Mehmet Görmez was born in 1959 in
Nizip in
Gaziantep Province, Turkey. His maternal grandmother was
Turkish, while his paternal grandmother was
Kurdish. His paternal side is partially from
Sivas. He has been the President of
Diyanet since November 2010. In 1987, he completed his studies of Islamic studies at
Ankara University and gained his bachelor's degree at this faculty. Later, he became an assistant at
Ahmet Yesevi University in
Kazakhstan. From 1988 to 1989, he visited
Cairo University. In 1995, he earned his
PhD in Islamic studies at the
Ankara University. From 1997 to 1998, he lived in the
United Kingdom. From 2001 to 2003 he gave lessons at the
Hacettepe University. He became a professor in 2006. He speaks fluent
Turkish,
Arabic,
English, and partially speaks a regional dialect of
Kurdish that is heavily Turkish-influenced according to his own account. ==References==