Melek Bilge

Melek Bilge — Biography

Melek Bilge is a basketball player who plays center at 1.93 meters. She wore the colors of Turkey's youth and senior national teams at a young age and has spent her club career with sides such as Galatasaray, Mersin Büyükşehir Belediyespor, Bodrum Belediyesi and Kırıkkale Yüksek İhtisas Hastanesi Spor Kulübü.

She began in basketball while at Pendik High School, in the youth system of the Migros women's team. While at Ceyhan Belediyespor she was called up to the national youth team, and she then played for the junior and under-20 national sides. In 2006 she played in the Turkish Cup final and from 2006 to 2007 she was part of the under-18 national team; in 2008 she was selected both for the senior national team and for the under-20 side, with which she competed at the European Under-20 Championship in Chieti, Italy. In qualifying for the 2009 European Championship she averaged 2.4 points and 1.4 rebounds over five games, and she appeared in three games at the championship in Latvia.

In July 2010 Galatasaray Medical Park announced that she had signed a five-year contract. Her parents are Bosniak immigrants from Serbia, and she holds both Turkish and Serbian citizenship. In 2024 she started a new post at Kırıkkale YİH.