Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu (; born 5 February 1968) is a Turkish diplomat and politician who is currently a member of the Grand National Assembly. He also served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey from August 2014 to August 2015, and again from 24 November 2015 to 6 June 2023. First elected to Parliament in the 2002 general election, he is a founding member of the Turkish Justice and Development Party (AKP). He was the president of the

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is the parliamentary arm of the Council of Europe, a 46-nation international organisation dedicated to upholding human rights, democracy and the rule of law. The Assembly is made up of ...

from 2010 to 2012. He previously served in the same position from August 2014 to August 2015.

Early life and education

Çavuşoğlu was born at

Alanya Alanya (; ), formerly Alaiye, is a beach resort town, resort city, a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of Antalya Province, Turkey. It is on the southern coast of Turkey, in the country's Mediterranean Region, Turkey, Mediterranean R ...

Antalya Province Antalya Province () is a Provinces of Turkey, province and Metropolitan municipalities in Turkey, metropolitan municipality of Turkey. It is located on the Mediterranean Region, Turkey, Mediterranean coast of south-west Turkey, between the Taur ...

, Turkey. He graduated from

Ankara University Ankara University () is a public university, public research university in Ankara, the capital of Turkey. It was the first higher education institution founded in Turkey after the History of the Republic of Turkey, formation of the Turkish republ ...

Faculty of Political Science in 1988, where he studied

international relations International relations (IR, and also referred to as international studies, international politics, or international affairs) is an academic discipline. In a broader sense, the study of IR, in addition to multilateral relations, concerns al ...

. He then received a masters in economics from

Long Island University Long Island University (LIU) is a private university in Brooklyn and Brookville, New York, United States. The university enrolls over 16,000 students and offers over 500 academic programs at its main campuses, LIU Brooklyn and LIU Post on Long I ...

New York State New York, also called New York State, is a state in the northeastern United States. Bordered by New England to the east, Canada to the north, and Pennsylvania and New Jersey to the south, its territory extends into both the Atlantic Ocean and ...

, and studied for his doctorate at

Bilkent University Bilkent University () is a private non-profit research university located in Ankara, Turkey. It was founded by İhsan Doğramacı, the first president of the Council of Higher Education and the head of the prominent Doğramacı family, with th ...

Ankara, Turkey Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( Etimesgut, Yenimahalle, Çankaya, Keçiören, Altında ...

. He was a research fellow at the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

, where he was for a time president of the Turkish Society. Çavuşoğlu did not receive a PhD.

Career

While serving in parliament, Çavuşoğlu has chaired the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Population. In November 2009, he met with the

Foreign Minister of Russia The minister of foreign affairs of the Russian Federation is a high-ranking Russian government official who heads the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Russia), ministry of foreign affairs of the Russian Federation. The foreign minister is one of th ...

Sergey Lavrov Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov (, ; born 21 March 1950) is a Russian diplomat who has served as Minister of Foreign Affairs (Russia), Minister of Foreign Affairs since 2004. He is the longest-serving Russian foreign minister since Andrei Gromyko d ...

, in the context of a report that the Assembly was preparing on the

Soviet famine of 1932–1933 The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. Speaking at a news conference ahead of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum on 18–20 June 2021, Çavuşoğlu said that establishing stability in the southern Caucasus is crucial for the people of the region and would also bring prosperity. On 14 May 2022, Çavuşoğlu announced that they fully support NATO's open door policy and oppose the membership of

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

due to their support for

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...

. On 11 June 2022, he expressed support for the

enlargement of NATO NATO is a military alliance of thirty-two European and North American countries that constitutes a system of collective defense. The process of joining the alliance is governed by Article 10 of the North Atlantic Treaty, which allows for the ...

and said that

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

and terrorism are the two most important threats faced by NATO. On 12 September 2022, a series of clashes erupted between

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

n and

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

i troops along the Armenia–Azerbaijan border, marking a major escalation in the 2021–2022 Armenia–Azerbaijan border crisis. Çavuşoğlu tweeted that "Armenia should cease its provocations and focus on peace negotiations and cooperation with Azerbaijan".

Council of Europe

Meeting between US President Biden and Turkish President Erdogan together with foreign ministers Blinken and Cavusoglu at G20 in Rome

Çavuşoğlu joined the

in 2003, and soon after was named the head of the Turkish delegation and a vice-president of the Assembly. During the January 2010 session of the Assembly, Çavuşoğlu was nominated—and elected on 25 January 2010—to replace outgoing President Lluís Maria De Puig of Spain. In an October reshuffle, this was the reason given for why he did not receive extra responsibilities in Prime Minister

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician who is the 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as the 25th prime minister of Turkey, prime minister from 2003 to 2014 as part of the Jus ...

