İrfan Balkanlıoğlu

İrfan Balkanlıoğlu is a Turkish bureaucrat with a long career in civil administration, ranging from district governor to governor. He served as governor in Bingöl, Afyonkarahisar, Ordu and Sakarya provinces.

He was born in 1960 in Sungurlu district of Çorum. He graduated from Istanbul University Faculty of Law in 1983 and after a short period as a judge candidate, he started working in civil administration. He started his career as a district governor candidate in Kırklareli and worked as deputy district governor in İpsala and Ulus.

Later, he served as district governor in Aslanapa, Malazgirt, Refahiye, Sındırgı, Uzunköprü and Bağcılar districts. He spent a while in the United States for language education and studies in 1989-1990.

Governorship years

He was selected as the administrator of the year during his term as district governor and received the Governor Galip Demirel Achievement Award on Turkish Administrators Day on January 10, 2005. He became the Governor of Bingöl on 18 December 2007 and held this position until 3 January 2011. The next day he was appointed Governor of Afyonkarahisar. He was appointed governor of Ordu on 23 May 2014 and Sakarya governor on 21 June 2017.

With the decree published in October 2018, he was removed from his post in Sakarya and appointed as Chief Civil Inspector.