Bülent Ecevit

Mustafa Bülent Ecevit

Ecevit at the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2000
Prime Minister of Turkey
In office
11 January 1999  18 November 2002
President Ahmet Necdet Sezer
Süleyman Demirel
Deputy Devlet Bahçeli
Hüsamettin Özkan
Şükrü Sina Gürel
Mesut Yılmaz
Hikmet Uluğbay
Preceded by Mesut Yılmaz
Succeeded by Abdullah Gül
In office
5 January 1978  12 November 1979
President Fahri Korutürk
Deputy Orhan Eyüboğlu
Turhan Feyzioğlu
Hikmet Çetin
Faruk Sükan
Preceded by Süleyman Demirel
Succeeded by Süleyman Demirel
In office
21 June 1977  21 July 1977
President Fahri Korutürk
Deputy Orhan Eyüboğlu
Preceded by Süleyman Demirel
Succeeded by Süleyman Demirel
In office
26 January 1974  17 November 1974
President Fahri Korutürk
Deputy Necmettin Erbakan
Preceded by Naim Talu
Succeeded by Sadi Irmak
Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey
In office
30 June 1997  11 January 1999
Prime Minister Mesut Yılmaz
Served with İsmet Sezgin
Preceded by Tansu Çiller
Succeeded by Hikmet Uluğbay
Leader of the Democratic Left Party
In office
15 January 1989  25 July 2004
Preceded by Necdet Karababa (acting)
Succeeded by Zeki Sezer
In office
13 September 1987  7 March 1988
Preceded by Rahşan Ecevit
Succeeded by Necdet Karababa
Leader of the Republican People's Party
In office
14 May 1972  30 October 1980
Preceded by İsmet İnönü
Succeeded by Deniz Baykal (1992)
Member of the Grand National Assembly
In office
27 October 1957  12 September 1980
Constituency Ankara (1957, 1961)
Zonguldak (1965, 1969, 1973, 1977)
In office
20 October 1991  18 November 2002
Constituency Zonguldak (1991)
Istanbul (1995, 1999)
Personal details
Born (1925-05-28)28 May 1925
Istanbul, Turkey
Died 5 November 2006(2006-11-05) (aged 81)
Ankara, Turkey
Political party Republican People's Party
(1957-1980)
Democratic Left Party
(1989-2006)
Spouse(s) Rahşan Ecevit
Alma mater Robert College
School of Oriental and African Studies
Signature

Mustafa Bülent Ecevit (Turkish: [byˈlænt edʒeˈvit]; 28 May 1925 – 5 November 2006) was a Turkish politician, poet, writer, scholar, and journalist, who served as the Prime Minister of Turkey four times between 1974 and 2002. He served as prime minister of Turkey in 1974, 1977, 1978–79, and 1999–2002. He was the leader of the Republican People's Party (CHP) between 1972 and 1980, and in 1989 he became the leader of the Democratic Left Party (DSP).

Personal life

He was born in Istanbul to a middle-class family. Ecevit's father Fahri Ecevit was a professor in Ankara University. His mother, Fatma Nazlı, was among the first women in Turkey to paint professionally.[1] Ecevit said his mother was of Bosniak ancestry and his father may have been of Kurdish ancestry.[2][3]

In 1944, Ecevit graduated from Robert College in Istanbul and started working as a translator at the General Directorate for Press and Publication (Basın Yayın Genel Müdürlüğü). In 1946, shortly after marrying his classmate Rahşan Aral in 1946, he moved to London to work for Turkey's press attaché. During his stay in London, he studied Bengali, Sanskrit and Art History at the School of Oriental and African Studies, but did not graduate.[4] He later went to the United States in the mid–1950s on a State Department fellowship, and worked at two newspapers in North Carolina.[5][6]

Early political life

Ecevit was elected into the Turkish parliament for the first time in 1957. He was a Member of the Parliament between 1960 and 1961 during the 26th, 27th and 28th governments. Ecevit served as the Minister of Labour between 1961 and 1965, contributing to the acceptance of the right to strike and collective agreement. In 1966 he became the secretary general of the Republican People's Party (Turkish: Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi, CHP). In 1971 he resigned from the post as a protest to the party decision to support the transitional government established by a military intervention.

