Taner Yıldız is a Turkish politician. He is a member of the Justice and Development Party

Justice and Development Party (Turkey)

The Justice and Development Party , abbreviated JDP in English and AK PARTİ or AKP in Turkish, is a centre-right political party in Turkey. The party is the largest in Turkey, with 327 members of parliament...

 and the Energy and Natural Resources Minister of Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

.

Taner Yıldız is graduated from the Istanbul Technical University

Istanbul Technical University

Istanbul Technical University is an international technical university located in Istanbul, Turkey. It is the world's third oldest technical university dedicated to engineering sciences as well as social sciences recently, and is one of the most prominent educational institutions in Turkey...

 (Sakarya University) as an electrical engineer. He worked with the Kayseri Electricity Generation Company. He was elected to the Parliament in 2002. Taner Yıldız served as an energy adviser to the prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan

Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been Prime Minister of Turkey since 2003 and is chairman of the ruling Justice and Development Party , which holds a majority of the seats in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. Erdoğan served as Mayor of Istanbul from 1994 to 1998. He graduated in 1981 from Marmara...

. On 1 May 2009, after reshuffle of the cabinet, he took the post of the Energy and Natural Resources Minister.

He is married and has 4 children.

According to a report published by the newspaper Zaman, Yıldız was punched in the face on Tuesday, April 20, 2010, by an assailant during a funeral of a Turkish soldier killed in a military operation against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the eastern province of Sirnak.

Yıldız suffered a broken nose and deep cuts in his forehead and was hospitalized after the assault.

“This is the fist of the Turkish nation; here comes the initiative,” the attacker reportedly said while punching Yıldız's face.

Citations

• Turkish Energy Minister to visit Azerbaijan, Trend (English), 01/20/2011, retrieved 01/20/2011.
• Iran eyes Europe gas market through Turkey, Trend, (English), 01/09/2011, retrieved 01/20/2011.
• Turkish energy minister due to Iran, Trend (English), 01/07/2011, retrieved 01/20/2011.
• Turkey in talks with France over nuclear plant, Trend (English), 01/07/2011, retrieved 01/20/2011.
• Turkey and Japan sign Memorandum of Understanding on construction of nuclear power plant, Trend (English), 12/25/2010, retrieved 01/20/2011.
• Minister: Turkey paid about $1 billion for Azerbaijani gas from Shah Deniz, Trend (English), 12/24/2010, retrieved 01/20/2011.
• Energy minister of Georgia and Turkey to discuss electricity transmission line, Trend (English), 12/12/2010, retrieved 01/20/2011.
• Minister: Turkey determined to continue oil, gas trade with Iran, Trend (English), 10/02/2010, retrieved 01/20/2011.