Oktay Ay is part of a network of young Turkish and European leaders from all sectors who come together once a year to engage in intensive dialogue and to share views and ideas about topical social issues. The Turkey Europe Future Forum takes place alternately in Turkey and Germany, as well as in other European countries.
Oktay Ay is an Economic Counsellor with the Economic Forum of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). As a non-party and non-governmental organisation, the forum organises the exchange between Germany’s largest traded companies or SMEs and the political arena. Oktay is responsible for the labor and social affairs as well as the trade portfolios. Previously, he was employed at the U.S. Embassy in Berlin, where he worked as an Economic Advisor on issues pertaining to transatlantic economic affairs. Before that, he worked as a Public Relations Counsellor in the Public Affairs Section of the Embassy, where he was responsible for the strategic external communication of the U.S. Embassyʼs and the U.S. Ambassadorʼs events under the Obama Administration.
Oktay studied International Relations at the Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin und Universität Potsdam as well as the Columbia University in New York.