Mehmet Zafer Çağlayan (born 10 November 1957 in

Muş Muş (; hy, Մուշ; ku, Mûş) is a city and the provincial capital of Muş Province in Turkey. Its population is mostly Kurds. Etymology Various explanations of the origin of Muş's name exist. Its name is sometimes associated with the Arm ...

) is a Turkish politician and former Minister. He is a

member of parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

from the ruling Justice and Development Party and the former Minister of Economic Affairs under Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Biography

Born to a Turkish-

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish languages *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern Kurdistan **Eastern Kurdistan **Northern Kurdistan **Western Kurdistan See also * Kurd (dis ...

family, Çağlayan graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering from

Gazi University Gazi University ( tr, Gazi Üniversitesi) is a public university primarily located in Ankara, Turkey. It was established in 1926 by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk as Gazi Teacher Training Institute. In 1982, it was reorganized by merging with the Bolu ...

Ankara 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, maki ...

in 1980 and went on to a career in the aluminum industry. Before his election to parliament and appointment as minister in August 2007 he was president of the Ankara Chamber of Industry and vice-president of the

Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey The Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey ( tr, Türkiye Odalar ve Borsalar Birliği, TOBB for short) is a confederation of all local chambers of commerce, industry and maritime as well as commodity exchanges in Turkey. The union wa ...

, who have been lobbying for structural and micro-economic reforms. He was the chairman of two companies namely Akel Alüminyum A.Ş and Çağlayanlar Alüminyum Limited. Çağlayan is married and has two children.

2013 corruption scandal

On 17 December 2013, his son Salih Kaan Çağlayan was arrested for involvement in the 2013 corruption scandal. Zafer Çağlayan and two other ministers, namely Minister of the Interior

Muammer Güler Muammer Güler (born 21 March 1949) is a Turkish politician. He is a member of parliament from the Justice and Development Party (AKP). He was formerly the Governor of Istanbul Province and the Minister of the Interior under Prime Minister R ...

and Minister of Environment and Urban Planning Erdoğan Bayraktar, resigned on 25 December 2013, although Çağlayan and Güler remained as MPs. Former ministers deny the accusations. On 28 February 2014, Salih Kaan Caglayan has been released with two other people. The Istanbul prosecutor has decided not to proceed against the 53 accused in the December 17 corruption probe, the Public Prosecutor's Office announced on 17 October 2014. On 5 January 2015, A Turkish parliamentary committee has cleared four former ministers of corruption charges. The charges were cancelled. The investigation followed controversial police probes into the allegations, which the government and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan described as a coup attempt by police. On 21 January 2015,The Turkish parliament voted on Wednesday not to send to trial four former ministers accused of wrongdoing in a corruption investigation.

Anti-semitic remarks

On 8 March 2014, during a public rally for his Justice and Development Party, Çağlayan spoke to the crowds. On the topic of the corruption scandal, he accused the instigators of the investigation of seeking to undermine the government and said:

...I would understand if a Jew, an atheist, a Zoroastrian would do all these things to us. Shame on them if these things are done by those who claim to be Muslim. How can a Muslim do this?

Çağlayan's remarks sparked further controversy in Turkey, with the Turkish Jewish Congregation ( tr, Türk Musevi Cemaati) issuing a statement expressing its "discontent" with the remarks.

Public Statement and Apology

Mr. Caglayan has also made another statement soon after that by stating that,

... I never wanted to offend Jewish people or Jewish belief in the first place ...

and he said that he does respect all other religions and beliefs like his own and he deeply regrets if his remarks came across as an Insult.

References

External links

*
Biyografi.net bio (Turkish)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Caglayan, Mehmet Zafer 1957 births People from Muş Living people Ministers of Economic Affairs of Turkey Deputies of Ankara Justice and Development Party (Turkey) politicians Turkish mechanical engineers Turkish Kurdish politicians Deputies of Mersin Government ministers of Turkey Members of the 24th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 23rd Parliament of Turkey Members of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey Ministers of State of Turkey Members of the 60th government of Turkey Ministers of Science Industry and Technology of Turkey