Turkey: Brief profiles of new cabinet members

ANKARA (AA) – Incoming prime minister and chairman of Turkey's ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party, Binali Yildirim, has revealed the country’s 65th cabinet on Tuesday.

The government's program will be announced by Yildirim at parliament later today and a vote of confidence will be held in a plenary session of parliament on Sunday.

- Binali Yildirim

Yildirim was born on Dec. 20, 1955 in Refahiye, a town in Turkey’s eastern Erzincan province. At age 16, Yildirim lost his mother, who was 38.

Moving into adulthood, Yildirim earned a bachelor’s degree at the Istanbul Technical University's Maritime Faculty. He later graduated with a Master’s degree in science from Sweden’s World Maritime University in 1991.

Under then-Istanbul mayor Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Yildirim served as director-general of the city’s Fast Ferries Company (IDO) between 1994 and 2000.

Yildirim won his first seat in the Turkish parliament as a deputy for Istanbul in the 2002 general election which swept the AK Party to power. He served as minister of transport and communications through to 2007.

In the 2007 general election, he was elected as an AK Party deputy for his home province of Erzincan and continued his tenure as transport and communications minister.

After being elected as a deputy for the Mediterranean province of Izmir in the 2011 general election, Yildirim again became minister of transport, maritime, and communications.

In 2014, he ran for mayor of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality but came second, with 36 percent of the vote.

This March, Yildirim helped usher in 4.5G technology, giving Turkish cellphone users access to data 10 times faster than the previous 3G.

Last November, after the November general election took the AK Party to a new term, former prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu reappointed Yildirim as transport minister.

Yildirim speaks French and English, is married and has three children.

- Ahmet Arslan

Ahmet Arslan has been appointed as new Minister of Transport, Maritime and Communications. Arslan, 54, was born in Kars in the northeastern part of Turkey.

Arslan graduated from Istanbul Technical University's Maritime Faculty. After earning his bachelor’s degree, he started to work in the Turkish Maritime Affairs Department as deputy general-director. He also worked in Ministry of Communications.

In 2010 he received the Turkish World Engineering Award and the title of honorary professor.

Arslan speaks English, is married and has one child.

- Veysi Kaynak

AK Party Kahramanmaras deputy, Veysi Kaynak, has been appointed as a deputy prime minister for the first time. Kaynak was born in Jan. 1, 1962 in Kahramanmaras, southern Turkey. Kaynak graduated from Istanbul University’s Law Faculty.

First working as a lawyer, he later became a member of Kahramanmaras Municipality, then mayor. He also chaired parliament’s budget commission. Kaynak was elected as Kahramanmaras deputy in 2007.

- Omer Celik

Turkey’s new EU Minister Omer Celik is known as a journalist, author and poet. Born in the southern province of Adana in 1968, Celik graduated from the Public Administration of Economic and Administrative Sciences Faculty of Ankara-based Gazi University.

Celik started his political career with the AK Party and sided with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in political talks.

Being member of the AK Party's Central Decision and Administrative Board (MKYK), Celik was elected as a deputy of the party for three terms of parliament.

Celik also served as minister for culture and tourism in 2013 and was the chairman of the party's delegation which conducted coalition talks with other political groups after the June 7 general election.

Celik was elected as a deputy in the Nov. 1 general election for Adana and was appointed as the spokesperson for the ruling party on Sep. 13, 2015.

- Nurettin Canikli

Nurettin Canikli has been appointed as a deputy prime minister. Canikli was born in 1960 in the Black Sea region of Giresun and studied economics at the Faculty of Political Science, Ankara University. He later received his MA in banking finance at Sheffield University in the U.K.

Canikli was one of the founding members of the AK Party.

Having been elected to parliament as Giresun deputy for three consecutive terms in 2002, 2007, 2011, he served as AK Party deputy group chairman and government business enterprises commission chairperson.

Canikli was trade minister in the former cabinet.

- Faruk Ozlu

New Minister of Science, Industry and Technology Faruk Ozlu was born in the northwestern province of Duzce in 1962. He graduated in mechanical engineering from Yildiz Technical University in Istanbul.

Ozlu studied for a master’s degree and doctorate in Istanbul Technical University and further trained in Spain and at Harvard University.

Starting as a research assistant in Yildiz Technical University in 1987, he took office in the Undersecretariat of Defense in 1990.

He was elected as a Duzce deputy for the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party for two terms of parliament.

Ozlu speaks English, is married and has two children.

- Recep Akdag

Health Minister Recep Akdag graduated from the Medical Faculty of Ataturk University in the eastern province of Erzurum and was elected as a deputy for Erzurum for three terms of parliament.

He served as health minister between 2000 and 2013.

Akdag has published more than 100 articles about child health and pediatrics and won an ‘Article of the Year’ award from the Istanbul Medical Chamber in 1996.

Akdag led many conferences, symposiums and special programs held by international agencies and states, including the World Health Organization and World Bank.

Akdag is married and has six children.

- Mehmet Ozhaseki

Mehmet Ozhaseki has been appointed as the new Minister of the Environment and Urban Planning.

Ozhaseki has served as the mayor of Kayseri in central Turkey for five terms. Born in 1957 in Kayseri, he graduated from Istanbul University’s Law Faculty.

He later became the Mayor of Melikgazi District in Kayseri in 1998, and became the mayor of Kayseri in 1999.

In Sep. 2015, during the AK Party’s annual congress, Ozhaseki was selected as the deputy chairman of the party, paving the way to a ministerial post in the new cabinet.

Ozhaseki is married and has four children; he can speak English and Arabic.

- Nihat Zeybekci

Nihat Zeybekci was born in Denizli province, southwestern Turkey. After studying business administration at Marmara University, Zeybekci, 55, received his master's degree in international relations from Istanbul University.

He also continued his further studies in economics at South London College in the United Kingdom.

After finishing his studies, Zeybekci served as an executive for companies in Istanbul and Denizli and founded a textile firm in 1994. He was elected to the Denizli Chamber of Industry and chaired two terms at the Denizli Textile and Apparel Exporters' Association.

Zeybekci’s political life began in 2004’s local elections. He was elected mayor of Denizli for the AK Party and was re-elected in 2009’s local elections. In 2011, he resigned to run for a seat in parliament. During this time, he represented his city and country in several organizations for regional administrations at national and international level.

He was elected to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey in the 2011 general election as a deputy for Denizli. In 2013, Zeybekci was appointed as Minister of Economy.

He is married, has four children and can speak English and German.

- Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya

New Family and Social Policies Minister Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya was born in Istanbul in 1981. She graduated from Bilkent University in Ankara with an electrical and electronics engineering degree.

After receiving her bachelor’s degree, she won a doctoral fellowship from New York University’s School of Biomedical Engineering.

In 2009, she came back to Turkey and started her second bachelor’s degree program in Cerrahpasa Faculty of Medicine at Istanbul University.

In the same year, Kaya was elected as an AK Party Istanbul Provincial Board Member and served as an advisor until 2012.

During the presidential election in 2014, she worked as a media advisor in Istanbul.

She is married, has two children and can speak English and German.