Süleyman Demirel

Sami Süleyman Gündoğdu was born on 1 November 1924, İslamköy, Atabey, a town in Isparta Province to Hacı Yahya Demirel (1893-1972) and Hacı Ümmühan Demirel (1902-1979). He was a shepherd in his childhood. Upon completion of his elementary school education in his hometown, he attended middle school and high school in Isparta, Muğla, and Afyon. In 1948, he married Nazmiye (Şener) Demirel, his second cousin.

After graduating from the school of civil engineering at the Istanbul Technical University in 1949,[2] Süleyman Demirel worked in the State Department for electrical power planning. 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 Director of the Department of Dams. In 1955, he served as Director General of the State Hydraulic Works (DSİ). As such, Demirel supervised the construction of a various power plants, dams and irrigation facilities.[2] Eisenhower Fellowships selected Süleyman Demirel in 1954 to represent Turkey.[3]

After the 1960 coup d'état, he was drafted to the Turkish Army for compulsory military service.[2] 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.[4]

His political career started with his election to the executive board of the Justice Party,[4] 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:

We may solve all troubles if Süleyman Demirel can become the head of the Justice Party (Adalet Partisi). I am working very hard for him to become the party leader. If I succeed in this, I will be happy.[5]

With his Turkish with a rural, central Anatolian accent and the fact that he came from a village from the countryside, he was able to capture the masses which were often present at the campaign rallies he held and present himself as one of theirs.[6]

U.S. Vice President Lyndon Johnson and Süleyman Demirel at a ceremony honoring the United States Agency for International Development (August 28, 1962).

On 22 March 1963, the imprisoned former President Celal Bayar was released on parole, causing protests in front of Justice Party headquarters. Demirel resigned from his position, claiming that "There wouldn't be democracy in this country 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 Bilgiç, nicknamed "koca reis" ("big captain" in English). Bilgiç supporters accused Demirel of being a freemason; however, Demirel averted the crisis with a lie. Instead of writing to his own lodge, he 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.[2]

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 Justice Party 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.[7]

Prime Minister of Iran Amir-Abbas Hoveida and Demirel, Tehran c. 1970

Demirel was one of the first of a new generation born in the 1920s that were now entering politics known as the "Republican Generation", during which heroes of the Turkish War of Independence such as İsmet İnönü, Celâl Bayar and Ragıp Gümüşpala were gradually withdrawing from politics.

Shortly after coming to power, the first crisis that he faced was the "Presidential crisis" after Cemal Gürsel, who assumed the presidency after the adoption of the 1961 Constitution, stated that his health prevented him from continuing his duty. The Chief of the General Staff, Cevdet Sunay, was nominated for the presidency by Demirel in order to soften the army's attitude towards the Justice Party.[8] Sunay retired voluntarily on March 15, 1966 was elected as the fifth president of Turkey by the Grand National Assembly on March 28, 1966.

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. Economic reforms stabilized inflation, and Turkey became one of the fastest growing economies. However increasing amounts of boycotts and strikes by university students in 1968 began political instability which especially concerned the Turkish military. Pressure was also mounting from the United States, as the Nixon Administration wished for Turkey to ban the cultivation of opium, which would have been costly politically for Demirel to implement. Demirel also had trouble brewing inside his own party, as while he attempted to issue an amnesty to ex-Democrats, he was effectively vetoed by the Turkish military (see 1969 Turkish Military Intervention). As a result, in 1970, several ex-DP deputies left the Justice Party to found the Democratic Party, while the Islamists also left to found the National Order Party under Necmettin Erbakan.

With the military coup on 12 September 1980, Demirel's prime ministry ended and he was kept under surveillance in Hamzaköy, Gelibolu for about a month (13 September-11 October 1980). He did not resign as chairman of the Justice Party until it was dissolved on October 16, 1981. With the provisional article 4 of the 1982 Constitution, which was accepted in the November 7 1982 referendum, he and most politicians were banned from politics for 10 years. However, he maintained ties with his party's former leaders. After political parties were allowed to be established in May 1983, Demirel said, "I do not build shanty houses on my land with a title deed." He did not support the party that the military administration tried to have Bülend Ulusu founded, the Nationalist Democracy Party, nor the Motherland Party (ANAP) led by his protégé Turgut Özal. On May 20, 1983, the Great Turkey Party (BTP) was established, but it was swiftly banned by the National Security Council on the grounds that it was a continuation of the Justice Party. Demirel, along with former CHP and Justice Party members was forced to stay for four months in Zincirbozan, Çanakkale, on the grounds that he violated the political ban.

Greek Prime Minister Konstantinos Mitsotakis at the World Economic Forum, 1992

In 1986, Demirel launched a national campaign for the lifting of pre-1980 politicians' political bans and initiated a referendum on the issue.[12] Only 18 days after his political ban was rescinded, he was elected chairman at the extraordinary convention of the True Path Party (DYP), another successor party to the Justice Party. He was re-elected Deputy of Isparta at the elections of 29 November 1987.[12]

Following the 1991 general election, Süleyman Demirel became Prime Minister once again in a coalition government with the Social Democratic Populist Party. Demirel acknowledged the distinction of Kurds being a different ethnicity from Turks,[13] reformed criminal procedure law, removed the ban on all party names and abbreviations accumulated from military coups, and ratified international conventions on trade union freedoms. The "Green Card" social security program was also established[14] and the age requirement for retirement was abolished.[15] While the government had success combating far-left terrorist groups, the assassinations of journalist Uğur Mumcu and Gendarme commander Eşref Bitlis shocked the country. Though both coalition partners advocated for ending the OHAL zone and the village guard system in southeast Anatolia, Operation Provide Comfort meant the policies had to continue in the unstable region.

