İsmet İnönü
2nd President of Turkey
In office 11 November 1938 – 22 May 1950 (&1000000000000001100000011 years, &10000000000000192000000192 days)
Prime Minister	Celal Bayar Refik Saydam Ahmet Fikri Tüzer Şükrü Saracoğlu Recep Peker Hasan Saka Şemsettin Günaltay
Preceded by	Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Succeeded by	Celal Bayar
Prime Minister of Turkey
In office 1923 – 1924 1925 – 1937 1961 – 1965
President	Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Cemal Gürsel
Preceded by	Rauf Orbay, Ali Fethi Okyar
Succeeded by	Ali Fethi Okyar, Celal Bayar, Suat Hayri Urguplu
Leader of the Republican People's Party
In office 1938–1972
Preceded by	Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Succeeded by	Bülent Ecevit
Chief of the General Staff of Turkey
In office 1920–1921
Succeeded by	Fevzi Çakmak
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey
In office 1922–1924
Prime Minister	Rauf Orbay Ali Fethi Okyar
Preceded by	Yusuf Kemal Tengirşenk
Succeeded by	Şükrü Kaya
Personal details
Born	(1884-09-24)24 September 1884 İzmir, Ottoman Empire
Died	25 December 1973(1973-12-25) (aged 89) Ankara, Turkey
Resting place	Anıtkabir Ankara, Turkey
Nationality	Turkish
Political party	Republican People's Party
Spouse(s)	Mevhibe İnönü
Children	4
Religion	Sunni Islam
Signature
Military service
Allegiance	Ottoman Empire (1893-1920)  Turkey (1920-1926)
Service/branch	Army
Rank	Orgeneral
Battles/wars	World War I Turkish War of Independence

Mustafa İsmet İnönü (Turkish pronunciation: [isˈmet ˈinøny]; 24 September 1884 – 25 December 1973) was a Turkish Army General,^[1] Prime Minister and the second President of Turkey. In 1938, the Republican People's Party gave him the title of "Milli Şef" (National Chief).^[2]

Family and early life[link]

İsmet İnönü was born in Smyrna (present day İzmir) to Reshid (Hacı Reşit Bey) and Djevriye (Cevrye Temelli Hanım), and was of Kurdish descent on his father's side and of Turkish descent through his mother.^{[3][4][5][6][7]} Reshid was retired from the First Examinant Department of Legal Affairs Bureau of the War Ministry (Harbiye Nezareti Muhakemat Dairesi Birinci Mümeyyizliği),^[8] who was born in Malatya and a member of Kümüroğulları family of Bitlis. Djevriye was a daughter of Müderris (professor) Hasan Efendi who was ulema^[8] and a member of Turkish family of Razgrad.^[9] Due to his father's assignments, the family moved from one city to another. Thus, Ismet completed his primary education in Sivas and graduated Sivas Military Junior High School (Sivas Askerî Rüştiyesi) in 1894. And then he studied at Sivas School for Civil Servants (Sivas Mülkiye İdadisi) for a year.

When the 1934 Surname Law was adopted, Mustafa Kemal gave him a surname delivered from İnönü, where he commanded the forces of Army of Grand National Assembly as the Minister of the Chief of the General Staff (Erkân-ı Harbiye-i Umumiye Reis Vekili) during the Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922. Afterwards these battles became to be known as the First Battle of İnönü and Second Battle of İnönü.

On April 13, 1916, Ismet married Mevhibe, who was a daughter of an Ashraf (Eşraf) of Ziştovi (present day Svishtov) Zühtü Efendi. They had three children: Ömer, Erdal and Özden (Toker).^[8]

Early military career[link]

Ismet graduated from the Imperial School of Military Engineering (Mühendishane-i Berrî-i Hümâyûn) in 1903 as gunnery officer, and received his first military assignment in the Ottoman Army. He joined the Committee of Union and Progress. He won his first military victories by suppressing two major revolts against the struggling Ottoman Empire, first in Rumelia and later in Yemen,^{[citation needed]} whose leader was Yahya Muhammad Hamid ed-Din. He served as a military officer during the Balkan Wars on the Ottoman-Bulgarian front. During World War I, he served with the Ottoman military rank of Miralay (arbitrarily the equivalent of Colonel or Senior Colonel (Brigadier)) and worked under Mustafa Kemal Pasha during his assignments at the Caucasus and Palestine fronts.

