Speaker

Mehmet Ceylan
Deputy Minister of Development, Turkey

Ceylan, who was born in Safranbolu, Karabük province, in 1958, completed his primary and secondary education in the same province. He majored in mechanical engineering at Selçuk University in Konya and later on received his master’s degree in the same field from Yıldız Technical University in İstanbul.

Ceylan has taught at Zonguldak Karaelmas University, where he also worked as an assistant for some time. He left Zonguldak to pursue further study at the foreign languages department of the Middle East Technical University (ODTÜ) in Ankara, where he later worked as a researcher. Ceylan was appointed as deputy specialist to the State Planning Organization (DPT) in 1986, where he was promoted to specialist after studying economics at Western Illinois University in the US.

Ceylan’s political career started after he was elected mayor of Safranbolu in 1999. He then went on to be elected as an AK Party deputy in the general elections of 2002 and 2007.

Ceylan is married with three children.