Ambassador Mahmud Erol Kılıç

Ambassador Mahmud Erol Kılıç was born in Istanbul on 02 June 1961. He studied at the Faculty of Political Science of the Istanbul University. He wrote his master’s thesis “Hermes and Hermetic Thought in the light of Islamic Sources,” (Published) at the Department of Islamic Philosophy of Marmara University where he became an assistant in 1988. After the establishment of “Department of Sufism” at the Turkish Universities in 1993, his thesis “Existence and its Stages in Ibn Arabi’s Thought”, which is considered the first PhD thesis in this department, was also published.

His articles in Turkish and foreign languages have been published in several encyclopedias and journals. He has written 16 books. He has presented scientific papers at national and international conferences, attended radio and television programs.

Ambassador Kılıç speaks English, Arabic, Persian and French. He is married and the father of Gülçehre and Gülnihal, grandfather of Yahya.

Administrative Positions

• Head of Department of Systematic Sufism, Marmara University, Faculty of Theology, (1998-2008)
• President of the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts (TİEM), Istanbul (2005-2008)
• Chairman of the Board, Islamic Manuscript Association (TIMA), Cambridge (2006-2012)
• Editor Member, Journal of Sufi Studies (BRILL), Leiden (2010-2015)
• Member of Honor, Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi Society (MIAS), Oxford (2000-)
• Secretary General, Parliamentary Union of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation Member States (PUIC), Tehran (2008-2018)
• Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey to Indonesia (2019 – )