Ahmet Kenan Tanrıkulu  Ahmet Kenan Tanrıkulu (born 17 May 1958) is a Turkish politician and economist from the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), who has served as the Member of Parliament for İzmir's second electoral district since 2007, having previously served between 1999 and 2002. From 1999 to 2002, he served as the Minister of Industry and Commerce in the coalition government of Bülent Ecevit, before losing his seat at the 2002 general election. Re-elected as an MP in the 2007, 2011 and again in June 2015 general election, Tanrıkulu served as the Deputy Leader of the MHP from 2012 to 2015. He resigned as Deputy Leader after he was offered, but declined, a ministerial position by Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu during the formation of an interim election government in August 2015. Ahmet Kenan Tanrıkulu was born on 17 May 1958 in İstanbul. He graduated from the Ankara University Faculty of Political Sciences as an economist. He completed his masters degree on the topic of mathematical economics at the Western Illinois University in the United States. He also studied macro modelling at the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School, expert economics at the University of Colorado, transportation planning at the University of Bradford in the United Kingdom and public diplomacy at the National Security Academy of Turkey. Tanrıkulu worked as a planning expert at the State Planning Organisation (DPT) and became an advisor to Ministries of State. He was a general director of Environmental Impact Assessment and planning at the Ministry of Environment and Urban Planning and also served as the Assistant Undersecretary to the Ministry of Tourism. His articles have been published in both national and international magazines. Tanrıkulu left the civil service and was elected as a Member of Parliament for İzmir's second electoral district in the 1999 general election. The MHP came second, falling behind the Democratic Left Party (DSP) led by Bülent Ecevit. Ecevit subsequently formed a three-party coalition between the DSP, the MHP and the Motherland Party (ANAP). In the government, Tanrıkulu became the Minister of Industry and Commerce and served until early elections were called in 2002. He, along with all other MHP MPs, lost his seat after his party polled below the 10% election threshold in the election. A member of the MHP since 1999, Tanrıkulu worked for the Ankara Idealist Hearths and also at the Idealist Hearths headquarters.