İsmail Cem İpekçi
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İsmail Cem İpekçi (1940, Istanbul – January 24, 2007, Istanbul) was a Turkish politician, journalist, statesman and former minister of foreign affairs.
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[edit] Background
İsmail Cem finished high school at Robert College in İstanbul in 1959 and graduated from the Law School at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland in 1963. He earned in 1983 a master's degree in sociology of politics at the École Libre des Sciences Politiques in Paris, France. He was an exchange student with AFS after high school.
A member of one of the most prominent families in Turkey, Cem was a distant relative of celebrated Turkish fashion designer Cemil İpekçi and the cousin of murdered journalist Abdi İpekçi. It has been claimed that the İpekçis are Sabbateans, followers of Jewish religious figure Sabbatai Zevi and Cem's family background has therefore been a matter of scrutiny and debate, even being used by his political rivals to defame him.
[edit] Journalism
Returning home in 1963, Cem started his professional career as a journalist. He worked in some major newspapers and became editor-in-chief of Milliyet. Between 1971-1974, he served as the chief of the Istanbul office of the Turkish Newspaper Workers Union. In 1974-1975, he acted as the general manager of the state-owned Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT). Cem's tenure as the general manager of TRT, then the only TV station in Turkey, created some controversy. The conservatives and prominent right-wing figures like future President of Turkey Suleyman Demirel used their political and social influence to remove Cem from his post in several attempts which have all proven fruitless.
[edit] Writing career
Among with his political and journalistic successes, Cem is also known as one of the ideologists of social democracy in Turkey and was counted among the prominent figures in Turkish centre-left. Cem, who advocated a moderate agenda in a time of political turmoil, wrote extensive accounts of the economic and social factors lying beneath Turkey's underdevelopment and theoretized methods for the revitalization of Turkish left. Among Cem's books are Turkiye'de Geri Kalmışlığın Tarihi (A History of Underdevelopment in Turkey), one of the most acclaimed books in the field of social sciences in Turkey and Sosyal Demokrasi Nedir?, Ne Değildir? (What is and What is not Social Democracy?), one of the first books to introduce social democracy to Turkish politics. Cem's books, characterized by their plain but informative nature, are still popular and are growing even more popular, especially in light of the current dissent against AKP's moderate Islamism and the debate of reformation in Turkish left. A more detailed bibliography of Cem's works can be found below.
[edit] Political career
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He entered politics after being elected deputy of Istanbul in the general elections held in 1987. He was re-elected in 1991 again from Istanbul and in 1995 from Kayseri. After the death of President Turgut Özal in 1993, he ran for president without success. In 1995, İsmail Cem left the Republican People's Party (CHP) and joined the Democratic Left Party (DSP). He was then appointed Minister of Culture. He served as minister of foreign affairs from June 30, 1997 until July 10, 2002. He was the fourth longest-serving minister of this position in Turkey.
[edit] Relations with the European Union
He negotiated candidate status for Turkey's bid to join the European Union as foreign minister.[1]
[edit] Relations with Greece
Cem and his Greek counterpart George Papandreou worked to improve Turkish-Greek relations.[1]
[edit] Later political career and illness
After a dispute with the party leader Bülent Ecevit, he resigned from the Democratic Left Party (DSP) ahead of 2002 parliamentary elections and formed the New Turkey Party (YTP) on July 20, 2002 together with his former party colleague Hüsamettin Özkan. İsmail Cem was elected leader of YTP, which did not do well in the elections.
Returning from the United States, where he was due to medical treatment of cancer, he closed YTP on October 24, 2004, joining the CHP. İsmail Cem was acting as the chief advisor to Deniz Baykal, the leader of CHP, and lectured in Applied Foreign Politics of Turkey at the Istanbul Bilgi University until his death. He was married to Elçin Cem, and the couple had a daughter, İpek Cem Taha, and a son, Kerim Cem.
[edit] Funeral
İsmail Cem died on January 24, 2007 in İstanbul after suffering for two years from lung cancer. He was honored with a state funeral, at which Speaker of the Parliament Bülent Arınç, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, current and former leaders of the political parties, his close friend former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Greece, George Papandreou and Greek Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Theodoros Kasimis attended[2]. He was interred at the Zincirlikuyu Cemetery. Papandreou laid on his grave a branch from the olive tree, they both had planted 2000 in Greece as a symbol of peace.[3]
[edit] Legacy
İsmail Cem was especially admired by young people in Turkey during his time as a foreign minister.[4]Polls indicated that young people desired to see Cem as President of Turkey.[4]
[edit] Bibliography
- Türkiye'de Geri Kalmışlığın Tarihi (History of Under Development in Turkey), 512 pp, Can, ISBN 975-510-791-6
- Türkiye Üzerine Yazılar (Articles on Turkey)
- 12 Mart (12th of March) (Referring to March 12th, 1971, the date of military coup)
- TRT'de 500 Gün (500 Days at TRT) (TRT is the Turkish state television)
- Siyaset Yazıları (Notes about Politics)
- Geçiş Dönemi Türkiye'si (Turkey in a Period of Transition)
- Sosyal Demokrasi ya da Demokratik Sosyalizm Nedir, Ne Değildir? (What is, What is not Social Democracy Or Democratic Socialism?), 311 pp, Can, ISBN 975-510-801-7
- Türkiye'de Sosyal Demokrasi (Social Democracy in Turkey)
- Engeller ve Çözümler (Obstacles and Solutions)
- Yeni Sol, Sol'daki Arayış (The New Left, Seek in the Left), 340 pp, Can, ISBN 975-8440-16-0
- Gelecek İçin Denemeler (Essays about the Future), 344 pp, Can, ISBN 975-8440-18-7
- Türkiye, Avrupa, Avrasya I, Strateji-Yunanistan-Kıbrıs (Turkey, Europe, Eurasia I, Strategy-Greece-Cyprus), 298 pp, Istanbul Bilgi University (2004), ISBN 975-6857-88-9
- Avrupa'nın Birliği ve Türkiye (Union of Europe and Turkey), 364 pp, Istanbul Bilgi University (2005), ISBN 975-6176-27-X
[edit] Photography
- Mevsim, Mevsim (Season, Season)
İsmail Cem held four photo exhibits.
[edit] Awards
In 2000, he was honored by US-based "East West Institute" think-tank with the Statesman of the Year award together with the Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs George Papandreou for fostering closer relations between the two nations.[5]
[edit] References and notes
- ^ a b "Profile: Ismail Cem - supreme diplomat", BBC.
- ^ TNN News
- ^ Sky Turk TV News
- ^ a b 'L'EXPRESS' PRAISES ISMAIL CEM.
- ^ STATESMAN OF THE YEAR AWARD FOR ISMAİL CEM.
[edit] External links
- Curriculum Vitae of İsmail Cem
- Biography at Can Publishing (Turkish)
- Can Dündar website (Turkish)
- Istanbul Bilgi University Publishing (Turkish)
- Cem's meeting with Colin Powell
- BBC News Profile on Ismail Cem
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Tansu Çiller |
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey 1997–2002 |
Succeeded by Şükrü Sina Gürel |
