| Born | 19 September 2005 Karadeniz Ereğli, Turkey[1] |
| Nationality | Turkish |
| Residence | Hamburg, Germany |
| Education | BA Political Science University of Hamburg |
| Known for | EYP involvement; archaic Turkish usage; having opinions about media |
| Supervisory Board Member, EYP Türkiye | |
| In office | January 2026 – present |
| Sessions & Events Board Member, EYP Türkiye | |
| In office | January 2025 – January 2026 |
| Sessions & Events Officer, EYP Türkiye | |
| In office | January 2023 – January 2024 |
| Active | 2021–present |
| Languages | Turkish (native, including variants most people do not speak[2]), English, German, French, Russian (beginner) |
| FM hours | 7,000+[25] |
Hasan Kadri Özalp (born 19 September 2005, Karadeniz Ereğli[1], Turkey) is a Turkish political science student, European Youth Parliament (EYP) official, media enthusiast, and Football Manager addict currently based in Hamburg, Germany. He is perhaps best known within EYP Türkiye for his extensive organisational record, his firm views on the state of EYP media, and his habit of communicating in a register of Turkish that his peers describe as "beautiful, probably" and "I'll just nod and agree."[3]
Özalp has been involved in EYP since 2021 across roles spanning delegate, official, editor, chairperson, and head organiser, a breadth of experience he attributes to curiosity and that others attribute to not knowing how to say no.[4] He speaks five languages, four of them convincingly.
Özalp was born on 19 September 2005 in Karadeniz Ereğli, a coastal city in the Zonguldak province of Turkey that does not appear on most digital maps and whose Wikipedia article has been nominated for deletion twice.[1] Özalp maintains that it is real and formative. Editors have chosen to take him at his word for now.[5]
He later relocated to Istanbul and subsequently to Hamburg, Germany, where he enrolled in the BA Political Science programme at the University of Hamburg, a decision he describes as "right for many reasons," none of which he has ranked in order of importance.[6]
From an early age, Özalp demonstrated a strong affinity for the Turkish language in its most elaborated historical forms. By his teenage years, he had developed a personal communication style drawing on Ottoman Turkish vocabulary and pre-Republican phrasing, which he deploys in daily conversation. Close associates report that this is "genuinely impressive the first time" and "somewhat exhausting by the third meeting."[7] Özalp considers it cool. This position has not changed under external pressure.[8]
Among his preferred terms is avane, an Ottoman-era word denoting a retinue or band of followers, occasionally used in the sense of hangers-on or henchmen, which Özalp is reported to deploy with particular enthusiasm and frequency.[7] Colleagues who have been referred to as his avane report mixed feelings about the designation. Özalp has described it as a term of endearment. This interpretation remains contested.[8]
Özalp joined EYP in 2021. The exact circumstances have not been fully documented, though several colleagues confirm they cannot remember EYP Türkiye without him, which they describe as "either a compliment or a warning sign, depending on the day."[9]
In 2023, Özalp served as Head Organiser of Antalya 2023, the 4th National Session of EYP Türkiye. The session is remembered with something complicated by its delegates. Ada Gezik, a close friend of Özalp and a delegate at the session, recalled:
"I questioned my life when I was a delegate there." (Ada Gezik)[citation needed]
Editors note that this quotation has not been independently verified as positive or negative. Ada Gezik was contacted for clarification and responded with a sticker that editors have been unable to identify or categorise. A follow-up message asking "what is that sticker?" received the same sticker in response.[11]
By 2024, Özalp had accumulated roles across a significant portion of EYP's operational spectrum, including editor, chairperson, media team member, and president, a list that one colleague described as "at some point you have to just let him organise things" and another described as "a LinkedIn profile that needs editing."[12]
In 2025, he co-organised Istanbul 2025, the International Forum of EYP Türkiye, alongside Ada Gezik, who served as co-Head Organiser. Gezik, now operating as a colleague rather than a delegate, offered revised commentary:
"Wow, he actually knows something." (Ada Gezik)[citation needed]
This is widely considered the highest praise Ada Gezik has publicly given anyone in a professional context. Özalp has not denied being moved by it.[14]
Mersin occupies a specific place in Özalp's personal EYP geography. He has described it as "one of the cities that shaped my perspective on EYP,"[15] a place where he built lasting friendships, learned from peers, and accumulated what he calls "the good kind of memories," a category he distinguishes from the logistical kind and the kind that require a debrief.[16]
Özalp has worked in EYP media across multiple sessions in capacities including photography, editorial, and team leadership. He holds the view that EYP media is, in his words, "genuinely fun and structurally underperforming," a position he maintains simultaneously and without apparent contradiction.[17]
He believes EYP sessions produce moments of real visual and narrative value that are routinely undercaptured, poorly sequenced, or distributed through channels nobody opens. He has shared this view at multiple sessions. Selectors have been informed.[18]
Özalp has publicly and repeatedly maintained that EYP Türkiye sessions held in Mediterranean cities are structurally, atmospherically, and in several ways he finds difficult to fully articulate, superior to those held in larger metropolitan centres. He cites the venues, the climate, the pace, and what he describes as "a kind of energy you simply do not get in cities that have a metro."[19]
This position is held by a person who was born and raised in Istanbul. Istanbul-based EYP officials have responded with varying degrees of diplomatic restraint. At least one submitted a written inquiry asking whether Özalp has "actually forgotten where he is from."[20] Ankara-based officials have largely declined to comment publicly, a stance this article interprets as a comment. Özalp has acknowledged the controversy and reiterated his position.
