Rıza Türmen graduated from Istanbul University Faculty of Law in 1964; he holds a MA from McGill University of Canada and PhD from Ankara University, Faculty of Political Sciences. He started his career in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1966 and was stationed in Singapore, Switzerland and the Council of Europe as an ambassador. In 1998 he was elected to the European Court of Human Rights, where he served for 10 years. Türmen was a columnist for Milliyet newspaper for 3 years before he was elected as a deputy from the CHP in the general elections of 2011. He is currently a member of the Constitution Committee of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey.