Mehmet Şimşek

Mehmet Şimşek
Şimşek at the World Economic Forum on Europe and Central Asia in October 2008
Minister of Finance of Turkey
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 May 2009
Prime Minister	Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Preceded by	Kemal Unakıtan
Personal details
Born	1 January 1967 (1967-01-01) (age 44) Batman, Turkey
Nationality	Turkish
Political party	Justice and Development Party
Spouse(s)	Annalise Granwald (1999-2009) Esra Kara (2010–present)
Religion	Sunni Islam

Mehmet Şimşek was born 1 January 1967, from a Turkish family of Kurdish descent in the city of Batman, Turkey.

He is the Minister of Finance of Turkey in the cabinet of re-elected Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. He was elected to the Parliament for Gaziantep in the general election on July 22, 2007. Mehmet Şimşek was the State Minister for Economic Affairs from August 2007 to April 2009. On May 1, 2009, he was appointed Minister of Finance. He is a member of the Justice and Development Party.

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 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 AK Party government on economic policy. He also served as senior economist and bank analyst for Deutsche-Bender Securities from 1998 to 2000. Mr Şimşek spent about a year in New York 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.

Şimşek is married and speaks English fluently. He has both British and Turkish citizenships.^[1][2][3][4]

References

1. ^ Turkish Grand National Assembly bio (Turkish)
2. ^ Atlantic Council Black Sea Energy and Economic Forum bio (English)
3. ^ European Stability Initiative bio (English)
4. ^ Turkish-British Chamber of Commerce and Industry bio (English)

External links

• Official website

Political offices
Preceded by Ali Babacan	Minister of Economic Affairs of Turkey 2007–present	Incumbent
Preceded by Kemal Unakıtan	Minister of Finance of Turkey May 1, 2009–present	Incumbent

Persondata
Name	Simsek, Mehmet
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1 January 1967
Place of birth	Batman, Turkey
Date of death
Place of death