Thousands expected to attend wedding of Erdoğan’s daughter, defense industrialist

ISTANBUL

Thousands of people are expected to attend the wedding ceremony of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s daughter Sümeyye Erdoğan and defense industrialist engineer Selçuk Bayraktar, as the two will tie the knot on May 14 at the Yahya Kemal Beyatlı Performing Arts Center in Istanbul’s Küçükçekmece district.

Extensive security measures will be taken for the ceremony, which will bring together a number of notable Turkish politicians including former President Abdullah Gül, cabinet members and lawmakers.

Some 6,000 people have been invited to the ceremony, according to reports.

Outgoing Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu will be one of the witnesses, while Istanbul Mayor Kadir Topbaş will register the wedding.

Istanbul police announced that a number of roads in Küçükçekmece on the European side of Istanbul will be closed as part of the security measures for the ceremony.

The couple was engaged at a low-key gathering in the same mansion on March 20 following a postponed event, hours before which Özdemir Bayraktar, the groom’s father, had a serious heart attack on March 12.

The president’s daughter studied sociology and politics at Indiana University in the United States before earning a master’s degree from the London School of Economics.

Bayraktar graduated from Istanbul Technical University in 2002. He holds master’s degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He also holds a PhD from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Baykar, the company run by Selçuk Bayraktar, Özdemir Bayraktar and his two brothers, has been developing unmanned vehicles for both the Turkish military and other countries.