Mehmet Mehdi Eker

Mehmet Mehdi Eker is a Turkish politician who served as the Minister of Food, Agriculture and Livestock of Turkey from 2005 until 2015.[1][2] He was elected a Member of Parliament for the electoral district of Diyarbakır for Democratic People's Party in 2002.[3] He was re-elected in 2007[4] and 2011[5] for the Justice and Development Party (AKP). He was again elected as an MP in 2018.[6]

Mehdi Eker
Minister of Food, Agriculture and Livestock
In office 2 June 2005 – 28 August 2015
Prime Minister	Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Ahmet Davutoğlu
Preceded by	Sami Güçlü
Succeeded by	Kutbettin Arzu
Member of the Grand National Assembly
Incumbent
Assumed office 8 July 2018
Constituency	Diyarbakır (2018)
In office 19 November 2002 – 7 June 2015
Constituency	Diyarbakır (2002, 2007, 2011)
Personal details
Born	(1956-01-01) 1 January 1956 Bismil, Diyarbakır, Turkey
Political party	Justice and Development Party
Spouse	Yasemin Eker
Alma mater	Ankara University

A veterinarian and agro-economist he had a career as a civil servant in the ministry of agriculture before entering politics at the age of 46.

As minister of Agriculture he has had to deal with issues including:

• The bird flu epidemic of 2005, in which he made a statement that it was safe to eat cooked chicken and then famously refused to do so on television.[7]
• Adjusting food control regulations to comply with EU norms, including recategorising pork and horse meat as suitable for human consumption.[8]