Jump to content

Mehmet Şimşek

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Monkbot (talk | contribs) at 21:16, 27 January 2021 (Task 18 (cosmetic): eval 11 templates: del empty params (12×); hyphenate params (3×);). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Mehmet Şimşek
MP
Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey
In office
24 November 2015 – 9 July 2018
Prime MinisterAhmet Davutoğlu
Binali Yıldırım
Serving withRecep Akdağ (2017-18)
Bekir Bozdağ (2017-18)
Hakan Çavuşoğlu (2017-18)
Fikri Işık (2017-18)
Yalçın Akdoğan (2015–16)
Lütfi Elvan (2015–16)
Tuğrul Türkeş (2015–17)
Numan Kurtulmuş (2015–17)
Nurettin Canikli (2016–17)
Veysi Kaynak (2016–17)
Preceded byCevdet Yılmaz
Succeeded byoffice abolished
Minister of Finance
In office
1 May 2009 – 24 November 2015
Prime MinisterRecep Tayyip Erdoğan
Ahmet Davutoğlu
Preceded byKemal Unakıtan
Succeeded byNaci Ağbal
Minister of State for the Economy
In office
28 August 2007 – 1 May 2009
Prime MinisterRecep Tayyip Erdoğan
Preceded byAli Babacan
Succeeded byAli Babacan
Member of the Grand National Assembly
In office
22 July 2007 – 7 July 2018
ConstituencyGaziantep (2007, June 2015, Nov 2015)
Batman (2011)
Personal details
Born (1967-01-01) 1 January 1967 (age 57)
Gercüş, Turkey
Political partyJustice and Development Party
Spouse(s)Annalise Granwald (1999–2009)
Esra Kara (2010–present)
Children3
Alma materAnkara University
University of Exeter
Cabinet60th, 61st, 62nd, 63rd, 64th, 65th
Signature

Mehmet Şimşek (born 1 January 1967) is a Turkish politician and economist of Kurdish origin who served as a Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey from 24 November 2015 until the office's abolition on 9 July 2018. He previously served as the Minister of Finance from 2009 to 2015, serving in the cabinets of Prime Ministers of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Ahmet Davutoğlu. As a member of the Justice and Development Party, he was elected as a Member of Parliament for Gaziantep in the 2007 general election and for Batman in the 2011 general election.

In Prime Minister Erdoğan's second cabinet (2007-2011), Şimşek became a Minister of State responsible for the economy upon his election as an MP. In 2009, he became the Minister of Finance. He retained his position in Erdoğan's third cabinet and the first cabinet of Ahmet Davutoğlu, who took over as Prime Minister in 2014.

As Finance Minister, Şimşek formulated fiscal policy which helped Turkey recover strongly from the global financial crisis of 2008. He also undertook far reaching reforms founding the Tax Audit Board, simplifying tax regulations, enhancing taxpayers’ rights, and reducing the shadow economy.

Early life

Şimşek was born an ethnic Kurd in 1967, in a small village in Batman, a province in Southeastern Turkey. Minister Şimşek is married and has twin girls.[1] He speaks Kurdish and English fluently and has both British and Turkish citizenships.[2][3][4][5][6] Şimşek earned his B.Sc. in Economics from Ankara University in 1988. After working as research assistant in the chair of international economics and economic development, he was awarded a state scholarship to the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom, where he earned his M.Phil. in Finance and Investments in 1993.

Şimşek previously worked as the chief economist and strategist for the emerging Europe, Middle East and Africa region at Merrill Lynch in London for 7 years. At this time he had a number of contacts with the Turkish authorities and the Central Bank and had worked with the AKP government on economic policy. He also served as senior economist and bank analyst for Deutsche-Bender Securities from 1998 to 2000. Şimşek spent about a year in New York City where he worked for UBS Securities in 1997. Prior to that, he was a senior economist at the US Embassy in Ankara for almost four years.

Hacking

In 2019, it was revealed that Şimşek had been targeted by Project Raven; a UAE clandestine surveillance and hacking operation, targeting other governments, militants and human rights activists critical of the UAE monarchy. Using a "sophisticated spying tool called Karma" they managed to hack an iPhone belonging to Şimşek.[7][8]

Political career

Şimşek speaking at the East Capital Istanbul Summit on 15 September 2011

Elected as an AKP Member of Parliament for Gaziantep in the 2007 general election, Şimşek began his ministerial career as a Minister of State and was promoted to the post of Finance Minister in 2009.

He was nominated as one of the 500 most powerful people on the planet by Foreign Policy in 2013 and also awarded the title of "Finance Minister of the Year for Emerging Europe 2013" by Emerging Markets magazine.

