and also holds expertise in International Relations from Ankara University ATAUM (European Union Research and Application Center). He is proficient in English.

Starting his career in 1991, Abdulvahit FİDAN served as an Engineer in various institutions and organizations. Within BOTAŞ, he worked as an Engineer, Manager, Vice Head of Department, Head of Department, Deputy General Manager, and Member of the Board of Directors. As of October 3, 2023, he has been appointed as the Chairman of the Board and General Manager of BOTAŞ.

Muhammed Ali Oflaz graduated from Gazi University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Department of Business Administration in 2004. He is continuing his master’s degree in the Industrial Policies and Technology Management Program at Istanbul Commerce University.

Oflaz, who managed his own startup in the field of internet technologies between 2004 and 2006, served as the Advisor to the President at the Öz İplik-İş Trade Union, affiliated with the Hak-İş Confederation, in 2006.

Between 2006 and 2010, he worked as a Culture and Tourism Expert within the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, first at the General Directorate of Copyright and Cinema, and then at the General Directorate of Investments and Enterprises.

While working at the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, he served as a Tender Manager at the Central Finance and Contracts Unit of the Undersecretariat of Treasury in 2010.

Between 2010 and 2023, he held positions as Expert, Head of Business Development and Strategy Unit, and Investment Support Office Coordinator in various units of the Ankara Development Agency. During this period, between 2019 and 2020, he served as the Secretary General of the Western Black Sea Development Agency (BAKKA), operating in the provinces of Zonguldak, Karabük, and Bartın.

Since 2020, he has served as a Member of the Board of Directors at KARDEMİR Karabük Demir Çelik Sanayi ve Ticaret AŞ, a Member of the KARDEMİR Executive Committee between 2023 and 2024, Vice Chairman and Member of the Board of Directors at the KARDEMİR subsidiary KARDÖKMAK between 2021 and 2024, and a Member of the Board of Directors at the KARDEMİR subsidiary KARÇEL in 2024.

Muhammed Ali Oflaz, who served as an Advisor to the Minister within the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources of the Republic of Türkiye between December 2023 and September 2024, was appointed as the General Manager of ELTEMTEK as of September 16, 2024. Oflaz has also been serving as the Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of ELTEMTEK since April 2024.

He is proficient in English and has beginner-level knowledge of Arabic and Russian.

Born in Polatlı in 1974, İlker ILGIN completed his undergraduate education at Ankara University Faculty of Law and his master’s degree in the field of commercial law at Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli University Institute of Graduate Studies. He participated in the Executive Training Program and the Public Diplomacy Training Program at the Public Administration Institute for Turkey and the Middle East (TODAİE). He is a lawyer and an expert mediator in labor, commercial, consumer, sports, intellectual and industrial property, as well as energy and mining law.

He has served as a lawyer and regulation and competition law manager at Türk Telekomünikasyon A.Ş.; legal counsel and authorized representative for Turkey at Eurasiasat S.A.M.; legal counsel at Türksat Satellite Communication Cable TV and Operation A.Ş.; legal counsel, first legal counsel, and presidential advisor at the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK); commission expert in research commissions at the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM); vice president and presidential advisor at the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK); advisor to the deputy minister at the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources; advisor to the chairman of the board at Kardemir Karabük Iron and Steel Industry and Trade A.Ş.; board member at Turkish Petroleum Off-Shore Technology Center A.Ş.; and chairman of the board at Kardemir Energy A.Ş. He was appointed as a candidate for civil judge and prosecutor. Honorarily, he served as a member of the supervisory board at the Turkish Tennis Federation and as the chairman of the supervisory board at the Kardemir Technology, Education and Culture Foundation. He has also undertaken duties such as membership in the National Nutrition Council, the Monitoring Committee on Violence Against Women, the Highways Traffic Safety Coordination Board, and the Board for Combating Addiction, established under the coordination of various ministries.

He currently serves as an advisor to the minister at the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources; a board member at the General Directorate of Turkish Coal Enterprises (TKİ) and Turkish Petroleum International A.Ş.; and honorarily as a board member at the Turkish Fencing Federation and a supervisory board member at the World Energy Council Turkish National Committee.

Born in Kayseri in 1980, Ahmet Taha YILDIZ completed his undergraduate education in 2003 at Boğaziçi University, Department of International Relations. Throughout his professional life over the years, he has worked as a sales specialist at Siemens, procurement and sales manager at EWE Enerji, and commercial director at Kibar Enerji.

A senior executive with extensive knowledge and experience in commodity trading, Ahmet Taha Yıldız has undertaken many commercial roles to date, including import and sales negotiations, legislation, regulation, pricing, and hedging in natural gas and LNG supply chains. He has been serving as the General Manager of Kibar Enerji, a private natural gas importer in Türkiye, for 11 years.

In parallel with his current role at Kibar Enerji, he still holds the positions of Chairman of the Board of GAZİD (Natural Gas Importers Association of Türkiye) and President of the DEİK (Foreign Economic Relations Board) Energy Business Council.

