N.Macedonia: First Turk to be Constitutional Court head

BELGRADE, Serbia

Turkish origin Judge Salih Murat was elected as the President of the Constitutional Court in North Macedonia on Wednesday.

Murat will be the first Turk to serve as chairman of the Constitutional Court.

Murat, the court's new president, will begin his duty on Nov. 1 after the mandate of court's current President Nikola Ivanovski, the official website of the Constitutional Court said in a statement.

He was born in 1966 in Vrapchishte, Gostivar in North Macedonia, and graduated from the International Law Department in Belgrade University in 1991.

Murat was among the founders of the Union of Macedonian Turkish Civil Society Organizations.

In 2012, he was elected a member of the Constitutional Court of Northern Macedonia.

Murat is married and has 4 children.

* Talha Ozturk from Belgrade contributed to this report