2014 economic slowdown

Turkey experienced a reduction in economic growth in 2014, blamed by the government mainly on the problems in the Eurozone, with much of it allegedly due to political uncertainty in the country. By March 2015, the Turkish lira began losing heavy value towards the US dollar, trading at ₺2.68 to US$1. The sudden decline caused the Central Bank of Turkey to make a written intervention, with the opposition criticising President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for intervening in economic affairs despite his neutral and ceremonial role. The economy was seen as so fragile due to the political uncertainty that a single speech by Erdoğan caused the lira to rapidly lose its value against the dollar soon after.[9] Investors were also concerned about the future of Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan, who holds responsibility for the Economy.[10]

Despite the economic slowdown, Şimşek claimed that there would be a high chance that the lira would regain its value and that inflation would fall at a fast rate in 2016.[11] With key Islamists in government, such as Numan Kurtulmuş, openly critical about the independence of the Central Bank, Şimşek claimed that the uncertainty caused by the potential of politicising the Central Bank meant that Turkey was unlikely to return to strong economic growth in the near future.[12]

Şimşek has since defended his record as Finance Minister, stating that his government was being unfairly targeted despite managing to keep its budget commitments under heavy economic pressures.[13]

Poverty reduction

In May 2015, Şimşek was ridiculed for tweeting that his government had reduced poverty, as well as including a statistic that showed that the percentage of the population living below $1 a day fell from 0.2% to 0% between 2002 and 2013. The tweet generated huge controversy, with replies asking whether his Twitter account had been hacked.[14]

June 2015 general election

Main article: June 2015 Turkish general election

In the run-up to the June 2015 general election, Şimşek stated that populism by opposition parties would be the most significant threat to Turkey's economy, stating that the Republican People's Party's policy of increasing the minimum wage to ₺1,500 would be devastating to workers, alleging that the extra cost of hiring workers would lead to unemployment.[15] Commenting on other policies in the Republican People's Party (CHP) manifesto, Şimşek claimed that if the party could name a source for all their spending plans, he would vote for them.[16] The CHP subsequently gave the numerous government corruption scandals, the lavish spending on a new Presidential Palace and government waste as their funding.

In the run up to the election, Şimşek ordered the release of ₺1.325 billion of allowances to farmers and manufacturers.[17]

After the 2018 election, Şimşek was replaced by Erdogan with Erdogan's son in law Berat Albayrak in July 2018.[18]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Minister of Finance Mehmet Şimşek".
  2. ^ "TÜRKİYE BÜYÜK MİLLET MECLİSİ".
  3. ^ Atlantic Council Black Sea Energy and Economic Forum bio (English) Archived 2012-03-17 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ European Stability Initiative bio (English)
  5. ^ Maliye Ucak Bileti Reform (Turkish)
  6. ^ "Events - View Event". Archived from the original on 2010-08-15. Retrieved 2011-01-19.
  7. ^ UAE used cyber super-weapon to spy on Iphones of foes, by Joel Schectman and Christopher Bing, January 30, 2019, Reuters
  8. ^ Inside the UAE’s secret hacking team of American mercenaries, by Christopher Bing and Joel Schectman, January 30, 2019, Reuters
  9. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-05-15. Retrieved 2015-05-14.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  10. ^ "ECONOMICS - Turkish Lira, the champion loser against the dollar".
  11. ^ "Maliye Bakanı Mehmet Şimşek Forum İstanbul'da açıkladı - Ekonomi Haberleri".
  12. ^ bigpara@hurriyet.com.tr. "Mehmet Şimşek: Güçlü büyümeye dönmek kolay değil - Ekonomi Haberleri - Bigpara".
  13. ^ http://www.aktifmedya.com. "Şimşek: Yerden yere vuruluyoruz". {{cite web}}: External link in |last= (help)
  14. ^ http://www.hbrdr.com/gundem/mehmet-simsek-ten-akil-almaz-istatistik-paylasimi-h4042331.html Archived May 15, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
  15. ^ "Türkiye'nin önündeki en büyük risk...". 12 May 2015.
  16. ^ "Mehmet Şimşek: Tartışmaya dünden razıyım".
  17. ^ "Bakan Şimşek'ten çiftçilere müjde". 8 May 2015.
  18. ^ Philipp Mattheis: "Schwiegersohn statt Kompetenz" Wirtschaftswoche vom 10. Juli 2018
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mehmet Şimşek.
Political offices
Preceded by Minister of Economic Affairs
2007–2009 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Minister of Finance
2009–2015 		Succeeded by
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mehmet_Şimşek&oldid=1003193832"