Preceded by Recep Akdag Name Mehmet Muezzinoglu Alma mater Istanbul University Role Turkish Politician | Cabinet 61st, 62nd, 63rd, 64th Nationality Turkish Religion Islam Education Istanbul University | |
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Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Ahmet Davutoglu Constituency Istanbul (III) (2007)
Edirne (2011)
Bursa (June 2015, Nov 2015) Born 9 January 1955 (age 69)
Komotini, Greece ( 1955-01-09 ) Parents Fatma Muezzinoglu, Ali Muezzinoglu Political party Welfare Party, Virtue Party Similar People Bulent Arinc, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Recep Akdag, Ahmet Davutoglu, Abdullah Gul Profiles | ||
Turkish health minister: Mothers' only career should be motherhood
Mehmet Müezzinoğlu (born January 9, 1955) is a Turkish physician and politician who currently serves as the Minister of Labour and Social Security since August 2016. He was the Minister of Health of Turkey from 2013 to 2016.
Contents
- Turkish health minister Mothers only career should be motherhood
- Early years
- Politics
- During the 2013 protests
- Family life
- References
Early years
He was born on January 9, 1955 in Arriana village of Rhodope to Ali and his wife Fatma, a family from the Turkish minority in Greece. Müezzinoğlu went to Istanbul for his high school education. He studied in an İmam Hatip school, where he met Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who was his classmate.
In 1983, Müezzinoğlu immigrated from Greece illegally by crossing the river Maritsa (Turkish: Meriç). Before acquiring Turkish citizenship in 1986, he lived in Turkey as a heimatlos between 1983 and 1986.
Müezzinoğlu completed his medical specialisation in internal medicine at Haseki Hospital in 1986 after graduating from Cerrahpaşa Medicine Faculty of Istanbul University in 1982.
Before entering politics, he worked as a physician in a private hospital he co-founded in Avcılar district of Istanbul Province. In his social life, he is a member of various associations and foundations related to Western Thrace Turks.
Politics
Müezzinoğlu became a member of the Islamist Welfare Party (Turkish: Refah Partisi, RP) in 1992, where he helped to make policy alongside Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Between 2002 and 2007, he served as the chairman of the Justice and Development Party's Istanbul Province organization.
He was elected as member of parliament for Istanbul Province in the 2007 general election. He was reelected to the parliament in the 2011 general election, this time as deputy for Edirne. On January 24, 2013, Mehmet Müezzinoğlu was appointed as Minister of Health in the cabinet of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, replacing Recep Akdağ.
During the 2013 protests
During the 2013 protests in Turkey, several makeshift infirmaries were erected to treat victims of the violence. The injuries included trauma from plastic bullets and teargas canisters. In response to this, Müezzinoğlu declared that "[t]he infirmaries around the protest areas are illegal. This is ideologic and it's an execution violating the legal structure. There will be legal action taken against the medics working in those infirmaries."
Family life
Mehmet Müezzinoğlu is married and has two children.