Turkish War of Independence[link]

Field Marshal Mustafa Kemal Pasha and Brigadier General İsmet Pasha before the Battle of Dumlupınar, August 1922.

After losing the Battle of Megiddo against General Edmund Allenby during the last days of World War I, he went to Constantinople (Istanbul) and assigned Undersecretary of the Ministry of War and then General Secretary of the Documentation in the Military Council.

After the military occupation of Constantinople on March 16, 1920, he decided to pass to Anatolia for joining the Turkish National Movement. He and his chief of staff Major Saffet (Arıkan) wore soldier uniform and left Maltepe in the evening of March 19, 1920 and arrived at Ankara on April 9, 1920.

He was appointed the commander of the Western Front of the Army of the Grand National Assembly (GNA), a position in which he remained during the Turkish War of Independence. He was promoted to the rank of Mirliva (arbitrarily the equivalent of Brigadier General or Major General; the most junior General rank with the title Pasha in the Ottoman and pre-1934 Turkish Army) after winning the First Battle of İnönü which took place between 9 and 11 January 1921. He also won the subsequent Second Battle of İnönü which was fought between 26 and 31 March 1921. During the Turkish War of Independence he was also a member of the GNA in Ankara.

İnönü was replaced by Mustafa Fevzi Pasha, who was also the Prime Minister and Minister of Defense at the time, as the Chief of Staff of the Army of the GNA after the Turkish forces lost major battles against the advancing Greek Army in July 1921, as a result of which the cities Afyonkarahisar, Kütahya and Eskişehir were temporarily lost. He participated as a staff officer (with the rank Brigadier General) to the later battles, until the final Turkish victory in September 1922.

Chief negotiator in Mudanya and Lausanne[link]

After the War of Independence was won, İsmet Pasha was appointed as the chief negotiator of the Turkish delegation, both for the Armistice of Mudanya and for the Treaty of Lausanne.

He became famous for his resolve and stubbornness in defending Turkey's demands while conceding very little to the other side at the negotiating table, causing the peace conference to last longer than expected. Partially deaf, İnönü simply turned off his hearing aid when the British foreign secretary, Lord Curzon, launched into lengthy speeches opposing Turkish demands for recognition of the national pact, and then would restate the Turkish position as if the British foreign secretary had not said a thing.^{[citation needed]}

Single-party period[link]

Prime Minister[link]

İnönü later served as the Prime Minister of Turkey for several terms, maintaining the system that Mustafa Kemal had put in place. He acted after every major crisis (such as the rebellion of Sheikh Said or the attempted assassination in Izmir against Mustafa Kemal) to restore peace in the country.

Statism in economy[link]

He tried to manage the economy with heavy-handed government intervention, especially after the 1929 economic crisis, by implementing an economic plan inspired by the Five Year Plan of the Soviet Union. In doing so, he took much private property under government control. Due to his efforts, to this day, more than 70% of land in Turkey is still owned by the state.^{[citation needed]}

Desiring a more liberal economic system, Atatürk forced İnönü^{[citation needed]} to resign from the Prime Ministry and appointed Celâl Bayar, the founder of the first Turkish commercial bank Türkiye İş Bankası, as Prime Minister.

"National Chief" period[link]

President[link]

Roosevelt, İnönü and Churchill at the Second Cairo Conference on December 4-6, 1943.

