İsmet Yılmaz

İsmet Yılmaz MP
Minister of National Defence
Incumbent
Assumed office 24 November 2015
Prime Minister	Ahmet Davutoğlu
Preceded by	Vecdi Gönül
In office July 6, 2011 – July 1, 2015
Prime Minister	Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Ahmet Davutoğlu
Preceded by	Vecdi Gönül
Succeeded by	Vecdi Gönül
26th Speaker of the Grand National Assembly
In office July 1, 2015 – November 17, 2015
President	Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Deputy	Naci Bostancı Şafak Pavey Koray Aydın Yurdusev Özsökmenler
Preceded by	Cemil Çiçek
Succeeded by	İsmail Kahraman
Minister of Transport and Communication
In office May 8, 2007 – August 29, 2007
Prime Minister	Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Preceded by	Binali Yıldırım
Succeeded by	Binali Yıldırım
Member of the Grand National Assembly
Incumbent
Assumed office 12 June 2011
Constituency	Sivas (2011, June 2015, Nov 2015)
Personal details
Born	(1961-12-10) December 10, 1961 Gürün, Sivas Province, Turkey
Political party	Justice and Development Party
Education	Maritime mechanical engineering, maritime law, maritime management
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

İsmet Yılmaz (born December 10, 1961) is a Turkish politician who has been Minister of National Defence of Turkey since 2015. Previously he was Minister of National Defence from 2011 to 2015 and briefly served as Speaker of the Grand National Assembly in 2015. 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.

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.