Cemil Çiçek (; born 15 November 1946) is a Turkish politician who was the Speaker of the Parliament of Turkey between 4 July 2011 and 7 June 2015. Previously he was

Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

from 2002 to 2007 and

Deputy Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a Minister (government), government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to th ...

from 2007 to 2011. He was also a Justice and Development Party Member of Parliament from

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

Early life

He was born on 15 November 1946 in

Yozgat Yozgat is a city in the Central Anatolia Region of Turkey. It is the seat of Yozgat Province and Yozgat District.Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. He graduated from the Law Faculty of

Istanbul University Istanbul University, also known as University of Istanbul (), is a Public university, public research university located in Istanbul, Turkey. Founded by Mehmed II on May 30, 1453, a day after Fall of Constantinople, the conquest of Constantinop ...

. In 1983, he joined the centre-right ANAP. He became an ANAP MP for Yozgat, and in the late 1980s

Minister of State Minister of state is a designation for a government minister, with varying meanings in different jurisdictions. In a number of European countries, the title is given as an honorific conferring a higher rank, often bestowed upon senior minister ...

responsible for "the family". In this role he was known for his conservative views on matters of sex and marriage.

Political career

He later became Minister for Energy and Natural Resources but was expelled from ANAP in 1997, upon which he joined the Islamic leaning Fazilet Party, which later evolved into the AKP. He was Minister of Justice in the first AKP government (from 2003 to 2007), when as a former ANAP MP he was thought to be one of the leading figures of the AKP most acceptable to the Turkish military. During his ministry, he had to deal with situations including: * the 2003 Istanbul bombings * the release of former MP Leyla Zana from prison, * the prosecutions of a number of police officers accused of torturing prisoners, * an attempted suicide bombing of his ministry. His legislation included stricter controls of prisons (in 2006).

Speaker of the Parliament

Cemil Çiçek of the AKP became the new parliament speaker of Turkey in the third round of voting on 4 July 2011. Çiçek received 302 votes in the first round voting, while

Nationalist Movement Party The Nationalist Movement Party, or alternatively translated as Nationalist Action Party (, MHP), is a Turkish Far-right politics, far-right, ultranationalism, ultranationalist Political parties in Turkey, political party. The group is often de ...

(MHP) parliamentarian Tunca Toskay received 50 votes. The AKP's second candidate, Zelkif Kazdal, received 23 votes and withdrew his nomination after the first round. Çiçek went on to win 322 votes and Tunca Toskay won 52 in the second round of voting. Çiçek was elected as the new speaker with 322 votes in the third round, in which Toskay received 50 votes. Three votes were declared invalid. In his speech after his election, Çiçek appealed to the opposition parties that were boycotting

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

to take their oaths. "Parliament should be a place of work, not of conflict. We have many issues to solve. We can't afford to waste any time," Çiçek said. Within the scope of the IV General Assembly of the Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic Speaking Countries (TURKPA), he took over the TURKPA Chairmanship from the Speaker of the Parliament of the Kyrgyz Republic as the Speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly at the Assembly Council meeting on June 10, 2013. In June 2018, he did not apply for parliamentary candidacy for the general elections.

Quotes

* The mentality of the general public is the prime obstacle to rule of law (in Turkey). ''"Our public does not want justice, they just want their own affairs sorted out. They want to see corruption investigated but they are not ashamed to manage their own affairs corruptly. The public actually doesn't care about corruption. They say "let someone tackle it while we watch and see who wins" as if it were a football match.'' He then went to blame the professional bodies for not exposing corruption among their members. * ''The Islamic world will get nowhere by blaming all its problems on the outside world and making itself out to be a white spoon just pulled out of the milk'' * (Upon the release from prison of Leyla Zana..)''The Turkish courts have played their part. Now the EU has no excuse'' (not to begin entry negotiations with Turkey) * ''Article 138 of the Constitution has become extinct in this country'' (the article that guarantees the independence of the judiciary)

References