During this period, he carried out a strong opposition to his protégé and soon president, Turgut Özal, with whom he prepared the 24 January Decisions.

After the sudden death Özal, Demirel became the ninth President of Turkey on 16 May 1993, elected by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. Resigning his party chairmanship, his successor for leadership of DYP became Turkey's first female prime minister, Tansu Çiller.

President Demirel drew backlash from statements he made in the aftermath of the Sivas Massacre in which 35 intellectuals lost their lives when they were trapped in a burning hotel by a mob, which took place just one and a half months after he became President. He said "The incident is an isolated incident. There was heavy provocation. As a result of this provocation, the people were agitated... The security forces did their best... There was no conflict between the groups. There was loss of life due to the burning of the hotel.”

Bill Clinton and Demirel, 1999

Demirel gave Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev advanced notice of an upcoming coup attempt against his government backed by various factions of the Turkish army and intelligence services. He survived an assassination attempt in 1996 in a ribbon-cutting ceremony to open a shopping mall in İzmit. The would be assassin, İbrahim Gümrükçüoğlu said in his defence that he did not intend to kill the President, but that he intended to shoot into the air with his pistol to protest Turkey's military cooperation agreement with Israel. Doctors later diagnosed Gümrükçüoğlu with paranoia.

Some accused Demirel of being the leading the effort to bring down Necmittin Erbakan's REFAHYOL government in what became known as the "Postmodern Coup"[16] while others claimed that he prevented a complete military takeover by easing the tension. He did not give the governing mandate back to Tansu Çiller, but instead to ANAP chairman Mesut Yılmaz, even though Welfare Party, DYP and BBP opposed the move.[17]

In 1997, he participated in a conference organized by the Journalists and Writers Foundation, of which Fethullah Gülen was its honorary chairman, and received the "Statesman National Reconciliation Award" from Gülen.[18]

Though there was an attempt to extend his presidential term by another five years, Demirel stepped down from the presidency on April 5. He handed over his duty to Ahmet Necdet Sezer on 16 May 2000. With his retirement from politics, his overall tenure as Prime Minister was shorter than only İsmet İnönü's and Recep Tayyip Erdogan's.

Demirel's funeral

Following retirement from politics, Demirel was a frequent panelist and speaker at several places, mostly in universities, within Turkey. His wife Nazmiye passed away on May 27, 2013 in the hospital where she was treated for Alzheimer's. He died on 17 June 2015 at the Güven hospital in Ankara where he had been undergoing treatment for a respiratory tract infection. After the state ceremony in the Turkish Grand National Assembly and a religious ceremony at Kocatepe Mosque on 19 June 2015, Demirel's body was taken to his hometown of Atabey, Isparta in the place allocated as a mausoleum.[19] In 2019, the Süleyman Demirel Mausoleum was completed and opened to visitors.

Demirel achieved many firsts throughout his political career. He formed the most governments (7), was longest serving prime minister in Turkish political history following İsmet İnönü and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and was the youngest prime minister at the age of 41. He also broke the records for the youngest politician to become a party leader at the age of 40, and the youngest general manager appointed to a public institution at the age of 30.[20][21]

He was also accused of deviating from the principles of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, which he denied.

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.[22]

Süleyman Demirel was often nicknamed Baba (The Father) or Çoban Sülü (Sülü the Shepherd) and humorously Spartacus, after his native city of Isparta. His fedora hat was a famous part of his image.[23][24]

With the song "Demirbaş" in the album "Yadigâr" (1995), Fikret Kızılok humorously described Demirel's inability to stay away from the political scene. "Süleyman", one of the hit songs of Barış Manço's 1992 album "Mega Manço", was another satire of Demirel. He was portrayed by Haldun Boysan in the 2007 movie "Zincirbozan". There are also references to Demirel in Cem Karaca's "Raptiye". Süleyman Demirel also appeared as a guest actor in the film "The President in the Other Turkey". Nejmi Aykar portrayed Demirel in the TV series Once Upon a Time in Cyprus, which was broadcast on TRT 1.

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.[25] When the question of criminalizing sex work came to question by the increased popularity of conservative movements, he responded "Genelevleri kapatalım da millet bizi mi siksin?" ("Should we close the brothels so people can fuck us?").[26]

• Poland : Order of the White Eagle, 28 October 1993
• Azerbaijan : Istiglal Order, 12 June 1999[27]
• Croatia : Grand Order of King Tomislav, 7 July 1994[28]
• Italy : Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, 7 October 1996
• Estonia : Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana, 1997
• Romania : Order of the Star of Romania, 1999
• Georgia : Order of the Golden Fleece, 1999
• Germany : Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, 6 April 2000

• Conservatism in Turkey

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Süleyman Demirel.

• Official Website of the Presidents of the Republic of Turkey (in Turkish)