Bulent Ecevit | prime minister of Turkey | Britannica.com prime minister of Turkey Bülent Ecevit, (born May 28, 1925, Constantinople [now Istanbul], Turkey —died November 5, 2006, Ankara ), Turkish poet, journalist, and politician who served as prime minister of Turkey in 1974, 1977, 1978–79, and 1999–2002. Bülent Ecevit, 2002. AP After graduating from Robert College in Istanbul, Ecevit served as an embassy official in London from 1946 to 1950. During this time he also attended the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London . He returned to Ankara as a writer and journalist with the newspapers Halkçi and Ulus, the official organ of the Republican People’s Party (RPP), which his father had represented in the National Assembly .

Ecevit was elected to the National Assembly as an RPP member for Ankara (1957, 1961) and Zonguldak (1965, 1969), having joined the party council in 1959. He gradually emerged as leader of the left-of-centre group, and during his service as minister of labour (1961–65) he legalized strikes for the first time in Turkish history. In 1966 Ecevit became secretary-general of the RPP under İsmet İnönü , whose cooperation with the country’s military government he opposed. Ecevit became chairman of the RPP in 1972 and prime minister in January 1974. As head of government, Ecevit declared an amnesty for all political prisoners and authorized (July 20, 1974) Turkey’s military intervention in Cyprus after the Greek-led coup on that island. His request for a vote of confidence from the National Assembly in September 1974 failed, and, after a severe political crisis, tenuous power passed to Süleyman Demirel of the Justice Party .

After further crises in 1977, during which Ecevit briefly formed a government (June 21–July 3), he was again prime minister in January 1978. Acute economic and social difficulties, however, led to the fall of his government in October 1979. Ecevit remained active in politics and was deputy premier in 1998 when Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz was forced to resign following a corruption scandal. Ecevit formed a new government, and in April 1999 his Democratic Left Party won a plurality of votes. A coalition government was created, with Ecevit as prime minister. Months after he took office, Turkey suffered a devastating earthquake, and Ecevit drew criticism for the government’s slow initial response to the crisis and its refusal to allow Muslim groups to participate in relief efforts. A staunch secularist, Ecevit had pledged to curb the growing influence of Islam in Turkish politics.

Britannica Stories Bulent Ecevit | The Economist Bulent Ecevit Bulent Ecevit, a Turkish prime minister and poet, died on November 5th, aged 81 Nov 9th 2006 Tweet Reuters WHEN Bulent Ecevit decided, on July 20th 1974, to send an invasion force to Cyprus, he could find many reasons for it. Greeks and Turks on the island had been killing each other for years. Turkish-Cypriots, the minority, needed protection against “genocide”. A coup had been staged by a Greek guerrilla leader in the name of union with Greece; and if it succeeded, Turkey's southern coast would be “almost imprisoned”, as Mr Ecevit put it later, among the Greek Aegean islands. But these considerations, weighty as they were, were not what fortified him as he was briefed that day, in an underground bunker, by a group of sweating generals. He was thinking of the “Bhagavad Gita”, which he knew in the original Sanskrit; and the “Gita” taught that if a man was sure he was morally right, he should not hesitate to take action.

Judging Mr Ecevit by his day-job—four times prime minister of Turkey between 1973 and 2002, sidelined after eight months by the Cyprus adventure, chucked out by a coup in 1980, almost derailed by a financial crash in 2001—his fondness for Hindu mysticism might seem strange. Looking at him, it made more sense. His face, narrow and hawkish, with thick glasses and a drooping black moustache, seemed made for peering into books. Related items Turkey's government: No place for a worn-out prime minister Jul 4th 2002 His happiest times had been spent doing so. At his high school, Robert College in Istanbul, he put Rabindranath Tagore into Turkish at 14; some years later, as a press attaché in London, he studied Bengali to read Tagore in the original. He translated T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pound, besides writing Sufism-flavoured verses of his own. “A cup of tea, a piece of paper, a pencil and a poetry book are the most faithful friends of Bulent,” read his entry in the high-school year-book.

In old age he would still hold court over poetry and tea on a blue sofa in his flat. Verses and politics went together, he insisted. Ottoman sultans had regularly combined them. As a politician he was a man of surprises. To begin with, he was honest; in power his lifestyle was as modest and bookish as before. Second, he was at heart a socialist, a rare breed in his country. Having arrived in parliament in 1957 as a member of the Republican People's Party that had been founded by Kemal Ataturk, the maker of modern Turkey, he steadily took the party leftwards towards political reform and land redistribution; and as the country's first left-wing prime minister he might have enacted such policies, if Cyprus had not undone him. The invasion cost both him and his country dearly. Turkey's reputation abroad took a dive, Mr Ecevit served a mere eight months in power, and the unhappy 1970s ended with a military coup. Mr Ecevit was sent to prison in 1980 and banned from active politics for a decade.

He re-emerged with his own new outfit, the Democratic Left Party (DLP), which despite its name edged gradually towards more free-market policies. By 1999, when the DLP won most seats at the election, Turkey could present itself as a plausible candidate for membership of the EU. Raki by the Aegean But Cyprus had also showed how crude a nationalist this sophisticated man could be. Mr Ecevit refused to the end to make concessions to the Greeks over the island, on which a backward and impoverished Turkish-Cypriot rump still persisted, unrecognised by any other country but Turkey. To make progress on settling the dispute was essential to Turkey's hopes of joining the European club. But Cyprus, Mr Ecevit thought, was none of the EU's business. He would not be pushed by America, either. Reluctantly, because he wished to be thought a good member of NATO, he let American planes use Turkish bases to patrol northern Iraq. But he bridled at America's nagging on behalf of Turkey's 15m Kurds, rebuffing all talk of autonomy and stalling on the use of Kurdish in schools. They were simply not a minority, he explained patiently.

