[5] His father was a close ally of MHP founder Alparslan Türkeş, and served as a member of the National Unity Committee that was installed following the 1960 Turkish coup d'état.

[6] Özdağ studied philosophy, politics and economics at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich,[5] before completing a master's degree on Turkish strategic development and state planning institutions.

Ümit Özdağ started to work as a research assistant at Gazi University Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences in 1986.

He received the title of Associate Professor of Political Theory in 1993 with his thesis on "Army-Political Relations in the Menderes Period and the May 27 Coup".

He has given conferences at various universities and research centers in Washington, Moscow, Tokyo, New Delhi, Cairo, Alexandria, Brussels, Tehran, Bishkek, Alma Ata, London, Munich and Tel Aviv.

Özdağ resigned as deputy leader on 24 February 2016, calling for the party to hold an extraordinary congress following its heavy defeat in the November 2015 election.

[10][11] The process of holding the 2016 Nationalist Movement Party Extraordinary Congress became embroiled in legal disputes and was eventually disbanded after an intervention from the Supreme Electoral Council of Turkey.

On 20 October, Özdağ was again referred to the MHP High Disciplinary Board pending dismissal from the party, which took effect on 15 November 2016.

The MHP announced that they would jointly draft a new constitution that included an executive presidency with the governing Justice and Development Party (AKP) in October 2016.

[17] In May 2022 he had an altercation with Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu, who amongst other statements deemed him a puppet of George Soros, "not a human, lower than an animal" during a TV broadcast.