Murat Kurum

Murat Kurum was born on May 7, 1976, in the Çankaya district of Ankara. He is the son of housewife Satı Kurum from Kızılcahamam and civil servant Mehmet Kurum from Konya. He is a member of a three-sibling family. He is married and a father of three children.

He started his education life at Konya Gazi Primary School. Due to his father's duty at the Ministry of Public Works and Settlement, he continued a part of his primary education at Mardin Atatürk Primary School; then completed it in Seyranbağları, Ankara. He received his secondary and high school education at Mimar Kemal Secondary School and High School.

Although he started his university education at Selçuk University Food Engineering Department, he took the university exam again in line with his civil engineering goal and won the Selçuk University Civil Engineering Department. He graduated as a civil engineer in 1999, during the period when the Marmara Earthquake occurred. He completed his master's degree in the field of urban transformation.

He started his professional life in the field. Between 1999–2005, he took part in numerous construction sites in different regions of Türkiye. In 2005, he started his public duty as an expert at the Implementation Department of the Housing Development Administration (TOKİ).

He served as TOKİ Istanbul European Side Implementation Branch Manager in 2006, and as General Manager of Emlak Konut REIT in 2009. In this process, he led the realization of two important public offerings that increased Emlak Konut's growth momentum, strengthened its brand value, and took place among the largest public offerings in the history of the Republic.

In 2018, with the appreciation of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, he was appointed as the Minister of Environment and Urbanization in the first cabinet of the Presidential Government System. During his ministry period; making cities resilient, urban transformation, environmental protection, and social housing projects became priority working areas. Social housing projects for low-income citizens were implemented through TOKİ.

Throughout his tenure, he took an active role in the field in numerous disasters, especially fires, floods, and earthquakes. He coordinated the construction of tens of thousands of residences in disaster areas in cooperation with TOKİ and Emlak Konut. Large green areas were gained throughout Türkiye with nation's garden projects. In addition, he carried out studies for the dissemination of the Zero Waste approach carried out under the auspices of First Lady Emine Erdoğan.

He is currently serving as the Chairman of the Parliamentary Environment Commission and AK Party Istanbul Deputy. He continues his public service in line with the vision of sustainable urbanization and environment.

Murat Kurum, who cares about spending time with his family in his private life, has three children named Mehmet, Zeynep, and Zehra. Sports, cinema, and especially classic Turkish films are among his interests.