The 57-year-old, capped 41 times by his country, is currently head of the Turkish Basketball Federation (TBF). 

He beat the only other candidate, Daniel Dimevski from Macedonia, earning 40 votes from the 47 National Federations present at the Assembly.

Demirel replaces Acting President Cyriel Coomans, the Belgian who had taken over from Iceland's Ólafur Rafnsson following his sudden death at the age of 50 last June.

"This is a great honour and I want to thank all countries of Europe for putting their trust in me," said Demirel, who is fluent in England and German, as well as Turkish. 

Previously, in his pre-election presentation Demirel had set out the goals for his Presidential term.

"My aim is to help make basketball the fastest growing sport in Europe, through support of all 51 member federations, strong club competitions and the development of a new generation of stars," he told delegates.

"A strong FIBA Europe should help all federations develop young talent as this is the cornerstone for the advancement of our sport."

New FIBA Europe President Turgay Demirel with FIBA secretary general Patrick Baumann, FIBA President Yvan Mainini and outgoing FIBA Europe Acting President Cyriel Coomans ©FIBA Europe

Demirel spent most of his playing career with Galatasaray, retiring in 1988 after winning Turkish titles.

He was elected the first President of the TBF in 1992 and has been re-elected six times since, overseeing a period of growth which has seen its annual budget grow from $600,000 (£357,000/€438,000) to $75 million (£45 million/€55 million).

Demirel also oversaw the organisation of the 2010 World Championships in Turkey, an event FIBA secretary general Patrick Baumann described it as "the most successful FIBA World Championship ever".

Karl Thaller of Austria was elected uncontested as FIBA Europe treasurer, as the only other candidate and outgoing treasurer Jan Berteling of the Netherlands withdrew his candidacy.

The Assembly also elected 23 members of the new Board.

They included Coomans, along with Mirsad Donlagic (Bosnia and Herzegovina); Georgi Glushkov (Bulgaria); Zeljko Draksic (Croatia); Jiri Zidek (Czech Republic); Antti Zitting (Finland); Jean-Pierre Siutat (France); Ingo Weiss (Germany); Asterios Zois (Greece); Ivan Bodrogvary (Hungary); Hannes Jonsson (Iceland); Dino Meneghin (Italy); Edgars Sneps (Latvia); Mindaugas Spokas (Lithuania); Tor Christian Bakken (Norway); Grzegorz Bachanski (Poland); Carmen Tocala (Romania); Yulia Anikeeva (Russia); Dejan Bodiroga (Serbia); Jose Luis Saez (Spain); Lena Wallin-Kantzy (Sweden); Harun Erdenay (Turkey); and Oleksandr Volkov (Ukraine).

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