Bülent Ecevit

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Bülent Ecevit
Prime Minister of Turkey
In office 1974, 1977, 1978 – 1979, 1999 – 2002
Preceded by	Naim Talu, Süleyman Demirel, Mesut Yılmaz
Succeeded by	Sadi Irmak, Süleyman Demirel, Abdullah Gül
Born	28 May 1925 Istanbul
Died	5 November 2006 Ankara
Political party	DSP, CHP

Mustafa Bülent Ecevit (May 28, 1925–November 5, 2006; pronounced /bylɛnt ɛdʒɛvit/), was a Turkish politician, poet, writer and journalist.

Contents 1 Personal life 2 Political life 3 Trivia 4 Works 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Personal life

Born in Istanbul, Ecevit's father was Ahmet Fahri Ecevit who was born in Kastamonu and was a professor of forensic medicine at Ankara University. Later Ahmet Fahri started his political life as CHP's Kastamonu deputy between 1943-1950. His mother, Fatma Nazlı, was born in Istanbul and was among the first women in Turkey to paint professionally.^[1] In 1944, Ecevit graduated from Robert College and started working as a translator in Press Publication Head Office (Basın Yayın Genel Müdürlüğü). He married his classmate Rahşan Aral in 1946. He went to the United States in the mid–1950s on a State Department fellowship, and worked at two newspapers in North Carolina.^[1]

[edit] Political life

Ecevit was elected into the Turkish parliament for the first time in 1957. He was a member of the Establishment Parliament between 1960 and 1961. Ecevit served as the Minister of Labour between 1961 and 1965 contributing to the acceptance of right to strike and collective agreement. In 1966 he became the secretary general of the Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi (the Republican People's Party). In 1971 he resigned from the post as a protest to the party decision to support the transitional government established by a military intervention. In 1972, he succeeded Ismet Inönü as leader of the party and became prime minister in a coalition with the National Salvation Party of Necmettin Erbakan. This government is most noted for ordering a military intervention on July 20, 1974, in response to a coup in Cyprus organised by the Greek military government, dividing the island, uprooting hundreds of thousands of people and setting the stage for the foundation of the breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (a de facto state which is only officially recognised by Turkey). Bülent Ecevit recalls that he learned for the first time of the existence of Operation Gladio, a secret "stay-behind" NATO army, in 1974, and has suspected "Counter-Guerilla", the Turkish branch of Gladio, of being responsible for the May 1, 1977 Taksim Square massacre in Istanbul, during which snipers shot on a protest rally of 500,000 citizens, killing 38 and injuring hundreds.

Following the September 12, 1980, military coup led by General Kenan Evren, Ecevit was incarcerated and suspended from active politics for life along with other political leaders of the time. A referendum in 1987 lifted his ban from politics, and he became the chairman of the Demokratik Sol Parti (Democratic Left Party) inheriting the position from his wife, Rahşan Ecevit. His party failed to enter the National Assembly in 1987 national elections, and in spite of passing the electoral barrier in 1991 managed to win only 7 seats in the parliament. DSP's fortunes changed after the elections in 1995, securing the party 75 seats (out of 550). After two short lived governments (formed by Mesut Yılmaz and Necmettin Erbakan respectively) Ecevit became a deputy prime minister under the last government of Mesut Yılmaz. In 1998-99 he was briefly caretaker Prime Minister in the run-up to the 1999 general elections. In those elections -also helped by the fact that Abdullah Öcalan head of the separatist/terrorist Kurdish PKK organization 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 stint as Prime Minister in a coalition with the Anavatan Partisi (Motherland Party) of Mesut Yılmaz and the Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi (Nationalist Movement Party) 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. However, the short-term economic pain brought on by the reforms caused rifts within his coalition and party, and eventually forced new elections in 2002. Ecevit, at this time visibly frail, was unsuccessful in leading his party back into the National Assembly. Ecevit subsequently retired from active politics in 2004.

Bülent Ecevit was not only a politician but also a poet and a writer. He studied Sanskrit, Bengali, and English and translated works by Rabindranath Tagore, T. S. Eliot, and Bernard Lewis into Turkish. Ecevit, who studied at American Robert College, one of the 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 President of the Turkish Republic.

Ecevit was hospitalized at the Gülhane Military Hospital in Ankara and placed in a medically induced coma after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage on May 18, 2006.^[2] He died on November 5, 2006 at 20:40 (UTC) due to respiration failure without regaining consciousness. He is laid to rest in the Turkish State Cemetery (Devlet Mezarlığı) in Ankara with state funeral on November 11, 2006. The funeral was attended by approximately 1.000.000^[3] people from 81 provinces.

[edit] Trivia

• He had a staunch appetite for tea, sometimes drinking up to 15 cups per day.
• He was a chain smoker.
• Although Ecevit ordered military intervention in Cyprus, he wrote a poem for Turkish-Greek friendship.
• Although he was an intellectual, he never graduated from university.
• He had a tic of winking his left eye.
• He was one year younger than his wife, Rahşan Ecevit.

[edit] Works

Poetry Books

• Işığı Taştan Oydum (I Carved Light Out Of Stone) (1978)
• El Ele Büyüttük Sevgiyi (We Raised Love Hand In Hand) (1997)

Political Books

• Ortanın Solu (Left of the Center) (1966)
• Bu Düzen Değişmelidir (This Order Should Change) (1968)
• Atatürk ve Devrimcilik (Atatürk and Revolutionism) (1970)
• Kurultaylar ve Sonrası (Party Congresses and After) (1972)
• Demokratik Sol ve Hükümet Bunalımı (Democratic Left and Government Crisis) (1974)
• Demokratik Solda Temel Kavramlar ve Sorunlar (Basic Definitions and Problems in Democratic Left) (1975)
• Dış Politika (Foreign Policy) (1975)
• Dünya-Türkiye-Milliyetçilik (World-Turkey-Nationalism) (1975)
• Toplum-Siyaset-Yönetim (Society-Politics-Government) (1975)
• İşçi-Köylü El Ele (Workers and Peasants Hand in Hand) (1976)
• Türkiye / 1965-1975 (Turkey / 1965-1975) (1976)
• Umut Yılı: 1977 (Year of Hope: 1977) (1977)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Bülent Ecevit: Poet and Statesman, info, gallery, video
• Biography of Ecevit
• Democratic Left Party
• A Selection of Ecevit's Poetry - Turkish

Preceded by İsmet İnönü	Leader of the Republican’s People Party 1972–1980	Succeeded by 1980 Military coup
Preceded by Rahşan Ecevit Necdet Karababa	Leader of the Democratic Left Party 1987–1988 1989–2004	Succeeded by Necdet Karababa Zeki Sezer
Preceded by Naim Talu Süleyman Demirel Süleyman Demirel Mesut Yılmaz	Prime Minister of Turkey 1974 1977 1978–1979 1999–2002	Succeeded by Sadi Irmak Süleyman Demirel Süleyman Demirel Abdullah Gül

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

Persondata
NAME	Bülent Ecevit
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Mustafa Bülent Ecevit, Karaoğlan (Turkish)
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Former President of Turkey
DATE OF BIRTH	May 28, 1925
PLACE OF BIRTH	Istanbul
DATE OF DEATH	November 5, 2006
PLACE OF DEATH	Ankara