Süleyman Soylu (; born 21 November 1969) is a
Turkish politician. He is a deputy chairman of the
Justice and Development Party. He previously served as the
Minister of Labour and Social Security from November 2015 to August 2016 and 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 August 2016 to June 2023. He is a former leader of the
Democrat Party (DP).
Soylu was appointed as the Interior Minister after the surprise resignation of
Efkan Ala, with Soylu commenting that his appointment 'came as a surprise' to him as well.
Soylu was known for his divisive style, often accusing the opposition of "siding with terrorists" and imposing restrictive measures on opposition-controlled municipalities. His re-appointment as Interior Minister after Erdoğan's
election victory in 2018 was protested by opposition parties, whose MPs turned their backs as Soylu took the oath of office in Parliament. He removed large numbers of
Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) mayors and officials from their offices due to alleged affiliation with 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), replacing ousted mayors with Ankara-appointed trustees.
While these actions have received positive responses from some nationalist politicians, opposition parties and human rights groups have condemned the removals.
He is seen as possible successor as leader of
AK Party
The Justice and Development Party ( , AK PARTİ), abbreviated officially as AK Party in English, is a political party in Turkey self-describing as conservative-democratic. It has been the ruling party of Turkey since 2002. Third-party sources ...
and president Erdogan.
Early life and business career
Süleyman Soylu was born in
Istanbul
Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...
on 21 November 1969. He graduated from
Istanbul University Faculty of Management. He started business career in
Istanbul Stock Exchange
The Borsa İstanbul (abbreviated as BIST) is the sole exchange entity of Turkey combining the former Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE) (), the Istanbul Gold Exchange () and the Derivatives Exchange of Turkey () under one umbrella. It was establishe ...
in 1990. In 1996 he established the insurance company "Engin Insurance and Mediation Services".
In January 2021 he and his son Levent Soylu founded "Esigortan Insurance Agency Services", a new insurance company.
Political career
Democrat Party
He started politics at
Democrat Party (DP)
Istanbul
Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...
Youth Branch in 1987. He took the positions of member of board of directorates, and chairman of the organization at youth branch of Democrat Party
Istanbul
Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...
.
In 1995, he was elected to the board of directorates in
Gaziosmanpaşa
Gaziosmanpaşa (; old name: ''Taşlıtarla'') is a developing working class municipality ( belediye) and district of Istanbul, Turkey, on its European side. Its area is 12 km2, and its population is 495,998 (2022). Esenler and Bayrampaşa a ...
branch, and with the congress held on 17 July 1995, he was elected as the chairman of the district at the age of 25. On 18 April 1999, he announced his candidacy for the mayor of
Gaziosmanpaşa
Gaziosmanpaşa (; old name: ''Taşlıtarla'') is a developing working class municipality ( belediye) and district of Istanbul, Turkey, on its European side. Its area is 12 km2, and its population is 495,998 (2022). Esenler and Bayrampaşa a ...
municipality which is
district of Istanbul.
He became DP
Istanbul
Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...
Chairman on 29 April 1999 which made him the youngest chairman in the Turkey at that time. He resigned from the presidency, which lasted 3.5 years, to run for the elections to become a Member of the
Parliament of Turkey in 2002.
Süleyman Soylu was elected for party leadership with the 4th Extraordinary Congress of
Democrat Party on 6 January 2008. After being reelected for the leadership at the 9th Statutory Congress on 15 November 2008, he led his party for
29 March 2009 local elections. On 16 May 2009, at the congress, which took place according to his will, his party leadership ended.
Afterwards, he participated in many conferences and panels upon invitations coming from various universities and civil societies all over the country.
Süleyman Soylu realized the vital importance of the change of constitution package, which was opened for
referendum of 12 September 2010 for the transition and democratization of Turkey, organized a series of seminars with the title of “Democracy meetings”, and together with his friends by travelling all around
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 ...
, shared grounds for voting “yes”. Following these activities, he was expelled from his party.
Justice and Development Party
Soylu was invited to be an
AKP politician by
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 ...
, then AKP Chairman and
Prime Minister
A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
. Soylu joined the AKP on 5 September 2012. On 30 September 2012, with the 4th Statutory General Congress of AKP, he was elected for the Central Board of Executives, and became Deputy Chairman responsible for
R&D Department.
