Ahmet Erdem was born in Tokat in 1956 and completed his primary, secondary and high school education there.

He later became a civil servant, working mainly at the Ministry of Labour and Social Security in various roles.

[4] After the June 2015 general election resulted in a hung parliament, unsuccessful coalition negotiations raised speculation over whether President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan would call an early election in the event that AKP leader Ahmet Davutoğlu was unable to form a government within the given constitutional time of 45 days.

Erdoğan called a new general election for November 2015 in late August, with Davutoğlu being tasked with the formation of the interim government.

As a result, Erdem was appointed as the Minister of Labour and Social Security as an independent politician.