Minister of Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare and other social security services.
Some governments have separate ministers for mental health.
Coun ...
from 2013 to 2016.
Early years
He was born on January 9, 1955, in
Arriana
Arriana ( el, Αρριανά) is a municipality in the Rhodope regional unit, Greece. The seat of the municipality is in Fillyra.
Municipality
The municipality Arriana was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the merger of the following ...
village of
Rhodope Rhodope may refer to:
* Rhodope (mythology), a figure of Greek mythology
* Rhodope Mountains, in Bulgaria and Greece
* Rhodope (regional unit)
Rhodope ( el, Ροδόπη, ''Rodópi'' ) is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the reg ...
İmam Hatip school
In Turkey, an İmam Hatip school ( tr, imam hatip lisesi, 'hatip' coming from Arabic '' khatib'') is a secondary education institution. As the name suggests, they were founded in lieu of a vocational school to train government employed imams; a ...
, where he met Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who was his classmate.
In 1983, Müezzinoğlu immigrated from Greece illegally by crossing the river
Maritsa
Maritsa or Maritza ( bg, Марица ), also known as Meriç ( tr, Meriç ) and Evros ( ell, Έβρος ), is a river that runs through the Balkans in Southeast Europe. With a length of ,heimatlos between 1983 and 1986.
Müezzinoğlu completed his medical specialisation in internal medicine at Haseki Hospital in 1986 after graduating from Cerrahpaşa Medicine Faculty of Istanbul University in 1982.
Before entering politics, he worked as a
physician
A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
in a private hospital he co-founded in Avcılar district of
Istanbul Province
)
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code = 34000 to 34990
, area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side)
, registration_plate = 34
, blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD
, blank_in ...
. In his social life, he is a member of various associations and foundations related to Western Thrace Turks.
Welfare Party
The Welfare Party ( tr, Refah Partisi, RP) was an Islamist political party in Turkey. It was founded by Ali Türkmen, Ahmet Tekdal, and Necmettin Erbakan in Ankara in 1983 as heir to two earlier parties, National Order Party (MNP) and National ...
( tr, Refah Partisi, RP) in 1992, where he helped to make policy alongside Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Between 2002 and 2007, he served as the chairman of the Justice and Development Party's Istanbul Province organization.
He was elected as member of parliament for Istanbul Province in the 2007 general election. He was reelected to the parliament in the 2011 general election, this time as deputy for
Edirne
Edirne (, ), formerly known as Adrianople or Hadrianopolis ( Greek: Άδριανούπολις), is a city in Turkey, in the northwestern part of the province of Edirne in Eastern Thrace. Situated from the Greek and from the Bulgarian borders ...
. On January 24, 2013, Mehmet Müezzinoğlu was appointed as Minister of Health in the cabinet of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, replacing
Recep Akdağ
Recep Akdağ (born 8 May 1960) is a Turkish physician and politician. He is a member of parliament for the province of Erzurum from the Justice and Development Party. He currently serves as the Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey since 19 July 2017, ...
. He kept his post in three successive cabinets of
Ahmet Davutoğlu
Ahmet Davutoğlu (; born 26 February 1959) is a Turkish academic, politician and former diplomat who served as the 26th Prime Minister of Turkey and Leader of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) from 2014 to 2016. He previously served as ...
. On 24 May 2016, the Third Davutoğlu Cabinet was dissolved, and Müezzinoğlu's term as Health Minister ended. On 31 August 2016, he was appointed Minister of Labour and Social Security in the Cabinet of Yıldırım replacing
Süleyman Soylu
Süleyman Soylu (; born 21 November 1969) is a Turkish politician. He is a deputy chairman of the Justice and Development Party who currently serves as the Minister of the Interior since 31 August 2016. He previously served as the Minister of L ...
. During a cabinet reshuffle on 19 July 2017, his term ended, and he was succeeded by Jülide Sarıeroğlu.
During the 2013 protests
During the
2013 protests in Turkey
A wave of demonstrations and civil unrest in Turkey began on 28 May 2013, initially to contest the urban development plan for Istanbul's Taksim Gezi Park. The protests were sparked by outrage at the violent eviction of a sit-in at the park prote ...
, several makeshift infirmaries were erected to treat victims of the violence. The injuries included trauma from plastic bullets and teargas canisters. In response to this, Müezzinoğlu declared that " e infirmaries around the protest areas are illegal. This is ideologic and it's an execution violating the legal structure. There will be legal action taken against the medics working in those infirmaries."
Family life
Mehmet Müezzinoğlu is married and has two children.