Mesut Yilmaz was born in Istanbul on November 6th, 1947. During his school years he received a degree in finance / economics from Ankara University, also did graduate studies in economics and social sciences in Germany.
When he decided to enter politics, he formed the Motherland Party (ANAP) in 1983 with former President Mr. Turgut Ozal. In November of the same year he was elected as a Deputy of Turkish Grand Assembly and then appointed as State Minister of Information in December. In 1986 he served as Minister of Culture and Tourism, in December 1987 as Minister of Foreign Affairs. He was the Prime Minister for three times during the Governments of June - October 1991, March - June 1996, June 1997-1998. He also served as State Minister and vice Premiere during the coalition of DSP - MHP - ANAP between 2000-2002. He resigned after his party couldn't pass the threshold during the general elections in 2002. He managed to enter the Parliament as an independent MP during the elections of 2007 and then continued his career within the Democrat Party (DP) between 2009-2011 until he resigned.
Mesut Yilmaz has been described as an ardent secularist in the grand tradition of Atatürk. He has aggressively pursued privatization of the economy, and has worked to reform the tax code and the social security system. He has concentrated on resolving the Kurdish uprisings by PKK in Eastern Anatolia, and worked to reduce violence and improve Turkey's human-rights record.
Mesut Yilmaz died on 30th of October 2020. He was married and had two sons, but unfortunately one of them died in 2017. He spoke German and English.