Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu (; born 5 February 1968) is a Turkish diplomat and politician who has served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey since 24 November 2015. He previously served in the same position from August 2014 to August 2015. He is a member of the

Grand National Assembly of Turkey The Grand National Assembly of Turkey ( tr, ), usually referred to simply as the TBMM or Parliament ( tr, or ''Parlamento''), is the unicameral Turkish legislature. It is the sole body given the legislative prerogatives by the Turkish Consti ...

, where he represents

Antalya Province Antalya Province ( tr, ) is located on the Mediterranean coast of south-west Turkey, between the Taurus Mountains and the Mediterranean Sea. Antalya Province is the centre of Turkey's tourism industry, attracting 30% of foreign tourists visit ...

. First elected to Parliament in the 2002 general election, he is a founding member of the Turkish Justice and Development Party (AKP). He was the president of the

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is the parliamentary arm of the Council of Europe, a 46-nation international organisation dedicated to upholding human rights, democracy and the rule of law. The Assembly is made up o ...

from 2010 to 2012.

Early life and education

Çavuşoğlu was born at

Alanya Alanya (; ), formerly Alaiye, is a beach resort city and a district of Antalya Province on the southern coast of Turkey, in the country's Mediterranean Region, east of the city of Antalya. As of Turkey's 2010 census, the city had a population of ...

, Turkey. He graduated from

Ankara University Ankara University ( tr, Ankara Üniversitesi) is a public university in Ankara, the capital city of Turkey. It was the first higher education institution founded in Turkey after the formation of the republic in 1923. The university has 40 vocat ...

Faculty of Political Science in 1988, where he studied

international relations International relations (IR), sometimes referred to as international studies and international affairs, is the scientific study of interactions between sovereign states. In a broader sense, it concerns all activities between states—such as ...

. He then received a masters in economics from

Long Island University Long Island University (LIU) is a private university with two main campuses, LIU Post and LIU Brooklyn, in the U.S. state of New York. It offers more than 500 academic programs at its main campuses, online, and at multiple non-residential. LIU ...

New York State New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. stat ...

, and studied for his doctorate at

Bilkent University Bilkent University ( tr, Bilkent Üniversitesi) is a private university located in Ankara, Turkey. It was founded by Prof. İhsan Doğramacı in 1984, with the aim of creating a center of excellence in higher education and research. It is constan ...

Ankara, Turkey Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, makin ...

. He was a research fellow at the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

, where he was for a time president of the Turkish Society. Çavuşoğlu did not receive a PhD.

Career

While serving in parliament, Çavuşoğlu has chaired the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Population. In November 2009, he met with the

Foreign Minister of Russia The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation is a high-ranking Russian government official who heads the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Russia), Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. The foreign minister is one of th ...

Sergey Lavrov Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov (russian: Сергей Викторович Лавров, ; born 21 March 1950) is a Russian diplomat and politician who has served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Russia), Foreign Minister of Russia since 2004. ...

, in the context of a report that the Assembly was preparing on the

Soviet famine of 1932–1933 The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

. Speaking at a news conference ahead of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum on June 18–20, 2021, Çavuşoğlu said that establishing stability in the southern Caucasus is crucial for the people of the region and would also bring prosperity. On 11 June 2022, he expressed support for the

enlargement of NATO NATO is a military alliance of twenty-eight European and two North American countries that constitutes a system of collective defense. The process of joining the alliance is governed by Article 10 of the North Atlantic Treaty, which allows ...

and said that

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

and

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

are the two most important threats faced by NATO. On 12 September 2022, a series of clashes erupted between

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

n and

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

i troops along the Armenia–Azerbaijan border, marking a major escalation in the

2021–2022 Armenia–Azerbaijan border crisis The military forces of Armenia and Azerbaijan have been engaged in a border conflict since 12 May 2021, when Azerbaijani soldiers crossed several kilometers into Armenia in the provinces of Syunik and Gegharkunik, occupying about of Armenian t ...

. Çavuşoğlu tweeted that "Armenia should cease its provocations and focus on peace negotiations and cooperation with Azerbaijan".

Council of Europe

Meeting between US President Biden and Turkish President Erdogan together with foreign ministers Blinken and Cavusoglu at G20 in Rome

Çavuşoğlu joined the

in 2003, and soon after was named the head of the Turkish delegation and a vice-president of the Assembly. During the January 2010 session of the Assembly, Çavuşoğlu was nominated—and elected on 25 January 2010—to replace outgoing President Lluís Maria De Puig of Spain. In an October reshuffle, this was the reason given for why he did not receive extra responsibilities in Prime Minister

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician serving as the List of presidents of Turkey, 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as prime minister of Turkey from 2003 to 2014 and as Lis ...