Özalp lists five languages in his infobox. Four are uncontested. The fifth, Russian (listed at beginner level), has attracted less debate than the Ottoman Turkish situation, which is listed at native level and which, according to several sources, functions more like a separate language than a register.[21] At least two colleagues have admitted to nodding along to sentences they did not understand, citing "the confidence with which he said it."[22]
Özalp has been asked whether he considers this a communication problem. He has said no, citing the historical legitimacy of the vocabulary. This response was delivered in a sentence that contained at least one word from the 14th century.[23]
Özalp is a self-described Football Manager addict. Researchers studying his personal organisation systems have proposed that this addiction directly explains his enthusiasm for Microsoft Excel, session spreadsheets, and what one colleague described as "a truly unreasonable number of tabs."[24] Özalp does not dispute this connection. He considers both hobbies complementary and has merged their aesthetics on at least one occasion.[25]
When asked to name his birthplace for this article, Özalp stated Karadeniz Ereğli. Two editors independently typed this into Google Maps. One found it immediately and expressed embarrassment. The other found a different city and has since gone quiet.[26] The article's geographic verification process is described by the editorial team as "still in progress."[5]
Özalp is a prolific reader. His most recently completed titles, per his Goodreads profile, include The Brothers Karamazov (Dostoevsky, May 2026), Ruh Adam (Hüseyin Nihal Atsız, March 2026, followed by the review "ew"[citation needed]), The Master and Margarita (Bulgakov, February 2026), The Name of the Rose (Umberto Eco, February 2026), and Leviathan (Hobbes, February 2026). Editors note that both The Brothers Karamazov and The Master and Margarita appear to have been read in their original Russian, which sits in some tension with the "beginner" designation in the infobox. Özalp has not commented. The infobox has not been updated.[27] He is also a committed letter writer, maintaining correspondence with several close friends in a format that recipients describe as "long, heartfelt, and structurally closer to an essay than a message."[27] He disputes this characterisation. The letters dispute it more.
He occasionally writes poetry in Turkish, in the archaic register, which limits the potential readership to himself and possibly one medieval scholar.[28] He has asked that no specific poems be cited here. This request has been noted and ignored in spirit while technically honoured in form.
Within EYP Türkiye, Özalp is regarded as someone who has consistently shown up, taken on more than his share, and communicated all of it in a Turkish that future generations may struggle to parse.[29] He is known for his commitment to mentoring both peers and younger members of the organisation, an impulse described by associates as "genuinely warm" and, in the same breath, "occasionally unsolicited."[30]
Biographers have also noted a streak of self-assurance that some sources characterise as confidence and others as something further along the spectrum. Özalp himself has offered the following assessment of his tenure as Sessions Board Member:
"Nehir Kök is the best second-best Sessions Board Member I have ever seen. First place is me." (Hasan Kadri Özalp)[citation needed]
Nehir Kök, the aforementioned second-best, was asked to respond. Her response was as follows:
"Ok." (Nehir Kök)[citation needed]
External assessments have been warmer. Öykü Demirbaş, Head Organiser of RSC Alanya 2026, has stated on record:
"Hasan Özalp is my favourite older brother." (Öykü Demirbaş)[citation needed]
Fırat Tanrıverdi, current Vice-President of EYP Türkiye and aerospace engineering student, also provided comment when contacted:
"Beep beep boop boop." (Fırat Tanrıverdi)[citation needed]
Editors were unable to translate this statement. It is believed to be positive, given the context, though aerospace engineering has been known to affect communication in ways that are not yet fully understood by the social sciences.[31]
Should Mersin 2026 go well, this section will be expanded. Should it not, it will be quietly shortened and the opening banner updated to read "This article documents a past event."[32]