After the death of Atatürk, İnönü was viewed as the most appropriate candidate to succeed him, and was elected the second President of the Republic of Turkey and enjoyed the official title of "Milli Şef", i.e. "National Chief". There are approaches to define the İnönü period (Millî Şef dönemi ) as a dictatorship.^[10]

World War II broke out in the first year of his presidency, and both the Allies and the Axis pressured İnönü to bring Turkey into the war on their side. The Germans sent Franz von Papen to Ankara while the British sent Hughe Knatchbull-Hugessen and the French René Massigli. On April 23, 1939, Turkish Foreign Minister Şükrü Saracoğlu told Knatchbull-Hugessen of his nation's fears of Italian claims of the Mediterranean as Mare Nostrum and German control of the Balkans, and suggested an Anglo-Soviet-Turkish alliance as the best way of countering the Axis.^[11] In May 1939, during the visit of Maxime Weygand to Turkey, İnönü told the French Ambassador René Massigli that he believed that the best way of stopping Germany was an alliance of Turkey, the Soviet Union, France and Britain; that if such an alliance came into being, the Turks would allow Soviet ground and air forces onto their soil; and that he wanted a major programme of French military aid to modernize the Turkish armed forces.^[12] The signing of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact on August 23, 1939 led Turkey away from the Allies as the Turks always believed that it was essential to have the Soviet Union as an ally to counter Germany, and the signing of the German-Soviet pact undercut completely the assumptions behind Turkish security policy.^[13]

Winston Churchill secretly met with İnönü inside a train wagon near Adana on January 30, 1943. İnönü later met with Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill at the Second Cairo Conference on December 4–6, 1943. Until 1941, both Roosevelt and Churchill thought that Turkey's continuing neutrality would serve the interests of the Allies by blocking the Axis from reaching the strategic oil reserves of the Middle East. But the early victories of the Axis up to the end of 1942 caused Roosevelt and Churchill to re-evaluate a possible Turkish participation in the war on the side of the Allies. Turkey had maintained a decently-sized Army and Air Force throughout the war, and Churchill wanted the Turks to open a new front in the Balkans. Roosevelt, on the other hand, still believed that a Turkish attack would be too risky, and an eventual Turkish failure would have disastrous effects for the Allies.

İnönü knew very well the hardships which his country had suffered during decades of incessant war between 1908 and 1922 and was determined to keep Turkey out of another war as long as he could. The young Turkish Republic was still re-building, recovering from the losses due to earlier wars, and lacked any modern weapons and the infrastructure to enter a war to be fought along and possibly within its borders. İnönü also wanted assurances on financial and military aid for Turkey, as well as a guarantee that the United States and the United Kingdom would stand beside Turkey in the event of a Soviet invasion of the Turkish Straits after the war. The fear of Soviet invasion and Joseph Stalin's unconcealed desire to control the Turkish Straits eventually caused Turkey to give up its principle of neutrality in foreign relations and join NATO in 1952.

Multi-party period[link]

Under international pressure to transform the country to a democratic state, İnönü presided over the infamous 1946 elections, in which votes were cast in the open with onlookers (most probably secret police) able to observe to which party the voters had cast their votes and ballots were tallied behind closed doors by only his own party's officials.

In 1950, his party lost the first free elections in republic's history. The Democratic Party used a slogan: "Geldi İsmet, kesildi kısmet" ("Since Ismet came, fortune was cut" ) for their election campaigns. İnönü presided over the peaceful transfer of power to the Democratic Party of Celâl Bayar and Adnan Menderes. İnönü served for ten years as the leader of the opposition before returning to power as Prime Minister after the 1961 election, held after the military coup-d'etat in 1960 in which he allegedly conspired.

Although the opposition was imprisoned during the 1961 elections, he still did not win a majority and had to form coalition governments until the 1965 elections. He lost both the 1965 and 1969 general elections to Süleyman Demirel and then in 1972 he lost his party's leadership race to Bülent Ecevit.

İsmet İnönü was, by the standards of his time, a highly educated man; speaking Arabic, English, French and German in addition to his native Turkish.

İnönü died in 1973. He was interred opposite to Atatürk's mausoleum at Anıtkabir in Ankara and a massive tomb was constructed there.

Legacy[link]

İnönü's tomb at Anıtkabir

İnönü University in Malatya is named after him, as is the İnönü Stadium in Istanbul, home of the Beşiktaş football club.

