Demirel, Süleyman, 1924-, Turkish political leader, president of Turkey (1993-2000). A successful engineer, he became leader of the Justice party in 1964, deputy prime minister in Feb., 1965, and prime minister in Oct., 1965. His failure to halt civil anarchy in the form of student riots, leftist agitation, and political terrorism forced the resignation of his centrist government in 1971. He again served as prime minister (1975-80) of a coalition government, but in 1980 civil turmoil led to an army coup. Demirel was ousted, detained (1980, 1983), and banned from politics until 1987. From 1991 to 1993 (now as leader of the conservative True Path party) he was again prime minister, after which he became president. Although the presidency was largely a ceremonial office, a series of short-lived and unstable governments enabled Demirel to acquire considerable power.

Sami Süleyman Gündoğdu Demirel, better known as Süleyman Demirel (born November 1, 1924), is a Turkish politician who served as prime minister seven times and was the 9th President of Turkey.

Life

Demirel was born in İslamköy, a village in Isparta. Upon completion of his elementary school education in his hometown, he attended middle school and high school in Isparta and Afyon respectively. He graduated from the school of civil engineering at the Istanbul Technical University in 1949. Demirel worked in the state department for electrical power planning in 1949. He undertook postgraduate studies on irrigation, electrical technologies and dam construction in the United States first in 1949-1950, then in 1954-1955. During the construction of the Seyhan Dam, Demirel worked as a project engineer and in 1954 was appointed Head of Department of Dams. As of 1955, he served as director general of the State Hydraulic Works (DSİ). In this capacity, Demirel was to supervise the construction of a multitude of dams, power plants, and irrigation facilities. Upon completion of his military service, he worked as a free-lance engineer and advisor between 1962-1964. During this period, he worked as a lecturer of hydraulic engineering at ODTÜ Middle East Technical University in Ankara. He is married to Nazmiye Demirel. The couple has no children.

Political career

His political career started with his election to the executive board of Adalet Partisi (AP; the Justice Party) founded by the former General Ragip Gumuspala as directed by the Head of State Cemal Gürsel as the replacement of the Demokrat Parti (the Democrat Party) that was closed after the military coup of May 27, 1960. Journalist Parliamenterian Cihat Baban claims in his recent book, The Gallery of Politics (Politika Galerisi), that Cemal Gürsel told him “We may solve all troubles if Suleyman Demirel can become the head of the Justice Party (Adalet Partisi). I am working very hard for him become the party leader. If I succeed in this, I will be happy ..” Demirel was elected Chairman at the second grand party convention on November 28, 1964. He facilitated the formation of a coalition government that ruled between February and October 1965 under the premiership of Suat Hayri Ürgüplü, in which he served as Deputy Prime Minister. Under his leadership, AP won an unprecedented majority of the votes in the elections of October 10, 1965 and formed a majority government. As deputy from Isparta, Demirel became Turkey’s 12th Prime Minister and ruled the country for four years. In the next elections on October 10, 1969, his party was the sole winner by a landslide once again. He resigned upon the military memorandum of March 12, 1971. Between 1971 and 1980, he served as prime minister for three more times, respectively in 1975-1977, 1977-1978 and 1979-1980.

Following the coup d'etat of September 12, 1980, headed by Kenan Evren, he was banned from involvement in active politics for ten years. In 1986 however, Demirel launched a national campaign for the lifting of the bans and initiated a national referendum on the issue. The September 6, 1987 referendum allowed him to return to active politics. Already 18 days later, Demirel was elected chairman at the extraordinary convention of Doğru Yol Partisi (the True Path Party) that replaced the closed Adalet Partisi. He was reelected deputy of Isparta at the elections of November 29, 1987. Following the elections of October 20, 1991, Demirel became prime minister once again in a coalition government with the Social Democratic People's Party. After the sudden death of president Turgut Özal, he became the 9th president on May 16, 1993, elected by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. Demirel served until May 16, 2000, for the constitutional term of seven years.

A director general when only 30, a party chairman and prime minister at 40, Demirel has done his utmost for the development and industrialization of the country. He still holds the record for Turkey's youngest prime minister ever. Only İsmet İnönü’s tenure as prime minister was longer than his.

After his political career, Demirel has been a frequent visitor of different universities in Turkey, where he participates in debates and other similar acitivities. At some of these visits, Demirel has been protested by left-leaning students, usually by being interrupted inhis speeches with slogans like "murderer" or "mafioso".

The Suleyman Demirel Airport and Suleyman Demirel University, both of which are in Isparta are named after him. So are the Süleyman Demirel Stadium in Antalya and Süleyman Demirel Medical Centre of Ataturk University in Erzurum. There are also two important main streets named after him one in İstanbul and the other in Muğla.

Demirel is nicknamed Baba (The Father) or Çoban Sülü (The Shepherd Suleyman) and humorously Spartacus, after his home town.

External links

• Technical University