's government. His candidacy for this post was supported by all of Turkey's main parties. He became president just months before Turkey took up the chairmanship of the

Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (French language, French: ''Comité des ministres du Conseil de l'Europe'') or Committee of Ministers (French language, French: ''Comité des ministres'') is the Council of Europe's decision- ...

(November 2010), and at the same time that there was a Turkish president of the

Congress of the Council of Europe The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities is the pan-European political assembly representing local and regional authorities from the forty-six member states of the Council of Europe. Its role is to promote local and regional democracy, imp ...

. In 2012, Çavuşoğlu was succeeded by France's Jean-Claude Mignon.

2014 Turkish local elections

Çavuşoğlu was criticized by the Turkish newspaper ''

Hürriyet ''Hürriyet'' (, ''Liberty'') is a major List of newspapers in Turkey, Turkish newspaper, founded in 1948. it had the highest circulation of any newspaper in Turkey at around 319,000. ''Hürriyet'' combines entertainment with news coverage and ...

'' because of his intervention in the municipality election in

Antalya Antalya is the fifth-most populous city in Turkey and the capital of Antalya Province. Recognized as the "capital of tourism" in Turkey and a pivotal part of the Turkish Riviera, Antalya sits on Anatolia's southwest coast, flanked by the Tau ...

that took place on 30 March 2014. When the opposing party candidate Mustafa Akaydin of the Turkish Republican People's Party was ahead of the ruling party candidate, he visited the courthouse with his supporters and interrupted the counting process. After his interruption, the counting of votes was stopped. It was claimed that the votes not already counted were from suburbs where the opposing party had more supporters.

2017 Rotterdam landing ban

On 11 March 2017, Çavuşoğlu was banned from landing in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

, the Netherlands, after threats of Turkish sanctions if his visit to Rotterdam was impeded, made “the search for a reasonable solution impossible“. Çavuşoğlu had planned to organize a large gathering to talk about the 2017 Turkish constitutional referendum, in which many Dutch-based émigrés can vote. However, his presence was claimed by the Dutch authorities to be a threat to public safety, and Çavuşoğlu was turned away, despite being the Turkish Foreign Minister. Meanwhile, Turkish President

called the Netherlands, "Nazi remnants" and "fascists," which Dutch Prime Minister

Mark Rutte Mark Rutte (; born 14 February 1967) is a Dutch politician who has served as the 14th Secretary General of NATO, secretary general of NATO since October 2024. He previously served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands, prime minister of the Neth ...

called "a crazy remark." Çavuşoğlu followed by defending Erdoğan's remark, and by saying that the Netherlands was the "capital of fascism".

2021 talks with Afghan leaders

In August 2021, Çavuşoğlu said that "Turkey was in talks with all parties in Afghanistan, including the Taliban", and "views positively the messages the Islamist militants have sent" since the fall of Kabul. The Ministry also said that the Turkish embassy in Kabul would continue to function and is not expected to close. In October 2021, Çavuşoğlu met with the Afghan foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi in Ankara. He urged the international community to engage with Taliban officials.

Personal life

Çavuşoğlu is married, with one child. He speaks Turkish, English,

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

, and

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

. He also studies the

Russian language Russian is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language belonging to the Balto-Slavic languages, Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. It is one of the four extant East Slavic languages, and is ...

, only having spoken it publicly in limited settings, and described himself as being on "an intermediate level". His brother Hasan is the president of the

Alanyaspor Alanyaspor Kulübü, known as Corendon Alanyaspor due to sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional football club located in the city of Alanya in Antalya Province. Formed in 1948, the club colours are orange and green. Home matches are play ...

football club.

Honours and medals

References

External links

*
Council of Europe Profile
(PDF) , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Cavusoglu, Mevlut 1968 births Ankara University Faculty of Political Sciences alumni Bilkent University alumni Deputies of Antalya Government ministers of Turkey Justice and Development Party (Turkey) politicians Living people Long Island University alumni Members of the 28th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 27th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 26th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 24th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 23rd Parliament of Turkey Members of the 22nd Parliament of Turkey Ministers of European Union affairs of Turkey Ministers of foreign affairs of Turkey Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe People from Alanya Members of the 64th government of Turkey Members of the 65th government of Turkey Members of the 66th government of Turkey Grand Cordons of the Order of the Rising Sun Alumni of the London School of Economics Recipients of Hilal-i-Pakistan Recipients of the Order of Merit (Ukraine), 2nd class Recipients of the Order of Merit (Ukraine), 3rd class