He served as 'Minister of Labour and Social Security' in the
third Davutoğlu Cabinet (24 November 2015 – 24 May 2016) and in the
Yıldırım Cabinet
The Yıldırım Cabinet was the 65th government of the Turkey, Republic of Turkey, which was declared on 24 May 2016. The cabinet was inaugurated on 29 May 2016, by the approval of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, Grand National Assembly. It ...
until 31 August 2016. Then, PM
Yıldırım
Yıldırım is a Turkish word meaning "lightning" and may refer to:
People
Given name
*Ali Yıldırım Koç (born 1967), Turkish businessman and member of the Koç family
*Yıldırım Akbulut (1935–2021), Turkish politician
*Yıldırım Aktun ...
surprisingly appointed him
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 ...
after he had sacked
Efkan Ala.
Resignation from the Ministry
On 10 April 2020, the Turkish government announced that a 48-hour curfew would be imposed in 31 cities due to the
coronavirus pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
. It was announced approximately 2 or 3 hours before the start of the curfew and caused
panic buying
Panic buying (alternatively hyphenated as panic-buying; also known as panic purchasing) occurs when consumers buy unusually large amounts of a product in anticipation of, or after, a disaster or perceived disaster, or in anticipation of a large p ...
. On 12 April 2020, Soylu announced his resignation, saying he was responsible for the chaos. However, President
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 ...
rejected his resignation request. Before Erdoğan's rejection of the resignation, the hashtag "We don't accept the resignation,” #İstifayıKabulEtmiyoruz, quickly became a top trend on Twitter following the resignation of Soylu, a ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) favourite among supporters.
Conflict of Sedat Peker & Suleyman Soylu
In 2021, crime leader
Sedat Peker claimed that cocaine trafficking from Colombia to Turkey involved interior minister Süleyman Soylu and the son of former prime minister
Binali Yıldırım
Binali Yıldırım (; born 20 December 1955) is a Turkish politician who served as the List of Prime Ministers of Turkey, 27th and last prime minister of Turkey from 2016 to 2018 and Speaker of the Grand National Assembly from 2018 to 2019. He w ...
. Süleyman Soylu was also blamed for providing thousands of guns to some civilian groups with
SADAT during
2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt
In the evening of 15 July 2016, a faction within the Turkish Armed Forces, organized as the Peace at Home Council, attempted a coup d'état against state institutions, including the government and president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. They attempted ...
. Peker also invited the public prosecutor to search for details to sue him.
Removal of HDP officials
As
Interior Minister
An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a Cabinet (government), cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and iden ...
, Soylu has replaced at least 45 out of 65 mayors from municipalities won by the pro-Kurdish
Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) in the
2019 local elections with Ankara-appointed trustees over alleged affiliation with 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).
At least 21 of these mayors were jailed.
Later in February 2021, Soylu had more than 700 HDP district and provincial chairpersons arrested.
These actions received positive responses from some nationalist politicians including
Devlet Bahçeli
Devlet Bahçeli (born 1 January 1948) is a Turkish people, Turkish politician, economist, former Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey, deputy prime minister, and current chairman of the Far-right politics, far-right, Ultranationalism, ultranationa ...
of the
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), but inspired condemnation from members of the 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) and human rights groups, with
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...
describing charges leveled against HDP officials as "trumped up" and "politically motivated".
After Istanbul mayor
Ekrem İmamoğlu visited some of the jailed mayors, Soylu defended the arrests by saying "they’ve never denied, to this day, having a connection to the PKK", and threatened to "ruin" İmamoğlu if he continued "busying
imselfwith other affairs".
Korkmaz controversy
He used a business jet owned by
Sezgin Baran Korkmaz airline
Borajet during the
Constitutional Referendum in 2017.
This was reported after he was accused of having warned Korkmaz to leave Turkey before he was apprehended.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Soylu, Suleyman
Living people
1969 births
Politicians from Istanbul
Istanbul University alumni
Leaders of political parties in Turkey
Justice and Development Party (Turkey) politicians
Members of the 25th Parliament of Turkey
Members of the 64th government of Turkey
Members of the 65th government of Turkey
Members of the 26th Parliament of Turkey
Ministers of labour and social security of Turkey
Ministers of the interior of Turkey
Anti-Americanism
People sanctioned under the Magnitsky Act
Members of the 66th government of Turkey
Democrat Party (Turkey, current) politicians
Members of the 28th Parliament of Turkey