İsmet Yılmaz

İsmet Yılmaz MP
İsmet Yılmaz in 2011
Leader of the AKP Group in the Grand National Assembly
In office 17 November 2021 – 2 June 2023
Preceded by	Naci Bostancı
Succeeded by	Abdullah Güler
Minister of National Education
In office 24 May 2016 – 10 July 2018
Prime Minister	Binali Yıldırım
Preceded by	Nabi Avcı
Succeeded by	Ziya Selçuk
Minister of National Defense
In office 24 November 2015 – 24 May 2016
Prime Minister	Ahmet Davutoğlu
Preceded by	Vecdi Gönül
Succeeded by	Fikri Işık
In office 6 July 2011 – 29 August 2014
Preceded by	Vecdi Gönül
Succeeded by	Vecdi Gönül
26th Speaker of the Grand National Assembly
In office 1 July 2015 – 17 November 2015
President	Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Prime Minister	Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Ahmet Davutoğlu
Deputy	Naci Bostancı Şafak Pavey Koray Aydın Yurdusev Özsökmenler
Preceded by	Cemil Çiçek
Succeeded by	İsmail Kahraman
Member of the Grand National Assembly
In office 12 June 2011 – 2 June 2023
Constituency	Sivas (2011, June 2015, Nov 2015, 2018)
Minister of Transport and Communication
In office 8 May 2007 – 29 August 2007
Prime Minister	Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Preceded by	Binali Yıldırım
Succeeded by	Binali Yıldırım
Personal details
Born	(1961-12-10) 10 December 1961 Gürün, Sivas Province, Turkey
Political party	Justice and Development Party
Education	Haydarpaşa High School
Alma mater	Istanbul Technical University Istanbul University World Maritime University Marmara University Ankara University
Profession	Mechanical engineer, law consultant, civil servant, politician
Cabinet	59th, 61st, 62nd, 64th, 65th

İsmet Yılmaz (born 10 December 1961) is a Turkish politician who was a member of the Grand National Assembly from 2011 to 2023.

Previously he was Minister of National Defense and Minister of National Education. Yılmaz also briefly served as the Speaker of the Grand National Assembly. Prior to entering politics, he worked as a law consultant and mechanical engineer.

Early life and education

İsmet Yılmaz was born in Gürün, Sivas Province. Following his primary education in his hometown, he enrolled in Haydarpaşa High School in Istanbul. Then, he studied mechanical engineering at the School of Maritime in Istanbul Technical University, graduating in 1982 with a bachelor's degree. Yılmaz attended then Istanbul University's Faculty of Law for education in maritime law and finished in 1987. He continued his further studies in "technical management in maritime" at the World Maritime University in Malmö, Sweden earning a master's degree. He received another master's degree in law from the Institute of Social Sciences in Marmara University, Istanbul. Finally, İsmet Yılmaz received a Doctor of Law degree from the Institute of Social Sciences at Ankara University.

Career

Government

After serving twenty years as an engineer and a law consultant, he became Undersecretary of Maritime Affairs at the Ministry of Transport and Communication on December 31, 2002. In accordance with Article 114 of the Constitution of Turkey, he was appointed neutral Minister of Transport and Communication on May 8, 2007, as placeholder for Binali Yıldırım until the 2007 general elections. Yılmaz was appointed Undersecretary at the Ministry of Culture and Tourism on November 1, 2007.

He entered politics as a member of the AK Party and became deputy for Sivas Province following the 2011 general elections. On July 6, 2011, Yılmaz was appointed Minister of National Defence in the Cabinet Erdoğan III. During his first term as Minister of Defense, he praised Turkey's affiliation to NATO and saw its membership as the result of values like democracy and human rights that Turkey was defending.

Speaker of Parliament

Yılmaz was put forward as the AKP's candidate for Speaker of the Grand National Assembly for the June–July 2015 speaker elections. Since the AKP did not have a majority (276 seats) in Parliament, the election went into a fourth and final round where Yılmaz managed to win a simple majority of the vote on 1 July 2015. He was thus elected as the Speaker with 258 votes (exactly the same number of votes as AKP MPs) to rival Deniz Baykal's 182 votes.

Personal life

İsmet Yılmaz is married and has three children.

External links

• Media related to İsmet Yılmaz at Wikimedia Commons