Efkan Ala (born 21 February 1965) is a Turkish politician and former civil servant who served as the

Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

from November 2015 to August 2016;. He previously held the same post from 2013 to June 2015 despite not being a member of

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

at the time. He served as

Governor of Batman The Governor of Batman ( Turkish: ''Batman Valiliği'') is the bureaucratic state official responsible for both national government and state affairs in the Province of Batman. Similar to the Governors of the 80 other Provinces of Turkey, the Gov ...

from 2003 to 2004, as Governor of Diyarbakır from 2004 to 2007, and as Undersecretary to the Prime Minister from 2007 to 2013.

Early life

Ala was born in the township of

Oltu Oltu (; ) is a town and district of Erzurum Province in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey. The mayor is Necmettin Taşçı, from the AKP. The population was 31,087 in 2020. History An inscription found in Oltu’s castle has been dated to the ...

in Erzurum Province in 1965. He studied Political Science at

Istanbul University , image = Istanbul_University_logo.svg , image_size = 200px , latin_name = Universitas Istanbulensis , motto = tr, Tarihten Geleceğe Bilim Köprüsü , mottoeng = Science Bridge from Past to the Future , established = 1453 1846 1933 ...

, graduating in 1987. He went to

Torquay Torquay ( ) is a seaside town in Devon, England, part of the unitary authority area of Torbay. It lies south of the county town of Exeter and east-north-east of Plymouth, on the north of Tor Bay, adjoining the neighbouring town of Paig ...

language school in England in 1989-1990.

Career

Civil service

In 1988, he began his civil service career as a district governor trainee. After working two years at the governor's office in Sakarya Province, and a one-year professional study in the United Kingdom, he became a district governor, and served two years in each townships of Dernekpazarı, Trabzon and

Kabataş, Ordu Kabataş, formerly Karay, is a town and district of Ordu Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey. According to the 2000 census, population of the district is 20,644 of which 9,211 live in the town of Kabataş. The district covers an area of , ...

. Ala was appointed Deputy Province Governor in

Tunceli Tunceli ( ku, Dêrsim) is a city and municipality in eastern Turkey. It is the capital of Tunceli Province, located in the middle of the Eastern Anatolia Region. The city has a Kurdish-majority population and was a site of the Dersim rebellion. ...

. After serving at various positions in different ministries, he was made the Governor of

Batman Province Batman Province ( tr, , ku, Parêzgeha Êlihê) is a province in the Southeast Anatolia Region of Turkey. It was created in May 1990 with the Law No. 3647 taking some parts from the eastern Province of Siirt and some from the southern Province ...

in 2003, where he served one year. On 14 September 2004, he was appointed as the Governor of

Diyarbakır Province Diyarbakır Province ( tr, Diyarbakır ili, Zazaki: Suke Diyarbekır ku, Parêzgeha Amedê) is a province in southeastern Turkey. The province covers an area of 15,355 km2 and its population is 1,528,958. The provincial capital is the cit ...

, remaining in that post until 2007. On 10 September 2007, Ala became the Undersecretary to the Prime Minister.

Minister of the Interior

On 25 December 2013, Minister of the Interior

Muammer Güler Muammer Güler (born 21 March 1949) is a Turkish politician. He is a member of parliament from the Justice and Development Party (AKP). He was formerly the Governor of Istanbul Province and the Minister of the Interior under Prime Minister ...

stepped down along with two of other cabinet members following a corruption investigation, which involved his son. The same day, Prime Minister Erdogan announced a cabinet reshuffle with ten new names. The next day, on 26 December, Efkan Ala assumed office as the

as a non-member of the parliament, a move that was sharply criticized by some MPs of the prime minister's own AKP as well as by the leadership of the opposition CHP. Ala resigned from the cabinet on 31 August 2016, having been criticised consistently by the opposition for failing to tackle growing terrorism by the

Kurdistan Workers' Party The Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK is a Kurdish militant political organization and armed guerrilla movement, which historically operated throughout Kurdistan, but is now primarily based in the mountainous Kurdish-majority regions of south ...

(PKK),

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic ter ...

(ISIL) and the

Gülen movement The Gülen movement ( tr, Gülen hareketi), referred to by its participants as Hizmet ("service") or Cemaat ("community") and since 2016 by the Government of Turkey as FETÖ ("Fethullahist Terrorist Organisation" or, more commonly, "Fethullah T ...

(FETÖ). Attacks in

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...

İstanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_in ...

and the south-east, as well as in the Syrian border provinces of

Gaziantep Gaziantep (), previously and still informally called Aintab or Antep (), is a major city and capital of the Gaziantep Province, in the westernmost part of Turkey's Southeastern Anatolia Region and partially in the Mediterranean Region, approxi ...

and Kilis, had resulted in consistent calls for Ala's resignation, with criticism also being directed at how the Interior Ministry had appointed several Governors, police chiefs and bureaucrats throughout the country that were later identified to be supporters of FETÖ, the alleged organisation accused of staging a failed coup d'état attempt in July 2016. A reason for Ala's resignation was not given, though the main opposition

Republican People's Party The Republican People's Party ( tr, Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi, , acronymized as CHP ) is a Kemalist and social-democratic political party in Turkey which currently stands as the main opposition party. It is also the oldest political party i ...

(CHP) claimed that Ala had been removed from office after the arrested Governor of Sinop and alleged FETÖ supporter had claimed he had close relations to Ala. Hurriyet
Son dakika haberi: İçişleri Bakanı Efkan Ala neden istifa etti?
/ref>

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ala, Efkan 1965 births Living people People from Oltu Istanbul University alumni Turkish civil servants Governors of Batman Governors of Diyarbakır Ministers of the Interior of Turkey Members of the 25th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 26th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 64th government of Turkey Members of the 65th government of Turkey