Born in Konya in 1981, Gökhan Gökdoğan attended Konya Science High School before studying Civil Engineering at Middle East Technical University (METU). He began his professional career as a Project Engineer at the AGE-TEKAR Joint Venture in Tajikistan. After completing his military service as a Reserve Officer at the 9th Corps Command in Erzurum, he entered the energy sector with AGE Enerji in 2007.

From 2007 to 2012, he held management positions at AGE Enerji involving hydroelectric power plants with a total capacity of approximately 300 MW, natural gas combined cycle power plant investments, and electricity trading. After providing consultancy services regarding electricity generation and trading between 2012 and 2015, he joined Rönesans Enerji.

Gökdoğan, who started his tenure at Rönesans Enerji as the Electricity Trading Manager, has been serving as the General Manager since 2018. Gökhan Gökdoğan is married and the father of two sons.

He was born in Tokat in 1979. After completing his primary and secondary education in Tokat, he graduated from the Middle East Technical University, Faculty of Economic and Administrative Sciences, Department of Political Science and Public Administration in 2002.

Muhammed Demir began his professional career in 2002 as an assistant specialist at the Ministry of Industry and Trade, General Directorate of Consumer and Competition Protection. In 2003, he continued his career as an assistant tax auditor at the Ministry of Finance, Revenue Administration. Following his training as an assistant tax auditor, he passed the assistant energy specialist exam and entered the energy sector in 2004 as an assistant energy specialist at the Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EMRA).

Having served as an assistant energy specialist, energy specialist, and head of group within the Petroleum, Audit, Electricity, and Strategy Development Departments of EMRA respectively, Muhammed Demir wrote his energy expertise thesis titled “Turkey’s National Petroleum Stock System within the Scope of Supply/Demand Security in the Petroleum Market.”

Between 2010 and 2011, Muhammed Demir completed his master’s degree in Energy Management at the University of Stirling in Scotland. During this period, he prepared his master’s thesis on “Renewable Energy Incentives in the Electricity Market: The Case of Turkey.”

Muhammed Demir served as the Head of the LPG Market Department at EMRA from March 2017 to October 2021, and as the Head of the Strategy Development Department at EMRA from October 2021 to September 2023. He was appointed as the Vice President of EMRA on September 28, 2023.

Muhammed Demir is married with two children and is fluent in English.

Taha Meli Arvas completed his undergraduate education in 2003 at Syracuse University in New York State, USA, double majoring in Bioengineering and Finance. Later, he began his master’s degree in political science

at the CUNY Graduate Center. He completed his MBA at Özyeğin University in 2013 and a master’s degree in Financial Engineering in 2014. He is continuing his doctoral studies in finance at Boğaziçi University.

Arvas began his professional career in New York within the management consulting firm he founded, providing consultancy to companies on developing business and investment strategies. While active in the consultancy sector, he also served as a commentator for many national and international media outlets in the field of finance and worked as a financial columnist between 2013 and 2020.

Serving as the Deputy Chairman of the Capital Markets Board (SPK) between 2020 and 2021, Arvas carried out special studies in the areas of developing capital markets, facilitating companies’ access to capital, and combating the manipulation of securities during this process. Additionally, Arvas gave lectures as a faculty member at Özyeğin University’s finance department in 2020, and at Boğaziçi University between 2021 and 2024. Having served as an Advisor to the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources in 2023, Taha Meli Arvas was appointed as the General Manager of EPİAŞ on February 9, 2024.

AYDIN began his professional career in 1997 as a Design & CAE Engineer at FORD Motor Company. In 2000, he was honored by FORD with an award for his deep drawing analysis simulations of sheet metal dies using the finite element method. That same year, he moved to the United States to join GE Aircraft Engines as a Special Process Manager.

In 2005, he won the Corbett D. Caudill Award—GE Aircraft Engines’ most prestigious engineering excellence award—for the ITD (Integrated Tooling Design) project. His ITD and Shot Peen Modeling projects were also nominated for engineering excellence awards by the GE Global Research Center in Albany, New York, and subsequently received patents.

Between 2006 and 2009, he represented GE Aviation in the NADCAP (National Aerospace & Defense Contractors Accreditation Program) for three years, receiving the unanimous vote of all prime aerospace companies.

He holds Certifying Agent certifications in Thermal Spray, Cleaning Dry Film Lubricants, Painting, Etching Removal Process, Hole Making, and Material Testing Lab. Additionally, he is an ISO9001/ISO17025/ISO13485 Lead Auditor and a Green Belt certification holder.

In 2009, he received the Thierry Leclercq CEO Special Award at GE Healthcare. Between 2015 and 2017, he served as the Global Supply Chain Strategy Director for GE, responsible for Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

From 2017 to 2020, he served as the Director of Procurement and Supplier Management for the Türk Telekom Group, while also holding the position of Vice President of the Türk Telekom Basketball Team.

Between 2020 and 2023, he served as the Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) at Turkish Technic. During this period, he also acted as the Chairman of the Board of TNC (Turkish Nacelle Center), a Turkish Airlines group company, and as a Board Member of Cornea.

Yalçın AYDIN, who served as the Acting General Manager and Chairman of the Board of Eti Maden Operations as of October 2, 2023, was officially appointed to these positions on January 29, 2024. He is married with two children and is fluent in English.