İzlem Gürçağ Altuğra (born 1972) is a Northern Cypriot politician and medical scientist. Born in Limassol, she worked as a biologist before being elected as a National Unity Party MP at the 2013 Northern Cypriot parliamentary election. She spent three years as the head of Girne District between 2015 and September 2018 and fifteen months as Minister of Health between May 2022 and August 2023.
İzlem Gürçağ Altuğra | |
|---|---|
| Minister of Health | |
| In office 12 May 2022 – 11 August 2023 | |
| Succeeded by | Hakan Dinçyürek |
| Assembly of the Republic | |
| Assumed office 2013 | |
| Constituency | Kyrenia |
| Personal details | |
| Born | İzlem Gürçağ 1972 (age 51–52) Limassol, Cyprus |
| Political party | National Unity Party |
| Children | 2 |
| Alma mater | Hacettepe University |
| Occupation |
|
Biography
editShe was born in 1972[1] in Limassol and educated at the Department of Biology of the Hacettepe University Faculty of Science.[1] She has two children with her spouse.[1] She worked as a biologist at Dr. Burhan Nalbantoğlu State Hospital in Nicosia and at Akçiçek Hospital in Kyrenia, before starting the medical analysis laboratory LAMEL.[1] She was a board member in the women's branch of the National Unity Party (UBP).[1] She was elected as a UBP MP for Kyrenia in the 2013 Northern Cypriot parliamentary election.[1] In 2015, she was elected as the head of Girne District, the first woman to be so.[1] In September 2018, after their UBP branch refused to hold elections for the executive board of their women’s branch, which she had opposed, she resigned as district president in protest.[2] She was re-elected in the 2018 and 2022 Northern Cypriot parliamentary elections.[1]
On 12 May 2022, she was appointed Minister of Health as part of the first Üstel cabinet.[3] As Minister of Health, she conducted inspections of the State Laboratory Department and the Güzelyurt Health Center in 2022,[4][5] and she visited the construction scene of the New Kyrenia Hospital in January 2023.[6] In August 2022, she received congratulations for her new positions as health minister from Fahrettin Koca, the minister of health of Turkey,[7] and later that month, she opened the 2022 Northern Cypriot Women's Chess Championship.[8] After the February 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, she donated her salary for the month to earthquake relief.[9] In May 2023, she congratulated Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for his re-election as president of Turkey after the 2023 Turkish presidential election.[10] On 11 August 2023, she was replaced as minister by Hakan Dinçyürek when Ünal Üstel started a new cabinet.[11]
In September 2023, she was present at the sixth death anniversary memorial service of MP Mustafa Hacıahmetoğlu.[12] In October 2023, in response to a counterfeit prescription scandal in the country, she supported drug monitoring and the creation of a qualified pharmaceutical facility within Northern Cyprus, warning that "if we do not produce, we will be destroyed".[13] In February 2024, she criticized the rise of land investments by "third nationality" foreigners, saying that "our country has become foreigners' country" and that "the irregularity in land sales has made us foreigners".[14] In June 2024, she was a speaker at the TURKPA Women Parliamentarians Group.[15]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f g h "SAĞLIK BAKANI: İZLEM GÜRÇAĞ ALTUĞRA". Ministry of Health. Archived from the original on 31 May 2023. Retrieved 29 August 2024.
- ^ "UBP GİRNE DISTRICT PRESIDENT İZLEM GÜRÇAĞ ALTUĞRA RESIGNED FROM THIS POSITION". Kıbrıs Genç TV (in Turkish). 21 September 2018. Retrieved 25 October 2024.
- ^ "İZLEM GÜRÇAĞ ALTUĞRA". UBP Lefkoşa İlçesi (in Turkish). 22 November 2023. Retrieved 29 August 2024.
- ^ "Minister of Health İzlem Gürçağ Altuğra visited the State Laboratory Department". Sağlık Bakanı İzlem Gürçağ Altuğra, Devlet Laboratuvarı Dairesi’ni ziyaret etti (in Turkish). 19 September 2022. Retrieved 25 October 2024.
- ^ "Minister of Health İzlem Gürçağ Altuğra visited Güzelyurt Health Center". Sağlık Bakanı İzlem Gürçağ Altuğra, Güzelyurt Sağlık Merkezi'ni ziyaret etti (in Turkish). 11 June 2022. Retrieved 25 October 2024.
- ^ "İzlem Gürçağ Altuğra: Yeni Girne Hastanesi'nin inşaatı kasım ayında sona erecek". Kıbrıs Postası (in Turkish). 9 January 2023. Retrieved 26 October 2024.
- ^ "Sağlık Bakanı İzlem Gürçağ Altuğra ile Fahrettin Koca görüştü". Kıbrıs Postası (in Turkish). 2 August 2022. Retrieved 29 October 2024.
- ^ "Kadınlar Satranç Şampiyonası sona erdi". Kıbrıs Postası (in Turkish). 15 August 2022. Retrieved 29 August 2024.
- ^ "İzlem Gürçağ Altuğra ve Erdinç Gürçağ, şubat ayı maaşlarını depremzedelere bağışladı". Kıbrıs Postası (in Turkish). 10 February 2023. Retrieved 26 October 2024.
- ^ "İzlem Gürçağ Altuğra, Erdoğan'ı tebrik etti". Kıbrıs Postası (in Turkish). 28 May 2023. Retrieved 29 August 2024.
- ^ "KKTC'de yeni kabine açıklandı". NTV (in Turkish). 11 August 2023. Retrieved 29 August 2024.
- ^ "Anma törenine ailesi ve sevenlerinin yanı sıra UBP Milletvekilleri İzlem Gürçağ Altuğra ve Ahmet Savaşan da katıldı". Bağımsız Gazete (in Turkish). 23 September 2023. Retrieved 25 October 2024.
- ^ "İzlem Gürçağ Altuğra: Usulsüzlük de yolsuzluk da kurala aykırıdır". Kıbrıs Postası (in Turkish). 18 October 2023. Retrieved 29 October 2024.
- ^ "İzlem Gürçağ Altuğra: "Bu kadar çok 3'üncü uyruklu insanın ülkemizde işi ne?"". Kıbrıs Postası (in Turkish). 28 May 2023. Retrieved 29 August 2024.
- ^ "İzlem Gürçağ Altuğra: Türk dünyası birlikte hareket ederek ambargolara dur diyebilir". Kıbrıs Postası (in Turkish). 5 June 2024. Retrieved 26 October 2024.