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Mustafa Bülent Ecevit
Prime Minister of Turkey
In office January 11, 1999 – November 18, 2002
Preceded by	Mesut Yılmaz
Succeeded by	Abdullah Gül
Prime Minister of Turkey
In office January 5, 1978 – November 12, 1979
Preceded by	Süleyman Demirel
Succeeded by	Süleyman Demirel
Prime Minister of Turkey
In office June 21, 1977 – July 21, 1977
Preceded by	Süleyman Demirel
Succeeded by	Süleyman Demirel
Prime Minister of Turkey
In office January 26, 1974 – November 17, 1974
Preceded by	Naim Talu
Succeeded by	Sadi Irmak
Born	28 May 1925(1925-05-28) Istanbul
Died	5 November 2006 (aged 81) Ankara
Political party	DSP, CHP
Spouse	Rahşan Ecevit
Religion	Muslim

Mustafa Bülent Ecevit (May 28, 1925 in Istanbul – November 5, 2006 in Ankara) was a Turkish politician, poet, writer and journalist, who was leader of Republican People's Party, later of the Democratic Left Party and four-time Prime Minister of Turkey.

Personal life

Born in Ankara, 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 the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies,² and then 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

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 Republican People's Party (Turkish: Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi, CHP). 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 İsmet İnönü 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.

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-Guerrilla", 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. CHP defeated AP at the 1977 general elections by gathering 41% of the votes. This victory was just after the events of May 1 and the victory of CHP was seen as the answer of the left wing of Turkish politics.

Following the 1980 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 Democratic Left Party (Turkish: Demokratik Sol Parti, DSP), inheriting the position from his wife, Rahşan Ecevit. His party failed to enter the National Assembly at the 1987 national elections, and in spite of passing the electoral barrier in 1991 managed to win only 7 seats in parliament. DSP's fortunes changed after the 1995 elections, when the party won 75 seats (out of 550). After two short-lived governments (formed by Mesut Yılmaz and Necmettin Erbakan respectively), Ecevit became a deputy prime minister in 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 (PKK) 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 Motherland Party (Turkish: Anavatan Partisi, ANAP) of Mesut Yılmaz and the Nationalist Movement Party (Turkish: Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi, MHP) of Devlet Bahçeli.

Bülent Ecevit with George W. Bush in White House

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 at the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies,² and translated works by Rabindranath Tagore, T. S. Eliot, and Bernard Lewis into Turkish. Ecevit, who also studied at the American Robert College, one of the most 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's Tomb in State Cemetery

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, 2006.³ He died on November 5, 2006 at 20:40 (UTC) due to respiratory failure without regaining consciousness. He was laid to rest in the Turkish State Cemetery (Turkish: Devlet Mezarlığı) in Ankara with a state funeral on November 11, 2006. The funeral was attended by approximately 1,000,000 people from all 81 provinces.⁴

Works

Poetry

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

Political

• 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)

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Kinzer, Stephen (November 6, 2006). "Bülent Ecevit, a Political Survivor Who Turned Turkey Toward the West, Is Dead at 81", The New York Times, p. 2. Retrieved on 6 November 2006. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Turgut, Pelin (2006-11-07). "Bulent Ecevit", The Independent. Retrieved on 24 December 2008. 
3. ^ Baki, Mehmet (2006-05-25). "Well Wishes for Ecevit Written in Visitors". Today's Zaman. Retrieved on 2008-10-22.
4. ^ Cevizoğlu, Hulki (11 November 2006), Kanaltürk Evening News.^{verification needed}

External links

• Siyaseti Şairi, Karaoğlan, Hürriyet, November 2002 (Turkish)
• A Selection of Ecevit's Poetry (Turkish)