Leader of CHP

President Jimmy Carter with Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit at the White House, 31 May 1978.

In 1972, he succeeded İsmet İnönü as the leader of the party and became Prime Minister in a coalition with the National Salvation Party of Necmettin Erbakan (the 37th government of Turkey). This government is known for ordering the Turkish invasion of Cyprus on 20 July 1974. So he was nicknamed "Conqueror of Cyprus" (Turkish: "Kıbrıs Fatihi") by Turkish people after that successful operation.

Upon assuming the leadership of the CHP, Ecevit played a major role in redefining the party's political position in the centre-left (Turkish: Ortanın solu), which proved controversial. In the 1973 general election, the CHP won a plurality of the votes and seats in parliament. Despite the party's secular credentials, Ecevit formed a coalition with the Islamist National Salvation Party (MSP) headed by Necmettin Erbakan. Despite lasting only ten months, Ecevit's first government was responsible for the successful Turkish invasion of Cyprus, for which he is nicknamed the 'conqueror of Cyprus' (Turkish: Kıbrıs Fatihi). Despite winning an increased share of the votes and seats in the 1977 general election, Ecevit was unable to form a coalition and instead formed a minority government which lasted just one month. Justice Party leader Süleyman Demirel subsequently took over as Prime Minister and formed a three-party nationalist coalition. Ecevit's CHP was able to bring down Demirel's government by 1978, after which he became Prime Minister for a third time by forming a government supported by some independent MPs. Ecevit resigned as Prime Minister in 1979 following an election defeat in the 1979 senate elections.

Bülent Ecevit recalled that he learned for the first time of the existence of Operation Gladio, a secret "stay-behind" NATO army, in 1974. He has also said he suspected "Counter-Guerrilla", the Turkish branch of Gladio, of responsibility for the 1 May 1977 Taksim Square massacre in Istanbul, during which snipers fired on a protest rally of 500,000 citizens, killing 38 and injuring hundreds. CHP defeated AP in the 1977 general elections by gathering 41% of the votes (the election came just after the events of 1 May). But with 213 seats out of 450 Ecevit could not receive a vote of confidence (see 40th government of Turkey). In 1978 Ecevit formed his third government (42nd government of Turkey). However, after a defeat in by-elections in 1979, he resigned.

Leader of DSP

Following the 1980 coup led by General Kenan Evren, Ecevit was incarcerated and suspended from active politics for life along with the other political leaders of the time. A referendum in 1987 lifted his ban from politics, and he became the chairman of the Democratic Left Party (Turkish: Demokratik Sol Parti, DSP), inheriting the position from his wife, Rahşan Ecevit. His party failed to enter the National Assembly at the 1987 national elections, and in spite of passing the electoral barrier in 1991 managed to win only 7 seats in parliament. DSP's fortunes changed after the 1995 elections, when the party won 75 seats (out of 550). After two short-lived governments (formed by Mesut Yılmaz and Necmettin Erbakan, respectively), Ecevit became a deputy prime minister in the last government of Mesut Yılmaz. In 1998–99 he was briefly the caretaker Prime Minister in the run-up to the 1999 general elections (56th government of Turkey). In those elections – also helped by the fact that Abdullah Öcalan, head of the separatist (PKK) was apprehended in Kenya and flown to Turkey during this period – Ecevit's party gained the largest number of seats, leading to Ecevit's final term as Prime Minister in a coalition with the Motherland Party (Turkish: Anavatan Partisi, ANAP) of Mesut Yılmaz and the Nationalist Movement Party (Turkish: Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi, MHP) of Devlet Bahçeli.

