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Halil Turgut Özal
8th President of the Republic of Turkey
In office November 9, 1989 – April 17, 1993 (&100000000000000030000003 years, &10000000000000159000000159 days)
Preceded by	Kenan Evren
Succeeded by	Süleyman Demirel
Prime Minister of Turkey
In office December 13, 1983 – October 31, 1989
President	Kenan Evren
Preceded by	Bülend Ulusu
Succeeded by	Yıldırım Akbulut
Personal details
Born	(1927-10-13)October 13, 1927 Malatya, Turkey
Died	April 17, 1993(1993-04-17) (aged 65) Ankara, Turkey
Political party	ANAP
Spouse(s)	Ayhan İnal (m. 1952, div. 1952) Semra Özal (m. 1954)
Children	3
Alma mater	Istanbul Technical University
Religion	Sunni Islam
Signature

Halil Turgut Özal (Turkish pronunciation: [tuɾˈɡut øˈzaɫ]; October 13, 1927 – April 17, 1993) was Prime Minister of Turkey (1983–1989) and President of Turkey (1989–1993). As Prime Minister, he transformed the economy of Turkey by paving the way for the privatization of many state enterprises.^[1][2]

Early life and career[link]

Turgut Özal was born in Malatya and was of partial Kurdish^[3] descent. He completed elementary school in Silifke, middle school in Mardin, and high school in Kayseri. Özal studied electrical engineering at Istanbul Technical University, graduating in 1950.

Between 1950 and 1952, he worked in the State Electrical Power Planning Administration and continued his studies in the United States on electrical energy and engineering management between 1952-1953. After his return to Turkey, he worked in the same organization again on electrification projects until 1958. Özal was in the State Planning Department in 1959, and in the Planning Coordination Department in 1960. After his military service in 1961, he worked at several state organizations in leading positions and lectured at ODTÜ (Middle East Technical University). The World Bank employed him between 1971-1973^{[citation needed]}. Then, he was chairman of some private Turkish companies^{[citation needed]} until 1979. Back to the state service, he was undersecretary to the Prime minister Süleyman Demirel until the military coup on September 12, 1980.

Political career[link]

The military rulers under Kenan Evren appointed him state minister and deputy prime minister in charge of economic affairs until July 1982.

Motherland Party era[link]

On May 20, 1983 he founded the Motherland Party (Turkish: Anavatan Partisi) and became its leader. His party won the elections and he formed the government to become the 19th Prime minister on December 13, 1983. In 1987 he again became prime minister after winning elections.^[4]

Assassination attempt[link]

On June 18, 1988 he survived an assassination attempt during the party congress. One bullet wounded his finger while another bullet missed his head. The assassin, Kartal Demirağ, was captured and sentenced to life imprisonment but pardoned by Özal in 1992.^[5]

Demirağ was allegedly a Counter-Guerrilla, contracted by the movement's hawkish leader, General Sabri Yirmibeşoğlu. Two months later, Yirmibeşoğlu became the secretary general of the National Security Council. During Yirmibeşoğlu's tenure as secretary general, Özal heard about the allegations of Yirmibeşoğlu's role in the affair and forced him into retirement.^[6]

In late 2008, Demirağ was retried by the Ankara 11th Heavy Penal Court and sentenced to twenty years in prison.^[5]

Presidency era[link]

Özal and George Bush

On 9 November 1989, Özal became the eighth president of Turkey elected by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey and the first president to be born in the Republic of Turkey rather than the Ottoman Empire.

With the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Özal made an effort to create alliances with the Turkic countries of Central Asia as well as Azerbaijan in the South Caucasus.

