Kemal Derviş (Turkish pronunciation: [keˈmal deɾviʃ]; born 10 January 1949) is a Turkish economist and politician, and former head of the United Nations Development Programme. He was honored by the government of Japan for having "contributed to mainstreaming Japan's development assistance policy through the United Nations." In 2005, he was ranked 67th in the Top 100 Public Intellectuals Poll conducted by Prospect and Foreign Policy magazines. He is Vice President and Director of the Global Economy and Development program at the Brookings Institution and part-time professor of international economics at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva.
In March 2015, Derviş agreed to become the Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey responsible for the economy in a cabinet led by Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu should his party form the government after the general election to be held in June. He declined to become a Member of Parliament however, stating that he would prefer to participate in the cabinet from outside the Parliament. He is therefore the first and remains the only shadow minister in Turkey.
Kemal Derviş was born on 10 January 1949 in Istanbul, Turkey, to a Turkish father of Dönmeh origins and a Dutch-German mother. From his father's side, he is a descendant of Ottoman Grand Vizier Halil Hamid Pasha (1736–1785); and of Ottoman military physician Asaf Derviş Pasha (1868–1928) who is regarded as the founder of modern gynaecology in Turkey.
Kemal Derviş speaks Turkish, German, English and French fluently. He is married to Catherine Dervis, an American citizen.
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