İbrahim Kalın was born in Istanbul in 1971. He graduated from the Department of History at Istanbul University and completed his master’s degree at the International Islamic University Malaysia in 1994. He received his PhD from George Washington University in 2002 and was awarded the title of professor by Ibn Haldun University in 2020. He has taught at several universities, including Georgetown University, Bilkent University and Ibn Haldun University. He has also served on the boards of trustees of Ahmet Yesevi University (the International Turkish-Kazakh University) and the Turkish-Japanese University of Science and Technology.
In 2005, he founded the Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research (SETA) and served as its president. He has authored numerous papers, articles and books published in international academic outlets, many of which have been translated into several languages, particularly English and Arabic. He has presented papers at various councils, congresses, conferences and panels, and contributed to workshops. Through his publications on Turkish foreign policy, politics, philosophy and history, he has made significant contributions to the academic literature.
Since 2009, he has held a series of senior government positions, including Chief Advisor to the Prime Minister for Foreign Policy; Coordinator of Public Diplomacy, an office he founded; Deputy Undersecretary of the Prime Ministry for Foreign Relations and Public Diplomacy; Deputy Secretary-General of the Presidency responsible for Strategy and International Relations; Vice Chair of the Presidential Security and Foreign Policy Council; and Chief Advisor to the President for Security and Foreign Policy.
Alongside his other government duties, he served as Presidential Spokesperson, a position to which he was appointed with the title of ambassador in 2014, until he was appointed Head of the National Intelligence Organization (MİT). İbrahim Kalın assumed office as Head of MİT in June 2023. He speaks English, Arabic, Persian and French.