Media[link]

• 

  Text of the message by President İsmet İnönü on Mustafa Kemal Atatürk

See also[link]

• Pembe Köşk - Private home from 1925 to 1973
• Çankaya Köşkü - The Presidency of the Republic of Turkey
• List of high-ranking commanders of the Turkish War of Independence

References[link]

v t e Presidents of the Republic of Turkey (List) Mustafa Kemal Atatürk İsmet İnönü Celâl Bayar Cemal Gürsel Cevdet Sunay Fahri Korutürk Kenan Evren Turgut Özal Süleyman Demirel Ahmet Necdet Sezer Abdullah Gül

v t e Foreign Ministers of Turkey Bekir Sami Kunduh Ahmet Muhtar Mollaoğlu Yusuf Kemal Tengirşenk İsmet İnönü Şükrü Kaya Tevfik Rüştü Aras Şükrü Saracoğlu Numan Menemencioğlu Hasan Saka Necmettin Sadak Mehmet Fuat Köprülü Adnan Menderes Fatin Rüştü Zorlu Ethem Menderes Selim Sarper Feridun Cemal Erkin Hasan Esat Işık İhsan Sabri Çağlayangil Osman Olcay Haluk Bayülken Turan Güneş Metin Esenbel Gündüz Ökçün Hayrettin Erkmen Ertuğrul Ekrem Ceyhun İlter Türkmen Vahit Melih Halefoğlu Mesut Yılmaz Ali Bozer Ahmet Kurtcebe Alptemoçin Safa Giray Hikmet Çetin Mümtaz Soysal Murat Karayalçın Erdal İnönü Coşkun Kırca Deniz Baykal Emre Gönensay Tansu Çiller İsmail Cem Şükrü Sina Gürel Yaşar Yakış Abdullah Gül Ali Babacan Ahmet Davutoğlu

v t e Chiefs of the General Staff of Turkey İnönü Çakmak Orbay Omurtak Gürman Yamut Baransel Tunaboylu Mengüç Erdelhun Gümüşpala Sunay Tural Tağmaç Gürler Sancar Evren Ersin Üruğ Torumtay Güreş Karadayı Kıvrıkoğlu Özkök Büyükanıt Başbuğ Koşaner Özel

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (October 2008)

Can Dündar (Born June 16, 1961, Ankara, Turkey) is a Turkish journalist, columnist and documentarian. He is one of the best known figures in Turkish media,^[1] described as possessing "impeccable republican credentials".^[2]

Biography[link]

He studied journalism at Ankara University, Faculty of Political Science and graduated in 1982. He continued his education in London School of Journalism in 1986. Can Dündar received his master's degree in 1988 and earned 1996 his Ph.D. in politics from Middle East Technical University, Ankara.

He has produced many television programs for the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT) and various private channels. He currently writes a column for Milliyet.

He is married to Dilek Dündar^[3] and the couple has one child. His father allegedly worked for the National Intelligence Organization.^[4]

Controversies[link]

He has been criticized for his work "Mustafa" which depicted the founder of Republic of Turkey as a regular man with his fears, passions and humanly expectations, rather than a life-size hero.^[5]

Documentaries[link]

• Demirkırat (1991),
• 12 Mart (March 12)(1994),
• Cumhuriyetin Kraliçeleri (The Queens of the Republic) (1992),
• Sarı Zeybek (The Yellow [Blond] Zeybek) (1993), Gölgedekiler (The ones in the shadow)(1994–1995),
• Yükselen Bir Deniz (The Rising Sea)(1998),
• İsmet Paşa (1999),
• Devlet Tiyatroları (Government theaters)(1999),
• Köy Enstitüleri (Village Institutes) (2000),
• Halef (The Successor) (2003),
• Nazım Hikmet (2002),
• Bir Yaşam İksiri (A life potion) (2003),
• Yüzyılın Aşkları (Loves of the century)(2004),
• Karaoğlan (Black boy)(2004),
• Mustafa (2008)

Books[link]