Ecevit's government undertook a number of reforms aimed at stabilizing the Turkish economy in preparation for accession negotiations with the European Union. Despite initial attempts to bring about economic reforms, an argument between Ecevit and President Ahmet Necdet Sezer in 2001 led to a financial crash due to the instability of both the government and the economic situation. The downfall of the government was speculated to also bring an end to an existing bailout package funded by the International Monetary Fund. Despite this, the government made swift progress in bringing about an economic recovery, spearheaded by the new Minister of Economic Affairs Kemal Derviş. Nevertheless, almost half of DSP group in the parliament issued from DSP to form İsmail Cem İpekçi's New Turkey Party (YTP). On the other hand, allegations of corruption, the economic crisis, as well as Ecevit's poor health made early elections unavoidable and the DSP faced an electoral wipeout in the 2002 general election, losing all of its MPs. Ecevit resigned as DSP leader in 2004.

As a poet and writer

Bülent Ecevit was not only a politician but also a poet and a writer. He translated works by Rabindranath Tagore, T. S. Eliot, and Bernard Lewis into Turkish. He also translated the great ancient Sanskrit text, Bhagvad Gita, into the Turkish language (see, e.g., this article). Ecevit, who also studied at the American Robert College, one of the most prestigious high schools in Istanbul, was successful in these literary endeavors despite never having graduated from a university, a fact that also prevented him from ever running for the Presidency of the Turkish Republic.

Ecevit's tomb at the State Cemetery in Ankara, Turkey.

Ecevit was hospitalized in Ankara and placed in a medically induced coma after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage on 18 May 2006, which struck him after he attended a friend's funeral. He died there from respiratory failure on 5 November 2006 at 20:40 (UTC), aged 81. He was buried in the Turkish State Cemetery (Turkish: Devlet Mezarlığı) in Ankara in a state funeral on 11 November 2006. The funeral was attended by approximately a million people from all 81 provinces as well as politicians from Ukraine.[7]

Works

Poetry

Political

References

  1. Kinzer, Stephen (6 November 2006). "Bülent Ecevit, a Political Survivor Who Turned Turkey Toward the West, Is Dead at 81". The New York Times. p. 2. Retrieved 6 November 2006.
  2. Ercan Yavuz, "Kürt kökenli olabilirim" at the Wayback Machine (archived August 22, 2008), Akşam, 4 August 2004. (Turkish)
  3. Mahmut Çetin, Çinli Hoca'nın torunu Ecevit, Emre Yayınları, 2006, p. 18.
  4. "Siyasetin Şairi Karaoğlan". Hürriyet. Retrieved 1 February 2013.
  5. Aras Erdoğan, Umut Ecevit, Kesit, 2006, p. 19.
  6. Altan Tan, Kürt Sorunu, Timaş, 2009, p. 493.
  7. Cevizoğlu, Hulki (11 November 2006), Kanaltürk Evening News.

External links

Party political offices
Preceded by

İsmet İnönü
Leader of the Republican's People Party (CHP)
14 May 1972 – 29 Oct 1980
Succeeded by

1980 Military coup and later Deniz Baykal
Preceded by
Rahşan Ecevit
Leader of the Democratic Left Party (DSP)
13 Sep 1987–1988
Succeeded by
Necdet Karababa
Preceded by
Necdet Karababa
Leader of the Democratic Left Party (DSP)
1989–25 Jul 2004
Succeeded by
Zeki Sezer
Political offices
Preceded by
Naim Talu
Prime Minister of Turkey
26 Jan 1974 – 17 Nov 1974
Succeeded by
Sadi Irmak
Preceded by
Süleyman Demirel
Prime Minister of Turkey
21 Jun 1977 – 21 Jul 1977
Succeeded by
Süleyman Demirel
Preceded by
Süleyman Demirel
Prime Minister of Turkey
5 Jan 1978 – 12 Nov 1979
Succeeded by
Süleyman Demirel
Preceded by
Tansu Çiller
Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey
30 Jun 1997 – 11 Jan 1999
Succeeded by
Hüsamettin Özkan
Hikmet Uluğbay
Preceded by
Mesut Yılmaz
Prime Minister of Turkey
11 Jan 1999 – 19 Nov 2002
Succeeded by
Abdullah Gül
Preceded by
Kemal Satır
Secretary-General of the Republican People's Party
1966–1971
Succeeded by
Şeref Bakşık


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