Mehmet Mehdi Eker

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Mehmet Mehdi Eker is Minister of Agriculture of Turkey and Member of Parliament for Diyarbakır of the ruling AKP.

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. He speaks Kurdish, is the AKPs leading figure from the historically troubled south-east corner of Turkey, and has travelled to Diyarbakır with the Minister of Interior during periods of unrest there. ^[1]

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. ^[2]
• Adjusting food control regulations to comply with EU norms, including recategorising pork and horsemeat as suitable for human consumption. ^[3]

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