Appointment to the Presidency of Cyber Security published in the Official Gazette
With the decision published in the Official Gazette under the signature of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Ümit Önal has been appointed to the Presidency of Cyber Security in accordance with Articles 2 and 3 of Presidential Decree No. 3. Additionally, with the same decision, Muhammed Hüseyin Karabul was appointed as Vice President of the Presidency of State Archives, a vacant position. Davut Öksüz was appointed to the Court of Accounts Prosecution.
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Furthermore, with the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) decision published in the Official Gazette, following the elections held during the 10th session of the General Assembly on 22.10.2025 for five vacant memberships in the Court of Accounts, Eşref Edip Çiçekli and Necati Küçükaydın were elected as members of the Court of Accounts from the Court of Accounts Professional Staff quota, while Coşkun Çekiciler, İsmail Çobanoğlu, and Adnan Güran were elected from the Ministry of Treasury and Finance Professional Staff quota.
WHO IS ÜMİT ÖNAL?
Ümit Önal, who has served as the CEO of Türk Telekom since 2019, was born in Istanbul in 1971. He completed his primary and secondary education in Istanbul. He graduated from the Faculty of Communication at Istanbul University.
Starting his career in the media and communication sector, Ümit Önal worked in various positions in television advertising sales for many years starting in 1994. Between 2005 and 2006, he held managerial positions in the service sector by organizing commercial events, and between 2006 and 2007, he worked in the education sector.
After working in management at Kanal 7, he served as the Group Coordinator responsible for ATV Television and Merkez Reklam as of June 2007. Following the acquisition of this media group by Çalık Holding, he continued his duty as the President of Turkuvaz Media Advertising Group. Until 2015, he held the positions of General Manager of ATV, President of the Advertising Group, and member of the Executive Board, respectively.
On January 15, 2015, he was appointed as the General Manager of Show TV, which had returned to the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF). He left this position in June 2015.
Ümit Önal, who also held the positions of Board Member and General Manager of Digitürk until 2015, managed the sale process of Digitürk to the Qatari media organization BeIN Group.
On October 26, 2015, upon the request of the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, it was decided to appoint trustees to İpek Koza Holding and its subsidiaries, and 22 companies were seized. The TMSF appointed Ümit Önal to head the group.
Joining Türk Telekom at the end of 2016, Ümit Önal served as the Deputy General Manager responsible for Sales and Customer Services at Türk Telekom between 2016 and 2018. In addition, he continued to serve as the Deputy General Manager responsible for Marketing starting from December 2018.
Leading the most successful growth performance since the public offering, Ümit Önal achieved record subscriber growth and the highest revenue increase of the last 10 years in 2018.
Ümit Önal is a member of the Board of Directors of TVYD (Television Broadcasters Association) and RVD (Advertisers Association).
He had been managing Türk Telekom since July 31, 2019, following the departure of Dr. Paul Doany, who served as the CEO of Türk Telekom.
Ümit Önal, who leads Turkey's digital and technological transformation, is married and has three daughters.