Following the general elections held on 5 June 1977, Elçi entered the parliament as a deputy for the Justice Party (AP) representing the Mardin Province. He was then among the eleven politicians, who left Süleyman Demirel's (AP) and was offered on December 22, 1977 he was offered the post of a minister in the newly formed cabinet by Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Bülent Ecevit in return of his acceptance to back up a motion of no confidence to overturn Demirel's cabinet. He was appointed Minister of Public Works in the Ecevit cabinet serving from 5 January 1978 to 12 November 1979. As a Minister, he attracted a lot of interest by the media as he undertook an extensive journey to the southeastern provinces on a tour accompanied by reporters. He demanded more governmental support and development for and criticized the ongoing "fascist terrorism" in the region. As in 1979 he traveled to London, United Kingdom due to health issues, it was rumored he could have met with revolutionary Kurds from Iraq. Then also Ecevit denounced a threat of "internal separatists". Elçi then made some explicit statements about the Kurdishness mentioning that he is himself is a Kurd and demanded a change regarding the Governmental approach towards the Kurds and a clarification whether someone is a  separatist who says he is a Kurd or one who aims to establish a separate Kurdish country.