Süleyman Demirel

Background and early career

Demirel was born in Isparta, Atabey, a town in Isparta Province. 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 the 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. Eisenhower Fellowships selected Suleyman Demirel in 1954 to represent Turkey.

After the 1960 coup d'état, he was drafted to the Turkish Army for compulsory military service. Upon completion of his military service, he worked as a freelance engineer and a representative of Morrison Construction, a U.S. company. During this period, he also worked as a part-time lecturer of hydraulic engineering at the Middle East Technical University (ODTÜ) in Ankara.

Political career

His political career started with his election to the executive board of the Justice Party, founded by the former General Ragıp Gümüşpala under directions from Head of State Cemal Gürsel, as a replacement of the Democrat Party that folded after the military coup of 27 May 1960. Journalist and MP Cihat Baban claims in The Gallery of Politics (Politika Galerisi), that Cemal Gürsel told him:

1960s and 70s

On 22 March 1963, the imprisoned former President Celal Bayar was released on parole, causing protests in front of Justice Party headquarters. Demirel, who was on the executive board of Justice Party, then resigned from his position, claiming that "There wouldn't be democracy in this country [Turkey] for another 50 years". He remained inactive until the death of Ragıp Gümüşpala, when, in June 1964, he re-entered politics as a candidate for chairman of the Party. However, Demirel faced strong opposition. His biggest rival was Sadettin Bilgic, nicknamed "koca reis" ("big captain" in English). Bilgic supporters accused Demirel of being a freemason; however, Demirel averted the crisis with a clever stratagem. Instead of writing to his own lodge, Demirel petitioned a separate freemason's lodge asking whether he was a member or not. As expected, the lodge chairman answered negatively. This turned the tide in Demirel's favor, and he received enough votes to become the Chairman of the Party.

Demirel was elected Chairman at the second grand party convention on 28 November 1964. He facilitated the formation of a caretaker 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, the AP won an unprecedented majority of the votes in the 1965 general election and formed a majority government. Demirel thus became the youngest-ever Prime Minister in Turkish history at the age of 40.

As deputy from Isparta, Demirel became Turkey’s 14th Prime Minister. In the next elections on 10 October 1969, his party was the sole winner by a landslide once again. Demirel presided over the laying the foundations of the Keban Dam, the Bosphorus Bridge and an oil pipeline between Batman and İskenderun. Despite his economic reforms which stabilised inflation, he resigned as Prime Minister after his budget was blocked by parliament, but formed his third government shortly after. He resigned after the military memorandum of 12 March 1971, which had been caused by a disagreement between the government and military over the Cyprus dispute, an escalation of tensions with Greece and growing political violence. He was also accused of deviating from the principles of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, which he denied.

Demirel was the leader of the opposition from 1971 to March 1975 before forming a four-party government known as the first nationalist front, which collapsed in June 1977. He formed the second nationalist front cabinet in July 1977 with two other parties (MSP and MHP), which collapsed in January 1978. A rise in global petrol prices contributed to a surge in inflation and an economic crisis and Demirel's government responded with economic liberalisation, though these reforms were rejected by other parties. This led to a spate of political violence and strikes, during which 42 people were killed in the 1977 Taksim Square massacre. Demirel's minority government in 1979 was unable to elect a president in 1980, leading to the coup d'état in September 1980 which banned Demirel from politics.

1980s

Following the coup d'état of 12 September 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 ban and initiated a national referendum on the issue.

The 1987 constitutional referendum allowed him to return to active politics. Only 18 days later, Demirel was elected Chairman at the extraordinary convention of the True Path Party (DYP), a replacement for the Justice Party. He was re-elected Deputy of Isparta at the elections of 29 November 1987.

1990s and 2000s

Following the 1991 general election, Demirel became Prime Minister once again in a coalition government with the Social Democratic Populist Party. After the sudden death of President Turgut Özal, he became the ninth President on 16 May 1993, elected by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. He served as President until 16 May 2000 for the constitutional term of seven years. His overall tenure as Prime Minister was shorter than only Ismet Inönü's and Recep Tayyip Erdogan's.

Death

Following retirement from politics, Demirel was frequently a panelist and speaker at several universities in Turkey. He died on 17 June 2015 at the Guven hospital in Ankara where he had been undergoing treatment for a respiratory tract infection.

Legacy

The Süleyman Demirel Airport and Süleyman Demirel University, both of which are in Isparta are named after him. So are the Süleyman Demirel Stadium in Antalya, the Süleyman Demirel Medical Centre of the Atatürk University in Erzurum and Suleyman Demirel University in Kazakhstan. There are also two important main streets named after him: one in Istanbul and the other in Muğla. On 26 October 2014 Süleyman Demirel Democracy and Development Museum was opened in Isparta.

Awards

Demirel was awarded with the Istiglal Order for his contributions to development of Azerbaijan–Turkey relations, his constructive position on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and his support for unity among Turkic states by President of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev on 12 June 1999. He is also a Collar of the Estonian Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana, a recipient of the Polish Order of the White Eagle (1993) and a Knight Grand Cross of the Croatian Grand Order of King Tomislav.

In popular culture

Demirel was often nicknamed Baba (The Father) or Çoban Sülü (The Shepherd Sülü (Süleyman)) and humorously Spartacus, after his native city of Isparta. His fedora hat was a famous part of his image.

Although Demirel had retired, whenever there was political distress, Turkish media or his followers (humorously or otherwise) called on him with the words "Kurtar bizi baba" ("Father, save us"). He is well known for uttering phrases such as "Dün dündür, bugün bugündür" ("Yesterday is yesterday, today is today"), usually said when he has changed his stand on a subject. Another example is "Benzin vardı da biz mi içtik?" ("Did we drink the gasoline, as if there were any?"), said when defending his actions during the 1970s energy crisis.