The Ministry of European Union Affairs ( Turkish: ''Avrupa Birliği Bakanlığı'' ) was a ministry of the

Turkish government The Government of Turkey ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Hükûmeti) is the national government of Turkey. It is governed as a unitary state under a presidential representative democracy and a constitutional republic within a pluriform multi-party ...

responsible for the accession process between the Republic of Turkey and the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

. Formed on June 29, 2011 after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan won a third term in the 2011 general election. The Ministry was responsible for co-ordinating negotiations and accession projects throughout the 81

Provinces of Turkey Turkey is divided into 81 provinces ( tr, il). Each province is divided into a number of districts (). Each provincial government is seated in the central district (). For non- metropolitan municipality designated provinces, the central distr ...

in order to develop relations between

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

and the

. The minister responsible concurrently served as the chief negotiator during the accession process. The Minister concurrently served as the

chief negotiator Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the boa ...

during accession talks with the EU.

History

The ministry was established after the governing Justice and Development Party won a third term in the general election of 2011, in time for the 61st government of Turkey. Previously,

negotiations were handled by the

Minister of Foreign Affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between co ...

. The ministry has been headed by six ministers in the past, namely Egemen Bağış (2011–2013),

Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu 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 ...

(2013–2014),

Volkan Bozkır Volkan Bozkır (born 22 November 1950, Ankara) is a Turkish diplomat and politician who served as the President of the United Nations General Assembly from 2020 to 2021. He served as Minister for European Union Affairs from November 2015 to May 2 ...

(2014-August 2015 and again from November 2015 – 2016),

Ali Haydar Konca Ali Haydar Konca (born 1 February 1950) is a Turkish politician who served as the Minister of European Union Affairs and Chief Negotiator in the interim election government led by Ahmet Davutoğlu between 28 August and 22 September 2015. He se ...

(August–September 2015),

Beril Dedeoğlu Hatice Beril Dedeoğlu (9 December 1961 – 13 March 2019) was a Turkish academic who served as the Minister of European Union Affairs in the interim election government led by Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu between 22 September and 17 Novemb ...

(September–November 2015) and

Ömer Çelik Ömer Çelik (born 15 June 1968) is a Turkish journalist and politician. Between 24 January 2013 and 28 August 2015 he served as Minister of Culture and Tourism. He served as the Minister of European Union Affairs and as the Chief Negotiator fo ...

, in office from 24 May 2016 onwards. Following the declaration of the new government after the presidential election in 2018, the ministry was dissolved, and it was replaced by the

Directorate for EU Affairs In Turkey, the Directorate for EU Affairs ( tr, Avrupa Birliği Başkanlığı) is a government agency affiliated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It was founded in 2018, following the formation of the new government and after the dissolu ...

, a sub-unit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Organisation

The Ministry of European Union Affairs operated the following 16 directorates in 2015:

List of Ministers of European Union Affairs

Between 2011 and 2018, six Ministers were responsible for this department.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ministry of European Union Affairs (Turkey) Ministries established in 2011 2011 establishments in Turkey Turkey–European Union relations

Turkish ministerial offices Ministers of European Union Affairs of Turkey