Mr. Solak was born in 1965 in Istanbul. He graduated from Istanbul University, Faculty of Political Sciences in 1988. He received his Masters Degree from the Department of Economics of Marmara University with the thesis entitled “Historical Development of Export Promotion Measures in Turkey” and awarded his Ph. D. in the same department with his research on “Kyrgyzstan in the Transition Process to Market Economy” (1999). While working on his Ph. D. dissertation, Mr. Solak was invited as a visiting lecturer to Kyrgyzstan State University. While in Kyrgyzstan (1993-1994) he also improved his Russian and Kyrgyz language skills.

In 2000-2001 education term he gave lecture as a visiting academician at the Turkish-Kyrgyz Faculty of Management in Jalalabad, Kyrgyzstan.

Mr. Solak served as Kyrgyzstan Country Coordinator for TIKA (Turkish Cooperation and Development Agency) from June, 2003 to June, 2006. At the end of his posting in Bishkek, he was conferred the “Outstanding Service Award” for his contributions to Kyrgyzstan-Turkey relations, by the President of Kyrgyzstan.

He also worked as an Advisor to the Chairman of the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (2007-2013); Advisor to the Rector on Central Asia at the Marmara University (2010-2014), Editor and Anchorman for the TV program called “Turkistan Agenda” on TRT (2010-  ). Mr. Solak is also an active member of the civil society and manages as well as serves in a number of NGOs.

He is still a lecturer at the Faculty of Economics, Marmara University and continues his works with a focus on Central Asia.