• Hayata ve Siyasete Dair (About Life and Politics)),
• Yağmurdan Sonra(After the Rain),
• Ergenekon. The first book on Ergenekon.
• Yarim Haziran(My Love June),
• Benım Gençliğim(My youth),
• Köy Enstitüleri(Village Institutions),
• Yaveri Atatürk'ü Anlatıyor (Atatürk's assistant talks about him),
• Nereye?(Where to?),
• Uzaklar(Far away places),
• Yükselen Deniz(Rising Sea),
• Savaşta Ne Yaptın Baba?(What have you done in the war, father?),
• Büyülü Fener(Magic Lantern),
• Bir Yaşam İksiri(A life potion),
• Mustafa Kemal Aramızda(Mustafa Kemal is Among Us),
• Yıldızlar(The stars),
• Demirkırat,
• Sarı Zeybek(Yellow zeybek),
• Gölgedekiler(The ones in the shadow)
• İlk Türk Hititologu: Sedat Alp, (First Turkish hittitologue: Sedat Alp)
• Kırmızı Bisiklet(Red bike),
• Nazım,
• Karaoğlan(Black boy),
• Vehbi Koç,
• İsmet Paşa,
• Yüzyılın Aşkları(The loves of the century),
• Yakamdaki Yüzler(The faces on my collar),
• Ben Böyle Veda Etmeliyim(I should say goodbye like that).

References[link]

1. ^ "Gölbaşı ammunition may shed light on unsolved murders". Today's Zaman. 2009-01-10. http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=163649. Retrieved 2009-01-09. "Can Dündar, a prominent writer and documentarian..." 
2. ^ Villelabeitia, Ibon (2008-11-08). "Is Turkey reassessing Ataturk’s legacy?". Reuters. http://blogs.reuters.com/global/2008/11/10/is-turkey-reassessing-ataturks-legacy/. Retrieved 2008-12-25. 
3. ^ "Can Dündar teknede bir kızla öpüşürken yakalandı! Dilek Dündar bu öpücüğe ne diyecek?" (in Turkish). Hürriyetport. http://www.hurriyetport.com/magazin/can-dundar-teknede-bir-kizla-opusurken-yakalandi-dilek-dundar-bu-opucuge-ne-diyecek. Retrieved 2011-06-28. 
4. ^ Acar, Erkan (2008-02-11). "Nuri Gündeş: Can Dündar'ın babası MİT görevlisiydi". Zaman. http://www.zaman.com.tr/haber.do?haberno=650422. Retrieved 2009-01-09. 
5. ^ ATEŞ, TOKTAMIŞ (2008-11-02). "Can Dündar and ‘Mustafa'". Zaman. http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=158450. Retrieved 2009-01-09. 

External links[link]

• Official website with a complete archive his columns in Turkish

This Turkish biographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Yalçın Küçük (born 1938) is a Turkish socialist writer, philosopher, economist, historian, Kurdolog, Sovietolog and media pundit, recognized for his historical studies on the late-Ottoman and Republican periods in the history of Turkey and Soviet economic development from a Marxist perspective and also his interest in crypto-Judaism in Turkey (Sabbateanism) and criticism of the Justice and Development Party.^[1][2] made him popular.

Küçük was born in Iskenderun. His father's ancestry is Turkoman while his mother's is Caucasian. He went to the Kabataş High School, followed by Ankara University. He graduated in 1960 with a degree in political science.^[2]

His first job was in the State Planning Board, where he eventually oversaw the Long Term Planning department. In 1966 he found a position at the Middle East Technical University. He was fired after the 1971 coup. Before the coup he wrote calling for a "Socialist Revolution" and a socialist administration in Turkey in the leftist publications Yön, Emek, Ant.^[1] He is also well known for his bitter criticisms against another strategy called "National Democratic Revolution" (Turkish: Milli Demokratik Devrim).

