Rahşan Ecevit

Rahşan (Aral) Ecevit (1923) is the spouse of the late Turkish politician and former prime minister Bülent Ecevit.

She was born 1923 in Bursa, Turkey to a family from Şebinkarahisar, a town in the northeastern Giresun Province. Her father was Namık Zeki Aral, and her mother Zahide Aral. Rahşan graduated from the American high school Robert College in İstanbul. She married her classmate Bülent Ecevit in 1946.

Following the military coup in 1980 led by General Kenan Evren, her husband was imprisoned and was suspended from active politics for life. Bülent Ecevit's party, the Republican People's Party, was closed down. On November 14, 1985, Rahşan founded a socialist party, the Democratic Left Party and led it until her husband's ban from politics was lifted in 1989.

Rahşan Ecevit was the vice president of the Democratic Left Party and responsible for the party 's organization between 1989 and 2004.

On November 5, 2006, she lost her husband following an almost 6-month long medically induced coma.

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Preceded by -	Leader of the Democratic Left Party 1985–1989	Succeeded by Bülent Ecevit

Leaders of the Democratic Left Party
Rahşan Ecevit • Bülent Ecevit • Necdet Karababa • Zeki Sezer