| İsmet Yılmaz | |
| Honorific-Suffix: | MP |
| Office: | Parliamentary Leader of the Justice and Development Party |
| Term Start: | 17 November 2021 |
| Term End: | 2 June 2023 |
| Predecessor: | Naci Bostancı |
| Successor: | Abdullah Güler |
| Office1: | Minister of National Education |
| Term Start1: | 24 May 2016 |
| Term End1: | 10 July 2018 |
| Primeminister1: | Binali Yıldırım |
| Predecessor1: | Nabi Avcı |
| Successor1: | Ziya Selçuk |
| Office2: | Minister of National Defense |
| Term Start2: | 24 November 2015 |
| Term End2: | 24 May 2016 |
| Primeminister2: | Ahmet Davutoğlu |
| Predecessor2: | Vecdi Gönül |
| Successor2: | Fikri Işık |
| Term Start3: | 6 July 2011 |
| Term End3: | 29 August 2014 |
| Predecessor3: | Vecdi Gönül |
| Successor3: | Vecdi Gönül |
| Office4: | 26th Speaker of the Grand National Assembly |
| Term Start4: | 1 July 2015 |
| Term End4: | 17 November 2015 |
| President4: | Recep Tayyip Erdoğan |
| Predecessor4: | Cemil Çiçek |
| Successor4: | İsmail Kahraman |
| Deputy4: | Naci Bostancı Şafak Pavey Koray Aydın Yurdusev Özsökmenler |
| Primeminister4: | Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Ahmet Davutoğlu |
| Term Start5: | 12 June 2011 |
| Term End5: | 2 June 2023 |
| Constituency5: | Sivas (2011, June 2015, Nov 2015, 2018) |
| Order6: | Minister of Transport and Communication |
| Primeminister6: | Recep Tayyip Erdoğan |
| Term Start6: | 8 May 2007 |
| Term End6: | 29 August 2007 |
| Predecessor6: | Binali Yıldırım |
| Successor6: | Binali Yıldırım |
| Birth Date: | 10 December 1961 |
| Birth Place: | Gürün, Sivas Province, Turkey |
| Cabinet: | 59th, 61st, 62nd, 64th, 65th |
| Party: | Justice and Development Party |
| Education: | Haydarpaşa High School |
| Profession: | Mechanical engineer, law consultant, civil servant, politician |
İsmet Yılmaz (born 10 December 1961) is a Turkish politician who was a member of the Grand National Assembly from 2011 to 2023.
Previously he was Minister of National Defense and Minister of National Education. Yılmaz also briefly served as the Speaker of the Grand National Assembly. Prior to entering politics, he worked as a law consultant and mechanical engineer.
İsmet Yılmaz was born in Gürün, Sivas Province. Following his primary education in his hometown, he enrolled in Haydarpaşa High School in Istanbul. Then, he studied mechanical engineering at the School of Maritime in Istanbul Technical University, graduating in 1982 with a bachelor's degree. Yılmaz attended then Istanbul University's Faculty of Law for education in maritime law and finished in 1987. He continued his further studies in "technical management in maritime" at the World Maritime University in Malmö, Sweden earning a master's degree. He received another master's degree in law from the Institute of Social Sciences in Marmara University, Istanbul. Finally, İsmet Yılmaz received a Doctor of Law degree from the Institute of Social Sciences at Ankara University.[1]
After serving twenty years as an engineer and a law consultant, he became Undersecretary of Maritime Affairs at the Ministry of Transport and Communication on December 31, 2002. In accordance with Article 114 of the Constitution of Turkey, he was appointed neutral Minister of Transport and Communication on May 8, 2007, as placeholder for Binali Yıldırım until the 2007 general elections.[2] Yılmaz was appointed Undersecretary at the Ministry of Culture and Tourism on November 1, 2007.[1]
He entered politics as a member of the AK Party and became deputy for Sivas Province following the 2011 general elections. On July 6, 2011, Yılmaz was appointed Minister of National Defence in the Cabinet Erdoğan III.[1] [3] During his first term as Minister of Defense, he praised Turkey's affiliation to NATO and saw its membership as the result of values like democracy and human rights that Turkey was defending.[4]
Yılmaz was put forward as the AKP's candidate for Speaker of the Grand National Assembly for the June–July 2015 speaker elections. Since the AKP did not have a majority (276 seats) in Parliament, the election went into a fourth and final round where Yılmaz managed to win a simple majority of the vote on 1 July 2015. He was thus elected as the Speaker with 258 votes (exactly the same number of votes as AKP MPs) to rival Deniz Baykal's 182 votes.[5]
İsmet Yılmaz is married and has three children.[1]