In 1973, he became a reserve officer at the Polatlı Artillery school (military service is compulsory in Turkey). Afterward he ran the economy department of the establishment newspaper, Cumhuriyet.^[2] He also ran the economy bulletin of the Anka news agency.^[1]

He soon devoted himself to leftist causes, such as editing the newspaper Yürüyüş and relaunching of the Workers Party of Turkey (Turkish: Türkiye İşçi Partisi). The party kicked him and some others out in 1978; so, they launched a magazine called Socialist Power (Turkish: Sosyalist İktidar) the next year.^[1]

In 1979 he joined Ankara University but was again dismissed after the next coup, in 1980. He returned to academia at Gazi University, and retired in 1987.^[1]

In his retirement he continued to write; for Social Deliverance (Turkish: Toplumsal Kurtuluş), Always Forward (Turkish: Hep İleri). In 1993 he interviewed the leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, Abdullah Öcalan in Syria's Bekaa Valley. Numerous photographs were leaked depicting Öcalan providing Küçük with a tour of the camp, and dining with him.^{[1] [3]}

Actually, Küçük's photographs with Abdullah Öcalan were published in his own books and journals edited by Küçük, himself during 1990s during his contact with PKK.^[4] On various TV channels and interviews, he explicitly asserted that these were neither secret photographs nor he was ashamed of them. He as a social scientist and a socialist went to analyze the most powerful insurgency against the Turkish state, he claimed. In fact, in this period the rumors about the contact of Öcalan and Küçük went so far. Kurdish political organizations other than PKK claimed that Küçük "Kemalized" Öcalan by persuading him into denying separatism.

He left for Paris in 1993 in protest of president Süleyman Demirel and the fact that a brothel owner, Matild Manukyan, was the highest taxpayer, but returned after the 1997 "post-modern" coup. However, he was sentenced to two years in prison for spreading separatist propaganda (his interviews with Öcalan). He briefly had a show on Sky Türk called Pens and Swords (Turkish: Kalemler ve Kılıçlar) but it got pulled allegedly after complaints from the government and the former chief of general staff, Yaşar Büyükanıt.^[1]

His houses in Karakusunlar, Ankara and Balat, Istanbul were searched in January 2009 in the frame of the ongoing Ergenekon investigation. His lawyer, Dursun Ermiş, arrived at Küçük's home in Ankara to field journalists' questions. The search warrant was issued by the Ninth Heavy Penal Court in İstanbul. The police is searching for documents pertaining to the Ergenekon network.^[5]

Selected bibliography[link]

Küçük is a prolific writer:^[1]

• Türkiye üzerine Tezler - 5 volumes (Thesis' about Turkey)
• Aydın Üzerine Tezler - 5 volumes (Thesis' about intellectuals)
• 100 Soruda Planlama Kalkınma ve Türkiye (Planning - Development in 100 question and Turkey)
• Endüstrileşmenin Temel Sorunları: Sovyet Deneyimi (Basic problems of industrialisation: the soviet experience)
• Yeni Bir Cumhuriyet için (For a new republic)
• Bilim ve Edebiyat (Science and Literature)
• Qua Vadimus - Nereye Gidiyoruz? (Where are we going?)
• Sovyetler Birliğinde Sosyalizmin Kuruluşu (Foundation of socialism in Soviet Union)
• Sovyetler Birliğinde Sosyalizmin Çözülüşü (Collapse of socialism in Soviet Union)
• Küfür Romanları (Novels of Insult)
• Estetik Hesaplaşma (Aesthetical Payoff)
• İtirafçıların İtirafları (Confessions of confessors)
• 21 Yaşında Çocuk: Fatih Sultan Mehmet (A 21-year-old boy: Mehmet the Conqueror)
• Ermeni Rahiple Mektuplaşmalar (Letters to an Armenian priest)
• Emperyalist Türkiye (Imperialist Turkey)
• Kürtler Üzerine Tezler (Thesis' on Kurds)
• Kürt Bahçesinde Sözleşi (Interviews in kurdish garden)
• Tekeliyet 1 - 2 (Monopoly 1-2)
• Tekelistan (Monopolyland 1-2)
• İsimlerin İbranileştirilmesi / Tekelistan - 1 / Türk Yahudi isimleri Sözlüğü (Hebrewation of names / Monopolyland 1 / Turkish - Hebrew names dictionary)
• Tarih 1-2 (History 1-2)
• İsyan 1-2 (Rebellion 1-2)
• Şebeke 1 (Network 1)
• Putları Yıkıyorum - Önsözler 1 (I'm breaking the idols - Prewords 1)
• Türkiye Büyülü Hapishanem (Turkey, my magical prison)
• Ders 1: Küçülme Savaş (Lesson 1: Don't get minimize, make war)
• Devlet ve Hürriyet (State and Freedom)
• Caligula: Saralı Cumhur (2007)(Epileptic Public)
• Sol Müdahale (2007)(Left Intervention)
• Aforizmalar (2008)(Aphorisms)
• Epilepsi ile Orgazm: Mediko-Politik (2008)(Epilepsy and Orgasm: Medico-Politic)
• Çöküş (2010)(Decadence)
• Haberci (2010)(The Precursor)
• Fitne (2010)(The Cabal)
• Hasta Despot (2010)(Ailing Despot)

