Mehmet Şimşek, born on 1 January 1967 in the village of Arıca (Kefre), district of Gercüş, province of Batman, is a Turkish economist and politician.^【1】 He graduated from the Department of Economics at Ankara University Faculty of Political Sciences and completed his master’s studies in finance and economics at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom.^【2】

Before entering politics, he worked as an economist, strategist and executive at international financial institutions in Ankara, Istanbul, New York and London.

^{Mehmet Şimşek - (Anadolu Ajansı)}

He entered the Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi as a member of the 23rd term Gaziantep and 24th term Batman constituencies from the Justice and Development Party. He served as Minister of State in the 60th Government and as Minister of Finance in the 61st and 62nd Governments. He also held the position of Deputy Prime Minister in the 64th and 65th Governments.^【3】

On 3 June 2023, he was appointed Minister of Finance and Treasury by Presidential Decree. He is married and the father of three children.^【4】

Mehmet Şimşek was born on 1 January 1967 in the village of Arıca (Kefre), district of Gercüş, province of Batman. He completed his primary and secondary education in Batman Center and his high school education in Gercüş. In 1988, he graduated second in his class from the Department of Economics at Ankara University Faculty of Political Sciences and served for approximately one year as a research assistant at the same faculty.

^{Mehmet Şimşek - (}Mehmet Şimşek Personal Website⁾

Winning a national examination organized by the Ministry of National Education, he went to the United Kingdom on a government scholarship to pursue language training and graduate studies, earning a master’s degree in finance and economics from the University of Exeter in 1993.^【5】

After completing his master’s degree, Mehmet Şimşek returned to Türkiye and worked for three months at Etibank in Ankara. He then worked for approximately four years as a senior economist at the U.S. Embassy in Ankara.^【6】

In 1997, he moved to New York and joined the equity research division of the international investment bank UBS as a researcher. In 1998, he returned to Istanbul and worked for two years at Deutsche-Bender Menkul Değerler, after which he joined Merrill Lynch and relocated to the United Kingdom.

In his role at Merrill Lynch, he initially covered the Mediterranean region including Türkiye, Greece, Egypt and Israel. From 2001, his responsibilities expanded to include emerging European countries such as Russia, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic.

At the end of 2005, he was appointed Head of the Economic and Strategic Research Department for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at Merrill Lynch. He left this position in May 2007 to run as a candidate for the 23rd term of the Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi from the Justice and Development Party.

Mehmet Şimşek entered the Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi as a member of the Justice and Development Party representing Gaziantep in the 22 July 2007 general elections (23rd term). He was re-elected in the 12 June 2011 general elections as a member for Batman (24th term) and again served in the 1 November 2015 general elections as a member for Gaziantep.

Following the 2007 general elections, he served as Minister of State responsible for Treasury in the 60th Government of the Republic of Türkiye. On 1 May 2009, he was appointed Minister of Finance following a cabinet reshuffle.

He continued as Minister of Finance in the 61st Government formed after the 2011 general elections and in the subsequent 62nd Government. He also served as Minister of Finance in the 63rd Government of the Republic of Türkiye.

He served as Deputy Prime Minister in the 64th Government of the Republic of Türkiye, formed on 24 November 2015, and held this position until 2018.

On 3 June 2023, he was appointed Minister of Finance and Treasury by Presidential Decree No. 2023/284.^【7】

Since 2007, Mehmet Şimşek has served as a member of the High Planning Board, Privatization High Council, Defense Industry High Coordination Council, Economic Coordination Council, Monetary and Credit Coordination Council and Science and Technology High Council.

From 2007 to 2009, he served as Governor of Türkiye at the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. From 2008 to 2011, he was a member of the Istanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture Agency Coordination Council.

^{Mehmet Şimşek - (}Süleyman Demirel University Honorary Doctorate⁾

“Emerging Markets” magazine named him Finance Minister of the Year in Emerging Europe in 2013. In the same year, he was listed by “Foreign Policy” magazine as one of the world’s 500 most influential people.

On 9 August 2012, by Decision No. 386/11 of the Senate of Süleyman Demirel University, he was awarded the honorary doctorate degree.^【8】