Early political career
Parliament and party roles
Çavuşoğlu is a founding member of the AKP. He was first elected to parliament from Antalya in the 2002 general election and reelected in 2007 and 2011. He was elected again in 2015 and 2018 and left parliament on 10 July 2018 when the presidential system took effect.
In parliament he chaired the Turkey-United States and Turkey-Japan inter-parliamentary friendship caucuses and in 2007 to 2010 the Turkish delegation to the Assembly of the Western European Union's European Security and Defence Assembly. He was the AKP's vice chairman in charge of foreign affairs in 2013.
Minister of European Union Affairs (2013–2014)
Çavuşoğlu became Minister of European Union Affairs and chief negotiator in December 2013 replacing Egemen Bağış, one of the ministers caught up in the corruption scandal that broke out earlier that month. He held the post until 29 August 2014.
2014 Turkish local elections
In the 30 March 2014 local election, the AKP candidate Menderes Türel was declared the winner of the Antalya metropolitan mayoralty over the Republican People's Party (CHP) candidate Mustafa Akaydin, by a margine of about 23,000, according to Türel and the AKP's provincial chairman. Akaydın filed an objection with the provincial election board, alleging irregularities and claiming that Çavuşoğlu, who was presented at the courthouse on election night, had put pressure on officials entering results and had reprimanded an election board judge. the AKP's provincial chairman said Çavuşoğlu had visited the election boards briefly to thank those involved in and then left.
Minister of Foreign Affairs (2014–2023)
Çavuşoğlu was appointed minister of foreign affairs on 29 August 2014 in the government of Ahmet Davutoğlu, and left office after the 2015 interim government under Feridun Sinirlioğlu. He returned to the post on 24 November 2015 and on 9 July 2018, became the first foreign minister under the presidential system.
Hakan Fidan succeeded him after Erdoğan formed a new cabinet following the 2023 elections. When he was appointed in 2014, commentators expected him to continue a foreign policy centred on the Middle East including support for the Muslim Brotherhood aligned groups in Syria and Egypt.
Russia and the war in Ukraine
After the Russian invasion of the Ukraine in February 2022, Çavuşoğlu proposed that the Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers meet during the Antalya Diplomacy Forum, and on 10 March 2022 he hosted Sergey Lavrov and Dmytro Kuleba in a trilateral meeting, the first between the two ministers since the start of the invasion. Afterwards he said that the possibility of a Putin–Zelensky meeting had been discussed and that the Ukrainian side said Zelensky was ready for one while Lavrov said Putin was not opposed to it in principal.
On 22 July, 2022, Turkey, the United Nations, Russia and the Ukraine signed the Black Sea Grain Initiative in Istanbul.
Syria
Syria remained a central item on Çavuşoğlu agenda throughout his tenure. In December 2022 he said that Turkey and Damascus were in contact at the level of intelligence agencies and that Turkey was ready to cooperate with the Syrian government on counter terrorism, the political process and the return of refugees if it took a realistic approach.
In March 2023 he met the Russian, Iranian and Syrian foreign ministers in Moscow.
Eastern Mediterranean and regional normalisation
In the Eastern Mediterranean gas and maritime zone dispute, Çavuşoğlu rejected the Greece-Egypt delimitation of exclusive economic zones, which Turkey said infringed its continental shelf and overlaps zones it agreed with Libya. From 2021, Turkey sought to repair relations with Egypt, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Armenia and Çavuşoğlu said improved relations with Egypt are vital for the Eastern Mediterranean.
Armenia and Azerbaijan
Çavuşoğlu said the normalisation of relations with Armenia was being conducted in coordination with Azerbaijan, after meeting Armenian foreign minister Ararat Mirzoyan at the Antalya Diplomacy Forum in March 2022. On 12 September 2022, as fighting broke out along the Armenia-Azerbaijan border, he wrote that Armenia should stop its "provocation" and focus on negotiation with Azerbaijan.
NATO enlargement
On 14 May 2022, Çavuşoğlu said Turkey supported NATO's open door policy but accused Finland and Sweden of supporting the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), and said the issue should be discussed within NATO. On 11 June 2022, he said that Russia and terrorism were the two most important threats facing the alliance.
Afghanistan
After the fall of Kabul in August 2021, Çavuşoğlu said Turkey was in talks with all parties in Afghanistan, including the Taliban, and viewed positively the messages the group had sent. The ministry said the Turkish embassy in Kabul will remain open. In October 2021 he met Taliban foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi in Ankara and urged the international community to engage with Taliban officials.
2017 Rotterdam landing ban
In 11 March 2017, Çavuşoğlu was banned from landing in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, after threats of Turkish sanctions if his visit to Rotterdam was impeded, made "the search for a reasonable solution impossible". Çavuşoğlu had planned to organize a large gathering to talk about the 2017 Turkish constitutional referendum, in which many Dutch-based émigrés can vote. However, his presence was claimed by the Dutch authorities to be a threat to public safety, and Çavuşoğlu was turned away, despite being the Turkish Foreign Minister.
Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan called the Netherlands, "Nazi remnants" and "fascists," which Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte called "a crazy remark." Çavuşoğlu followed by defending Erdoğan's remark, and by saying that the Netherlands was the "capital of fascism".
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