Suleyman Demirel

Suleyman Demirel (1998)

Sami Süleyman Gündoğdu Demirel (born November 1, 1924 in İslamköy , Isparta province , † June 17, 2015 in Ankara ) was a Turkish politician . He was Prime Minister seven times and President of Turkey from 1993 to 2000 .

Life

Süleyman Demirel (right) with Nicolae Ceaușescu

Demirel graduated from the Technical University of Istanbul with a degree in engineering in 1948 . In the early 1950s he was employed as an engineer at the state water authority Devlet Su İşleri , whose management he took over from 1955.

On February 15, 1956, Suleyman Demirel became a Freemason by being accepted into the Bilgi Lodge in Ankara. At the age of 37, he entered politics in 1961 and became a member of the Justice Party (AP) in the Turkish parliament . Three years later he became chairman of the Justice Party and remained so until 1980. Suleyman Demirel finally became Turkey's youngest Prime Minister on October 27, 1965 . As one of his tasks he saw the strengthening of Turkey's ties to NATO . He also initiated numerous development programs for Turkish agriculture.

After six years, Süleyman Demirel was overthrown in March 1971 because of his refusal to grant the military political influence in the fight against terrorism . But on March 31, 1975 he was again Prime Minister in a coalition government with the Islamist Millî Selamet Partisi (MSP), the far-right MHP and the nationalist Cumhuriyetçi Güven Partisi (CGP). He pursued a neoliberal economic policy despite political unrest, inflation and trade deficit. He remained premier until June 1977 when the coalition government broke up. With a new coalition with the Islamist MSP and the far-right MHP , he was again head of government from July 21 to January 4, 1978. However, this coalition also broke up and Suleyman Demirel went into the opposition .

On November 12, 1979 Demirel was reappointed Prime Minister of a minority government. This term of office did not last long either. On September 12, 1980, he was removed from office by another military coup led by Kenan Evren on the grounds that extremist violence threatened the country and was banned from political activity.

Demirel (right) with the Greek Prime Minister Konstantinos Mitsotakis in 1992

In 1987, Süleyman Demirel became chairman of the Right Way Party (DYP) and in this capacity on November 20, 1991, Prime Minister of Turkey for the seventh time after an election victory over the then ruling Motherland Party (ANAP). He stayed that way until June 5, 1993, when he was elected President of Turkey in May . He held this office until 2000.

During his tenure, he pardoned 100 prisoners.

Demirel died of heart failure in a hospital in Ankara after a respiratory infection.

Honors

• 2000: Special level of the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
• 2000: Scanderbeg Order, highest order in the Republic of Albania.

See also

• Political system of Turkey
• List of presidents of Turkey

Web links

Commons : Süleyman Demirel  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Stephan Kinzer: Suleyman Demirel, former prime minister of Turkey, dies at 90. (obituary) , nytimes.com, June 16, 2015, accessed June 16, 2015
2. ↑ Hulki Cevizoğlu: Masonluk ve Rotaryenlik (German: Freemasonry and Rotary ). Ceviz Kabugu Yayinlari, 6th edition
3. ↑ List of Sezer amnesty recipients terror-based ( Memento of the original from September 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Today's Zaman Online (Retrieved April 4, 2007), ( English ) 
4. ↑ http://www.tccb.gov.tr/suleyman-demirel-konusmalari/492/56979/almanya-cumhurbaskani-sayin-johannes-rau-tarafindan-kendisine-verilen-likayat-nisani-toreninde-yapti.html ( Turkish )
5. ↑ On the history of Turkish-German relations ( memento of the original from July 18, 2004 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed April 11, 2011 
6. ↑ Arnavutluk'a Çalışma Ziyareti (Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Cumhurbaşkanlığı, May 9, 2000, Turkish)
7. ↑ Ndahet nga jeta ish-presidenti i Turqisë, Suleyman Demirel ( Memento of the original from June 17, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Iliria News, June 17, 2015, Albanian)