References[link]

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h} "Yön’den Ergenekon’a Yalçın Küçük" (in Turkish). Radikal. Anka news agency. 2009-01-07. http://www.radikal.com.tr/Radikal.aspx?aType=RadikalDetay&ArticleID=915924&Date=07.01.2009&CategoryID=77. Retrieved 2009-01-07. 
2. ^ ^{a b c} "Prof. Dr. Yalçın Küçük kimdir" (in Turkish). Hürriyet. 2009-01-07. http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/gundem/10720612.asp. Retrieved 2009-01-07. 
3. ^ "İşte Yalçın Küçük'ün Kankası" (in Turkish). Rize Kaçkar Televizyonu. 2008-07-18. http://www.kackartv.com.tr/Default.asp?I=Haber&ID=15351. Retrieved 2008-11-23. 
4. ^ For instance see various issues of Toplumsal Kurtuluş and Bilim ve Edebiyat
5. ^ Kurt, Nurettin (2009-01-07). "Yalçın Küçük'ün evinde arama" (in Turkish). Hürriyet. http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/gundem/10720408.asp. Retrieved 2009-01-07. 

Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu MP
Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu in 2009
Leader of the Main Opposition
Incumbent
Assumed office 22 May 2010
President	Abdullah Gül
Prime Minister	Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Preceded by	Deniz Baykal
Leader of the Republican People's Party
Incumbent
Assumed office 22 May 2010
Preceded by	Deniz Baykal
Member of Parliament for İstanbul
Incumbent
Assumed office 3 November 2002
Constituency	2nd electoral district
Personal details
Born	(1948-12-17) December 17, 1948 (age 63) Ballıca village of Nazimiye, Tunceli, Turkey[1]
Nationality	Turkish
Political party	Republican People's Party
Spouse(s)	Selvi (Sevim) Kılıçdaroğlu
Children	Aslı Kılıçdaroğlu Nadir Zeynep Kılıçdaroğlu Kerem Kılıçdaroğlu
Residence	Ankara
Alma mater	Ankara Academy of Economics and Commercial Sciences
Profession	Bureaucrat
Religion	Alevi Muslim[2]
Signature
Website	Official site

Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu (pronounced [ceˈmal kɯɫɯtʃˈdaɾoːɫu]; born 17 December 1948) is a Turkish social democrat politician. He is currently leader of the Republican People's Party (CHP) and Leader of the Main Opposition in Turkey. He has been a Member of Parliament for İstanbul since 2002.

He was nominated by the CHP as candidate for Mayor of Istanbul in the 2009 local elections, in which he gained 36.8% of all votes. He is considered likely to breathe new life into the CHP.^[3]

Early life[link]

He was born on December 17, 1948 in Ballıca village of Nazimiye district in Tunceli Province, eastern Turkey^[1] to Kamer, a clerk-recorder of deeds and his wife Yemuş. He was the fourth of seven children.^[4] His father was among thousands of exiled Alevis following the failed Dersim Rebellion.^[5]

The family belonged to the Cebeligiller clan of the Kureyşan tribe. There are some claims about his ethnicity; some sources mention that he has Kurdish^[6][7], Zaza^{[8] [9]} origin, but he said his roots have come from Turkmen.^[10] His father changed their family name in the 1950s from originally Karabulut to Kılıçdaroğlu since all the people in the village they lived in had the same family name.^[4]

