37 Facts About Hamit Karakus

Hamit Karakus was born on 22 February 1965 and is a Turkish-Dutch politician and police officer, who previously served as a member of the Senate and as an alderman in Rotterdam.

Hamit Karakus continued working there until he was appointed Rotterdam's alderman of housing and spatial planning in 2006.

Hamit Karakus resigned from that position eight years later, after his party had suffered losses in the 2014 municipal election with Karakus as.

Hamit Karakus subsequently became CEO of the organizations Platform31 and IVO and served as a senator between 2021 and 2023.

Hamit Karakus was appointed chief of the North Holland police in September 2023.

Hamit Karakus lived in the surrounding countryside, where his parents worked as farmers.

Hamit Karakus's father moved to Western Europe as a migrant worker in the late 1960s and his family joined him in 1973 in the Overijssel city Steenwijk, where Karakus's father worked in a carpet factory.

Hamit Karakus's teacher had recommended a level education, but Karakus's father preferred a vocational education for his son.

Hamit Karakus subsequently worked at a warehouse of Heuga, the carpet factory that employed his father.

Thereafter, Hamit Karakus joined the Rotterdam-Rijnmond police force, working for seven years as an officer in the northern part of Rotterdam and for three years as a police sergeant in the nearby city Schiedam.

Hamit Karakus was involved in investigating organized crime, and he served as a Turkish interpreter and a spokesperson about extortion by the Kurdistan Workers' Party.

Hamit Karakus left the police in 1998 to work for the real estate brokerage firm Atta Makelaars as deputy director.

Hamit Karakus continued working there until he became an alderman in 2006.

In May 2006, Hamit Karakus was appointed alderman of housing and spatial planning in Rotterdam's new municipal executive.

Hamit Karakus had become a member of the Labour Party in 2002 in reaction to the rise of politician Pim Fortuyn.

Later that year, Hamit Karakus established a new policy under which housing corporations could evict and refuse renters who have repeatedly disturbed their neighborhood.

Hamit Karakus wanted to become the Labour Party's in Rotterdam in the 2010 municipal election, but he lost in a three-way election among members of the party to fellow alderman Dominic Schrijer.

Hamit Karakus was eventually elected to the municipal council as the PvdA's second candidate.

Hamit Karakus stayed on as an alderman in the new executive after the election and thus automatically resigned from the municipal council in May 2010.

Hamit Karakus continued his fight against slumlords in his second term, successfully calling on the national government to make it easier for the municipality to prohibit such landlords from renting and to expropriate their properties.

Hamit Karakus became deputy mayor of Rotterdam next to his position as alderman in April 2013, when alderwoman Jantine Kriens resigned from that position.

In September 2013, Hamit Karakus announced his candidacy for the Labour Party's in the 2014 Rotterdam municipal election.

Hamit Karakus announced five days after the election that he would immediately quit as the PvdA's leader in Rotterdam, that he would resign as alderman, and that he would not accept his seat in the municipal council due to the election loss.

Hamit Karakus became CEO of Platform31, which researches and gives advice about urban development, in September 2014.

Besides, Hamit Karakus joined a number of advisory and supervisory boards of organizations including the Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, educational foundation Stichting BOOR, Stichting Nederlandse Register Vastgoed Taxateurs, and housing corporation Eigen Haard.

Hamit Karakus appeared seventh of the Labour Party's party list in the 2019 Senate election and was not elected, as his party won six seats.

When Senator Jopie Nooren vacated her seat two years later because of a position at the Hogeschool van Amsterdam, Hamit Karakus filled the vacancy.

Hamit Karakus was sworn in on 2 March 2021 as the first Turkish-Dutch senator in Dutch parliamentary history, and he remained in all his other positions.

Hamit Karakus was the Labour Party's spokesperson for water management, agriculture, nature, environment, infrastructure, animal welfare, fishery, public health, welfare, and sport, and he was a member of the following committees:.

Hamit Karakus announced in July 2021 that he would leave Platform31 and IVO, and his successor was installed in February 2022.

Hamit Karakus started serving as program director of a project to improve the Westwijk, a deprived neighborhood in Vlaardingen, in early 2022.

Hamit Karakus called creating support for people living in poverty his first priority in solving its issues.

Hamit Karakus decided to not run for re-election as senator in 2023.

Hamit Karakus was appointed chief of police for the province of North Holland on 1 September 2023.

Hamit Karakus became the first Turkish-Dutch person to occupy the office.

Hamit Karakus is married to Emine Deniz, and they have two daughters and one son.

Hamit Karakus has renounced his Turkish citizenship to avoid conscription.