Efkan Ala (born 21 February 1965) is a Turkish politician and former civil servant who served as the

Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

from November 2015 to August 2016;. He previously held the same post from 2013 to June 2015 despite not being a member of

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 ...

at the time. He served as Governor of Batman from 2003 to 2004, as

Governor of Diyarbakır The Governor of Diyarbakır ( Turkish: ''Diyarbakır Valiliği'') is the civil service state official responsible for both national government and state affairs in the Province of Diyarbakır. Similar to the Governors of the 80 other Provinces o ...

from 2004 to 2007, and as Undersecretary to the Prime Minister from 2007 to 2013.

Early life

Ala was born in the township of

Oltu Oltu (; ) is a municipality and district of Erzurum Province, Turkey. Its area is 1,441 km2, and its population is 30,075 (2022). The mayor is Adem Çelebi, from the AKP. History An inscription found in Oltu's castle has been dated to the 7t ...

Erzurum Province Erzurum Province () is a province and metropolitan municipality in the Eastern Anatolia Region of Turkey. Its area is 25,006 km2, and its population is 749,754 (2022). The capital of the province is the city of Erzurum. It is the fourth lar ...

in 1965. He studied political science at

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 ...

, graduating in 1987. He went to

Torquay Torquay ( ) is a seaside town in Devon, England, part of the unitary authority area of Torbay. It lies south of the county town of Exeter and east-north-east of Plymouth, on the north of Tor Bay, adjoining the neighbouring town of Paignt ...

language school in England in 1989–1990.

Career

Civil service

In 1988, he began his civil service career as a district governor trainee. After working two years at the governor's office in Sakarya Province, and a one-year professional study in the United Kingdom, he became a district governor, and served two years in each townships of Dernekpazarı, Trabzon and

Kabataş, Ordu Kabataş, formerly Karay, is a municipality and district of Ordu Province, Turkey. Its area is 74 km2, and its population is 10,119 (2022). The town lies at an elevation of . Formerly the village of ''Karay'', Kabataş is in the Canik Mount ...

. Ala was appointed Deputy Province Governor in

Tunceli Tunceli (, , ) is a municipality (belde) in Tunceli District and capital of Tunceli Province, Turkey. The city has a Zaza majority. It had a population of 35,161 in 2021. Name During Ottoman times, the settlement was called ''Kalan'' or ''Ma ...

. After serving at various positions in different ministries, he was made the Governor of

Batman Province Batman Province (, ; ) is a province in Turkey. It was created in May 1990 with the Law No. 3647 taking some parts from the eastern Province of Siirt and some from the southern Province of Mardin. Its area is 4,477 km2, and its population i ...

in 2003, where he served one year. On 14 September 2004, he was appointed as the Governor of

Diyarbakır Province Diyarbakır Province (; ; ) is a province and metropolitan municipality in southeastern Turkey. Its area is 15,101 km2, and its population is 1,804,880 (2022). The provincial capital is the city of Diyarbakır. The Kurdish majority province ...

, remaining in that post until 2007. On 10 September 2007, Ala became the Undersecretary to the Prime Minister.

Minister of the Interior

On 25 December 2013, Minister of the Interior

Muammer Güler Muammer Güler (born 21 March 1949) is a Turkish Mhallami 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 M ...

stepped down along with two of other cabinet members following a corruption investigation, which involved his son. The same day, Prime Minister Erdogan announced a cabinet reshuffle with ten new names. The next day, on 26 December, Efkan Ala assumed office as the

as a non-member of the parliament, a move that was sharply criticized by some MPs of the prime minister's own AKP as well as by the leadership of the opposition CHP. Ala resigned from the cabinet on 31 August 2016, having been criticised consistently by the opposition for failing to tackle growing terrorism by the

Kurdistan Workers' Party The Kurdistan Workers' Party, or the PKK, isDespite the PKK's 12th Congress announcing plans for total organisational dissolution, the PKK has not yet been dissolved de facto or de jure. a Kurds, Kurdish militant political organization and armed ...

(PKK),

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadist organization and unrecognized quasi-state. IS occupied signi ...

(ISIL) and the

Gülen movement The Gülen movement () or Hizmet movement () is an Islamist fraternal movement. It is a sub-sect of Sunni Islam based on a Nursian theological perspective as reflected in Fethullah Gülen's religious teachings. It is referred to by its membe ...

(FETÖ). Attacks in

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 ( ...

İstanbul Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With a population over , it is home to 18% of the population of Turkey. Istanbul is among the largest cities in Europe and in th ...

and the south-east, as well as in the Syrian border provinces of

Gaziantep Gaziantep, historically Aintab and still informally called Antep, is a major city in south-central Turkey. It is the capital of the Gaziantep Province, in the westernmost part of Turkey's Southeastern Anatolia Region and partially in the Medi ...

and

Kilis Kilis is a city in southernmost Turkey, near the Syria–Turkey border, border with Syria, and the administrative centre of Kilis Province and Kilis District. Its population is 112,187 (2022). On 6 February 2023 Kilis was badly affected by the tw ...

, had resulted in consistent calls for Ala's resignation, with criticism also being directed at how the Interior Ministry had appointed several

Governors A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

, police chiefs and bureaucrats throughout the country that were later identified to be supporters of FETÖ, the alleged organisation accused of staging a failed coup d'état attempt in July 2016. A reason for Ala's resignation was not given, though the main opposition

Republican People's Party The Republican People's Party (RPP; , CHP ) is a Kemalism, Kemalist and Social democracy, social democratic political party in Turkey. It is the oldest List of political parties in Turkey, political party in Turkey, founded by Mustafa Kemal ...

(CHP) claimed that Ala had been removed from office after the arrested Governor of Sinop and alleged FETÖ supporter had claimed he had close relations to Ala. Hurriyet
Son dakika haberi: İçişleri Bakanı Efkan Ala neden istifa etti?
/ref>

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ala, Efkan 1965 births Living people People from Oltu Istanbul University alumni Turkish civil servants Governors of Batman Governors of Diyarbakır Ministers of the interior of Turkey Members of the 25th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 26th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 64th government of Turkey Members of the 65th government of Turkey Members of the 27th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 28th Parliament of Turkey