Kemal continued his primary and secondary education in various places like Erciş, Tunceli, Genç and Elazığ. He finished the high school as the school's best. He was educated in economics at the Ankara Academy of Economics and Commercial Sciences (now Gazi University), from which he graduated in 1971. During his youth days, he earned his living by selling goods.^[4]

Professional career[link]

After university, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu entered the Ministry of Finance as a junior account specialist in 1971. He was later promoted to accountant and was sent to France for additional professional training. In 1983, he was appointed deputy director general of the Revenues Department in the same ministry. At that time he worked closely with Prime Minister Turgut Özal. In 1991, Kılıçdaroğlu became director-general of the Social Security Organization for Artisans and Self-Employed (Bağ-Kur). The following year he was appointed director-general of the Social Security Organization (SSK).^[4][11]

In 1994, Kılıçdaroğlu was named "Civil Servant of the Year" by the weekly periodical Ekonomik Trend.^[4]

Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu retired from the Social Security Organization in January 1999. Kılıçdaroğlu taught at the Hacettepe University and chaired the Specialized Commission on the Informal Economy within the framework of the preparation of the Eighth Five-Year Development Plan. He also acted as a member of the Executive Board of İş Bank.^[12]

Politics[link]

He retired in 1999 and tried to enter politics from within Bülent Ecevit's Democratic Left Party (DSP). He did not succeed in this venture, though, as he could not get on the party's candidates' list. During his chairmanship of an association that aimed to protect citizens' tax payments, he was invited by the leader of the CHP, Deniz Baykal, to join his party. He accepted the invitation.^[4]

Following the 2002 general election, he entered the parliament as a deputy from Istanbul. In the 2007 general election, he was re-elected to parliament. He became deputy speaker of his party's parliamentary group.^[4]

Kılıçdaroğlu's efforts to uncover malpractice among high-ranking Justice and Development Party (AKP) politicians carried him to headlines in the Turkish media. Two deputy chairmen of the ruling AKP, Şaban Dişli and Dengir Mir Mehmet Fırat, resigned from their respective positions in the party following television debates with Kılıçdaroğlu. Furthermore, he publicly accused the AKP-affiliated Mayor of Ankara, Melih Gökçek, of complicity in a corruption scandal relating to the "Deniz Feneri" charity based in Germany.^[4]

Election to CHP leadership[link]

Long-time leader of the CHP, Deniz Baykal, resigned on May 10, 2010 following a video tape scandal. Kılıçdaroğlu announced his candidacy for the position on May 17, five days before an upcoming party convention. According to reports, the party was divided over the leadership issue, with its Central Executive Board insisting that Baykal retake the position.^[13] But after Kılıçdaroğlu received the support of 77 of his party's 81 provincial chairpersons,^[14] Baykal decided not to run for re-election.^[15]

For a candidacy to become official, CHP by-laws require the support of 20% of convention delegates.^[16] At the party convention, which started on May 22, 2010, Kılıçdaroğlu's candidacy received the signatures of 1,246 out of the 1,250 delegates, which set a new record for the CHP.^[17]

In view of this overwhelming support, the presidium of the party convention decided to move the election, initially scheduled for Sunday, forward to Saturday. As now expected, Kılıçdaroğlu was elected as party chairman. The election was unanimous, with 1,189 votes (not counting eight votes that were found to be invalid).^[18][19]

Family life[link]

Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu married Selvi (unofficially Sevim) in 1974. The couple has a son, Kerem, two daughters, Aslı and Zeynep, and a granddaughter from Aslı's marriage.^[4]. Some journals denoted his Alevi identity,^[20] however Kılıçdaroğlu didn't make a statement about his religious belief for a long time. In July 2011, he said "I always refused to do politics on ethnic identities and religion. I am an Alevi. Since when is it a crime to be Alevi in this country?".^[2]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu

• Official website (Turkish)
• Official Facebook page
• Official Twitter account
• Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu's biography at TBMM's website (Turkish)