Latest cabinet reshuffle enlarges the ranks of Turkey’s ministerial UK alumni
Çağatay Kılıç, the new youth and sports minister; finance minister Mehmet Şimşek; and EU Affairs minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu
THE RECENT cabinet reshuffle by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has increased the number of Turkish ministers educated in Britain.
The latest addition to the cabinet’s “UK alumni” is Akif Çağatay Kılıç, the new youth and sports minister, who at the age of 38 is also one of the youngest members.
Mr Kılıç went to Hertfordshire University, where he was enrolled in Politics and Europe Studies department. He later worked for a year in London as a procurement expert for Sabancı Holding, a Turkish conglomerate.
The new minister later worked as advisor to businessman Cüneyd Zapsu before moving over to the prime minister’s office and finally becoming an MP in 2011.
FINANCE MINISTER
Another politician who has spent a considerable amount of his education and career in Britain is the finance minister Mehmet Şimşek. A graduate of Ankara University’s Political Science faculty, he finished a postgraduate degree at Exeter University in 1993.
Mr Şimşek subsequently worked in London for seven years at Lerrill Lynch and has held UK citizenship.
EU AFFAIRS MINISTER
Another British alumni in the Turkish cabinet is Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, who did a doctorate at the London School of Economics between 1993 and 1995 on Environmental Economics and Sustainable Development.
He led the Turkish Association during his time at the university and subsequently – after becoming a politician – led the Council of Europe. He was made European Union Affairs minister last month.
The other UK alumni in the Turkish cabinet include Lütfi Elvan, the minister for transport, seafaring and communications, who mining studied at Leeds University in 1986, and Nihat Zeybekçi, the economy minister, who studied economics at South London College.
Mehmet Mehdi Eker, the food, agriculture and livestock minister, spent some time in Scotland, having received a postgraduate degree from Aberdeen University in 1992.
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Çağatay Kılıç, the new youth and sports minister
Finance minister Mehmet Şimşek
EU Affairs minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu