Özdil Nami was born in London on 23 May 1967.  He graduated from the Boğaziçi University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences in 1988. He completed his MBA degree at the University of California, Berkeley in 1991.  Before becoming a member of parliament he joined business life also lecturing at various universities on finance and economics as well as serving as a Political Advisor to the leader of the Turkish Cypriot Community. During this period he was also active in NGOs both as a member of the Assembly of the Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Commerce and as the Chairman of Cyprus Turkish Businessmen Association. In December 2004 he became a Member of Parliament. As a parliamentarian he served as the “Elected Representative of the Turkish Cypriot Community” at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), as an observer member at the Socialist Group in the European Parliament as well as the Chairman of the Legal and Political Affairs Committee and the Vice Chairman of the Public Reform and European Union Harmonization Committee. He also held ministerial positions,  first as the Minister of Foreign Affairs then as the Minister in Charge of Energy and Economy.  Özdil Nami was the Chief Negotiator for the Turkish Cypriot side for the Cyprus negotiations held under the good offices mission of the UN Secretary General in 2008-2010 and 2015-2017.