Nihat Zeybekci Explained

Nihat Zeybekci
Honorific-Suffix:MP
Nationality:Turkish
Office:Minister of the Economy
Term Start:24 May 2016
Term End:10 July 2018
Primeminister:Binali Yıldırım
Predecessor:Mustafa Elitaş
Primeminister1:Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Ahmet Davutoğlu
Term Start1:25 December 2013
Term End1:17 November 2015
Predecessor1:Zafer Çağlayan
Successor1:Mustafa Elitaş
Office2:Member of the Grand National Assembly
Term Start2:12 June 2011
Constituency2:Denizli (2011, June 2015, Nov 2015)
Office3:Mayor of Denizli
Term Start3:28 March 2004
Term End3:16 March 2011
Predecessor3:Ali Aygören
Successor3:Osman Zolan
Birth Date:1 January 1961
Birth Place:Pınarlar, Tavas, Denizli, Turkey
Profession:Politician, economist
Children:4
Party:Justice and Development Party (AKP)
Cabinet:61st, 62nd, 63rd, 65th

Nihat Zeybekci (born 1 January 1961) is a Turkish economist, politician, a member of parliament for Denizli Province of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and former Minister of the Economy.

Early life

Nihat Zeybekci was born to Şükrü and Fatma Zeybekci as the youngest of five children in the village of Pınarlar in Tavas district of Denizli Province on 1 January 1961. The family earned their living from tobacco farming, and Nihat helped his parents in his youth.

After studying Business Administration at Marmara University, he received his master's degree in International Relations from Istanbul University. He also claimed to have conducted further studies in economics at South London College in the United Kingdom, but he removed this information from his official resume after it turned out to be false.

He is married and has four children.

Career

Profession

Zeybekci served as executive for companies in Istanbul and Denizli. In 1994, he founded a textile company. He was elected into the Denizli Chamber of Industry and chaired two terms Denizli Textile and Apparel Exporters' Association.

Politics

Zeybekci entered politics at regional level. In the 2004 local elections, he was elected Mayor of Denizli from the Justice and Development Party. He was re-elected to the post in the 2009 local elections. In 2011, he resigned to run for a seat in the parliament. During this time, he represented his city and country in some organizations for regional administrations at national and international level.

He was elected into the Grand National Assembly of Turkey in the 2011 general election as an MP from Denizli Province. On 26 December 2013, Nihat Zeybekci assumed office as the Minister of Economic Affairs, succeeding Zafer Çağlayan during Prime Minister Erdoğan's cabinet reshuffle with ten new names that was announced the day before, on 25 December, following the 2013 corruption scandal in Turkey.

He is considered as a close friend of Erdoğan, who spends his summer holidays together with Zeybekci.