's government. His candidacy for this post was supported by all of Turkey's main parties. He became president just months before Turkey took up the chairmanship of the

Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe ( French: ''Comité des ministres du Conseil de l'Europe'') or Committee of Ministers ( French: ''Comité des ministres'') is the Council of Europe's decision-making body. It comprises the Forei ...

(November 2010), and at the same time that there was a Turkish president of the

Congress of the Council of Europe The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities is the pan-European political assembly representing local and regional authorities from the forty-six member states of the Council of Europe. Its role is to promote local and regional democracy, imp ...

. In 2012, Çavuşoğlu was succeeded by France's

Jean-Claude Mignon Jean-Claude Mignon (born February 2, 1950) was a member of the National Assembly of France. He represents the Seine-et-Marne department, and is a member of the Union for a Popular Movement. On 23 January 2012, he was elected President of th ...

2014 Turkish local elections

Çavuşoğlu was criticized by the Turkish newspaper ''

Hürriyet ''Hürriyet'' (, ''Liberty'') is one of the major Turkish newspapers, founded in 1948. , it had the highest circulation of any newspaper in Turkey at around 319,000. ''Hürriyet'' has a mainstream, liberal and conservative outlook. ''Hürriyet ...

'' because of his intervention in the municipality election in

Antalya Antalya () is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, fifth-most populous city in Turkey as well as the capital of Antalya Province. Located on Anatolia's southwest coast bordered by the Taurus Mountains, Antalya is the largest Turkish cit ...

that took place on 30 March 2014. When the opposing party candidate Mustafa Akaydin of the Turkish Republican People's Party was ahead of the ruling party candidate, he visited the courthouse with his supporters and interrupted the counting process. After his interruption, the counting of votes was stopped. It was claimed that the votes not already counted were from suburbs where the opposing party had more supporters.

2017 Rotterdam landing ban

On 11 March 2017, Çavuşoğlu was banned from landing in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

, the Netherlands, after threats of Turkish sanctions if his visit to Rotterdam was impeded, made “the search for a reasonable solution impossible“. Çavuşoğlu had planned to organize a large gathering to talk about the

2017 Turkish constitutional referendum A constitutional referendum was held in Turkey on 16 April 2017 on whether to approve 18 proposed amendments to the Turkish constitution that were brought forward by the governing Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Nationalist Movement ...

, in which many Dutch-based émigrés can vote. However, his presence was claimed by the Dutch authorities to be a threat to public safety, and Çavuşoğlu was turned away, despite being the Turkish Foreign Minister. Meanwhile, Turkish President

called the Netherlands, "Nazi remnants" and "fascists," which Dutch Prime Minister

Mark Rutte Mark Rutte (; born 14 February 1967) is a Dutch politician who has served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands since 2010 and Leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) since 2006. After a business career working for Unilever ...

called "a crazy remark." Çavuşoğlu followed by defending Erdoğan's remark, and by saying that the Netherlands was the "capital of fascism".

2021 talks with Afghan leaders

In August 2021, Çavuşoğlu said that "Turkey was in talks with all parties in Afghanistan, including the Taliban", and "views positively the messages the Islamist militants have sent" since the fall of Kabul. The Ministry also said that the Turkish embassy in Kabul would continue to function and is not expected to close. In October 2021, Çavuşoğlu met with the Afghan foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi in Ankara. He urged the international community to engage with Taliban officials.

Personal life

Çavuşoğlu is married, with one child. He speaks Turkish, English,

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

, and

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

. He also studies the

Russian language Russian (russian: русский язык, russkij jazyk, link=no, ) is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language mainly spoken in Russia. It is the First language, native language of the Russians, and belongs to the Indo-European langua ...

, only having spoken it publicly in limited settings, and described himself as being on "an intermediate level". His brother Hasan is the president of the

Alanyaspor Alanyaspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional football club located in the city of Alanya in Antalya Province. Formed in 1948, the club colours are orange and green. Home matches are played at Kırbıyık Holding Stadium. The most recent club man ...

football club.

Honours and medals

References

External links

*
Council of Europe Profile
(PDF) , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Cavusoglu, Mevlut 1968 births Ankara University Faculty of Political Sciences alumni Bilkent University alumni Deputies of Antalya Government ministers of Turkey Justice and Development Party (Turkey) politicians Living people Long Island University alumni Members of the 26th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 24th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 23rd Parliament of Turkey Members of the 22nd Parliament of Turkey Ministers of European Union Affairs of Turkey Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Turkey Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe People from Alanya Members of the 64th government of Turkey Members of the 65th government of Turkey Members of the 66th government of Turkey Grand Cordons of the Order of the Rising Sun Alumni of the London School of Economics Recipients of Hilal-i-Pakistan Recipients of the Order of Merit (Ukraine), 2nd class Recipients of the Order of Merit (Ukraine), 3rd class