Necati Özkan

Necati Özkan (born May 20, 1960, in Ankara), Turkish strategist, advertising executive, political consultant, campaign manager, and author.

Strategist and political communications consultant who has won over 80 international awards, Özkan served as the global president of Dialogue International, a network of independent advertisement agencies, from 2012 to 2015; president of the European Association of Political Consultants (EAPC) from 2014 to 2016, and board member and vice president of the International Association of Political Consultants from 2020 to 2024. He directed campaigns for many politicians and political parties in Turkey and abroad, including those of Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and Ekrem İmamoğlu.

Education Özkan was born the third of six siblings on May 20, 1960. He was enrolled at Istanbul's Kuleli Military High School in 1974, then switched to Işıklar Military High School, which was opened the same year in Bursa. Özkan went on to study at the Turkish Military Academy between 1977 and 1981. He graduated from the Turkish Military Academy on August 30, 1981, and was commissioned into the Turkish Armed Forces as an artillery lieutenant. Özkan studied at the Faculty of Law at Ankara University from 1983 to 1987, and later, at the Department of Business Administration at Middle East Technical University from 1997 to 1999. His career took off in Ankara and continued to Istanbul, where he moved in 2000. He ran tourism-oriented promotional campaigns for Turkey in 22 countries from 2008 to 2013. He also led destination campaigns for EXPO 2020 Izmir, the Ankara Shopping Festival, the 2013 Mediterranean Games, and EXPO 2021 Hatay. from 2012 to 2015. He was part of the election campaigns of the Republican People's Party (CHP) in 1995. He commented on many newspaper articles and live broadcasts on many television channels about elections in Turkey and abroad.

2025 arrest

After a seizure order was established on the real estate and bank account registered under his name on 7 March 2025, Özkan was one of the business figures arrested alongside Ekrem İmamoğlu on 19 March 2025 by Turkish Police on charges related to alleged corruption along with more than 100 people.

Initially, he was incarcerated in Marmara Prison. He was transferred to Kocaeli Prison on April 13, where he awaits indictment.

Works