Özal supported the coalition against Iraq during the 1991 Gulf War.^[1]

In February 1991, he was made an honorary Companion of the Order of Australia (AC), Australia's highest civilian honour, "for eminent service to Turkish/Australian relations".^[7]

The ceremony marking of the beginning of governance for the first kaymakam Eyüp Sabri Kartal in Kavaklıdere with the late president Turgut Özal of Turkey and vali Lale Aytaman

Death[link]

On 17 April 1993, Özal died of a suspicious heart attack while still in office,^[8] leading some to suspect an assassination.^[9] His wife Semra Özal claimed he was poisoned by lemonade and she questioned the lack of an autopsy. The blood samples taken to determine his cause of death were lost or disposed of.^[10] Özal sought to create a Turkic union, and had obtained the commitment of several presidents. His wife Semra alleged that the perpetrator might have wanted to foil the plan.^[11]

Hundreds of thousands of people^{[citation needed]} attended his burial ceremonies in Istanbul, whereby he was buried with a state ceremony next to the mausoleum of Adnan Menderes, whom he had revered.^{[citation needed]}

On the fourteenth anniversary of his death, thousands of commemorators gathered in Ankara.^[12]

Family[link]

With his wife Semra, Özal had two sons, and a daughter. One of their sons, Ahmet Özal, was elected to parliament after the elections of 1999, but stayed out after the elections of 2002.

References[link]

1. ^ ^{a b} Anderson, Perry (2008-09-25). "After Kemal". London Review of Books. http://www.lrb.co.uk/v30/n18/ande01_.html. Retrieved 2008-12-29. 
2. ^ Purvis, Andrew (2003-07-27). "Not Just Business As Usual". TIME. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,901030804-471150-1,00.html. Retrieved 2008-08-14. 
3. ^ Edelman, Eric (2006-06-19). "Three Legacies: Ataturk, Inonu, and Ozal and the Making of the U.S.-Turkish Relationship". Washington Institute. http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/templateC07.php?CID=299. Retrieved 2008-08-14. 
4. ^ http://www.basbakan.org/turgut_ozal.html
5. ^ ^{a b} "Kartal Demirağ'a 20 yıl hapis cezası" (in Turkish). Hürriyet. Anadolu Agency. 2008-12-31. http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/gundem/10679039.asp. Retrieved 2009-01-04. 
6. ^ Dündar, Can (2002-01-08). "'Özel Harp'çinin tırmanış öyküsü" (in Turkish). Milliyet. http://www.milliyet.com.tr/2006/01/08/yazar/dundar.html. Retrieved 2006-01-28. 
7. ^ It's an Honour: AC
8. ^ Soncan, Emre; Çelen, Nergihan (2007-04-18). "‘People’s president Özal’ commemorated at his grave". Today's Zaman. http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=108714. Retrieved 2008-08-14. ^{[dead link]}
9. ^ Dolmaci, Emine (2008-09-07). "Apo Ergenekon'un Truva Ati" (in Turkish). Zaman. http://www.zaman.com.tr/haber.do?haberno=735236. Retrieved 2008-10-10. "Tıpkı onun gibi Turgut Özal, Cem Ersever ve Eşref Bitlis de barışçıl çözüm istedikleri ve bu yönde adım atmaya hazırlandıkları için öldürüldü." 
10. ^ Düzel, Neşe (2008-11-24). "Nurettin Yılmaz: ‘Talabani federasyonu kabul etmişti’" (in Turkish). Taraf. http://www.taraf.com.tr/yazar.asp?mid=2801. Retrieved 2009-01-06. "Ölüm nedenini anlamak için Turgut Bey’den kan aldılar. Ama hemen sonra ‘şişenin hemşirenin elinden kaydığını, kırıldığını’ söylediler. Bir süre sonra bundan da vazgeçtiler. 'Şişe kayboldu' dediler." 
11. ^ Uğur, Fatih (2007-04-16). "Büyük Türkiye Cumhuriyeti'ni kuracaktı" (in Turkish). Aksiyon (Feza Gazetecilik A.Ş.) 645. http://www.aksiyon.com.tr/detay.php?id=27219. Retrieved 2009-01-08. ^{[dead link]}
12. ^ "Press Roundup". Today's Zaman. 2007-04-17. http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=108536. Retrieved 2008-08-14. ^{[dead link]}

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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