Gulsun Bilgehan, was born on February 25th, 1957 in Ankara as the daughter of journalist Metin Toker and Ozden Toker, and the granddaughter of Ismet Inonu, the second President of Turkey. After completing her high school education at Lycee Charles de Gaulle in Ankara, she went to the Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po). She got her undergraduate degree on International Relations.

She started her career as a reporter at the Ankara bureau of Hurriyet Newspaper. In 1994, she wrote her first book. The two volumed book, titled ‘Mevhibe’, depicted the Turkish War of Independence and the establishment of Turkish Republic from the point of view of her grandmother Mevhibe İnönü. She was awarded ‘Woman Writer of the Year Award’ by United Women’s Organizations of İstanbul and prestigious ‘Abdi İpekçi Award’ for promoting Turkish-Greek peace with this work. Her third book, ‘Stories from the Pink House’ was publised in 2003. Between 1997-2002 and 2007-2011 she lectured at the Bilkent University on ‘Journalism’ and ‘Politics’.

Bilgehan was elected as the Member of Parliament for Ankara from Republican People’s Party (CHP), in 2002. She held various executive positions at the party between 2002-2011. During her four terms (2002-2007, 2011-2017) serving at the Turkish Parliament (TBMM), she worked mostly on women’s rights and international affairs.

Speaking fluent French and English, she was a member of the Turkish Delegation at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg until 2017. During this time, she was elected to chairperson positions of various working committees including Equality and Non-Discrimination, Media and Information Society.

She was awarded the prestigious ‘Pro Merito’ Medal of the Council of Europe twice, first in 2004 and most recently in 2020. She also owns a ‘Legion D’Honneur Medal’ of France.

Bilgehan is currently the Vice President of Inonu Foundation. She is a founding member of Global Relations Forum and member of Journalists’ Association Media House.

She is married and has three children.