Meet Turkey’s new Treasury and Finance Minister Lutfi Elvan

Turkey’s Treasury and Finance Minister Berat Albayrak announced his resignation on Sunday, citing health concerns. 

“I have decided not to continue my ministry duty that I have been holding for five years. From now on, I will spend more time with my father, mother, wife and children, who have always supported me during this time,” Albayrak wrote on Instagram. 

A day later, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accepted Albayrak's resignation. Ankara then appointed Lutfi Elvan as the country’s new Treasury and Finance Minister on Tuesday morning, according to a presidential decree published in the Official Gazette.

Elvan has a reputation as a seasonal bureaucrat with a successful track record. He has held many crucial portfolios in the past: he is the former chairperson of Budget and Planning Commission, former Deputy Prime Minister and former Minister of Transport, Maritime and Communication. 

He was also elected in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) in the 2007 general election, representing the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) from central Karaman province.

Between 2013 and 2015, 58-year-old Elvan was transportation, maritime and infrastructure minister. He was also the minister of development between 2016 and 2018.

The origin and background

Born in Turkey’s Karaman province in 1962, Elvan studied in Konya for his primary and secondary school education. He obtained his bachelor's degree from Istanbul Technical University, specialising in the Faculty of Mines in 1983. Elvan holds two masters’ degrees in mining operations and research from Leeds University in the UK, as well as in economics from Delaware University in the US.

In 1987, he started working as an engineer at Etibank Operational Research Group, leading the company to have further computer driven mining activities. Two years later, he started working at Turkey’s State Planning Organisation and until 1996, he was in charge of several positions.  

Afterwards, he was assigned as the head of Priority Areas in the Development department and carried out his job until 2002. In the following he became deputy undersecretary, and in 2007, Elvan decided to resign from his role and joined the AK Party. 

After being elected as Karaman Deputy in the 2007 elections, Elvan was Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Senior Adviser and also elected as the president of the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee. 

In the 2011 elections, he was reelected and was appointed the president of Committee on Planning and Budget of Turkish Parliament. Three years later, he was assigned to the post of Minister of Transportation, Maritime Affairs and Communications. 

Furthermore, in the following years, he became Minister of Development in Binali Yildirim’s government in 2016. Elvan also held different positions at international institutions such as the OECD and EU.

Lutfi Elvan is a married father of two children.