They were “part of the majority in an unquestionable way”. About the ever-more-tendentious Islamists he felt similarly. He cared above all about Turkey's cohesion, and saw religious fundamentalism whittling it away. When in 1999 a female member of the Islamist Virtue Party wore a headscarf in Parliament, Mr Ecevit accused her of “challenging the state”. His own life was so secular and western that his wife Rahsan, who ran the DLP with him, was said to have him firmly under her thumb and to nurse his political grudges for him. He preferred not to hold them. His last spell in government was in coalition with the Nationalist Action Party, old right-wing enemies growing steadily more extreme; but he shook their hands, saying that the era of ideologies was over. There remained the Greeks and the Cyprus question. Ecevit the politician was unbudging. Ecevit the poet had seen things differently, as poets do. The golden age of the Aegean Will revive through us As with the fire of the future The hearth of the past comes alive.

Turk and Greek might sit together, he went on, drinking raki and ouzo by the “blue magic” of the sea that divided them. But Mr Ecevit wrote that in London, homesick, in 1947.

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 the Cyprus invasion and differences with the European Union Monday 6 November 2006 19.09 EST First published on Monday 6 November 2006 19.09 EST Share on Messenger Close The five-times prime minister of Turkey, Bulent Ecevit, who has died of circulatory and respiratory complications aged 81, will go down in history as the man who sent Turkish troops into Cyprus after a Greek coup in 1974, thereby permanently altering the geo-politics of the eastern Mediterranean.

That intervention came in his first term as premier, and his last term came to an end in 2002. During 45 years in active politics, he notched up a vast number of domestic landmarks, such as winning the right to strike for industrial workers in 1963. He might have come to be thought of as a great social democratic reformer, but after the Cyprus invasion his career was in many ways blown off course by the tensions of Turkey's domestic political scene and the confrontation with Greece. A humiliating rebuff from the voters in the November 2002 general elections signalled the end of his career. His Democratic Left party was not simply driven from office; it won only 1.4% of the vote and lost all its seats in the national assembly in Ankara. In his early years, Ecevit seemed more likely to be remembered as a poet, and throughout his life he remained a man of letters. There can be few other prime ministers anywhere who, coming out of a press conference and noticing that a journalist was holding a new book on the 17th-century English poet John Donne, would have asked to borrow it.

But despite this literary and scholarly bent, he never escaped the lure of trying to secure political results. Born in Istanbul, Ecevit was an only child. His father was a university law professor and former member of the Turkish national assembly, and his mother was a painter. After attending Robert College, the American high school in Istanbul, he studied literature for a time at the universities of Istanbul and Ankara, but in 1946 he quit to work as an assistant at the press office of the Turkish embassy in London. The decision may have been linked to his marriage in August that year to Rahsan Aral. It was considered very unconventional in Istanbul to marry so young in those days, but the Ecevits enjoyed an exceptionally happy marriage, and throughout Bulent's political career Rahsan was always his closest friend and supporter, and most trusted adviser. In London he studied Sanskrit and art history at London University, and became an admirer of the Labour party and the welfare state. He and Rahsan also developed the habit of living exceptionally frugally. Any spare money they had went only on books, and there was never the slightest suggestion of personal enrichment, still less corruption.

Ecevit returned to Turkey in 1950 to begin a new career as an opposition journalist. He was elected as a deputy to the national assembly in 1957. Although very shy, he soon rose to prominence as a powerful orator and charismatic leader. By the mid-1960s, he was leading a group which successfully pressed to make the Republican People's party (RPP) left of centre and social democratic. After ousting the elderly Ismet Inonu from the RPP leadership, Ecevit took his party to a surprise general election victory in late 1973, ending nearly a quarter of a century in the wilderness, though only in a coalition with the Islamists. However, a bitter power struggle began between the RPP and the rightwing parties, which pulled out every stop to exclude Ecevit from power. On many occasions his rallies came under gunfire, though his flinty personal courage never faltered. Ecevit's original programme was essentially social democrat and reformist, but it came to be dominated by foreign policy.

During his first period as prime minister (from January to November 1974), the July coup by Nicos Sampson in Cyprus forced him to choose between sending Turkish troops to the island or allowing it to drift into the control of Athens. Despite international opposition, Ecevit opted to intervene. But military success was not followed up by a diplomatic settlement - partly because none of the other parties would have agreed to it - and, as a result, Turkey became internationally isolated. Inside the country, there was bitter inter-party conflict. Ecevit returned to power twice more in the 1970s - in 1977 and in 1978-79 - but headed only weak coalitions. Relations with the EU deteriorated, and - just as Greece was moving towards accession - Ecevit fatefully announced a freezing of Turkey-EU relations, at what many thought was just the wrong moment. He compounded this error with a hopeless demand that the EU advance the sum of $8bn in aid to Turkey. As a result, Turkey was bypassed in the run-up to Greek accession, something that the country later had cause to regret. In 1980, the military seized power in Turkey.

Ecevit refused to recognise decrees making it illegal to talk to the foreign media, and an interview with the BBC led to him being put on trial several times. He was twice sent to prison, from December 1981 to February 1982, and from August to October 1982. When normal times returned, Ecevit broke with his former RPP followers and set up his own democratic leftist party. Despite its name, the DLP was essentially a vehicle for Ecevit's leadership rather than a grouping with a distinct ideology. For over a decade, its leader was sidelined, but when the fortunes of the mainstream social democrats declined in the 1990s, the DLP got its chance. In 1998 it became a junior partner in a government coalition, and later that year the other parties agreed to let the 73-year-old Ecevit rule as a caretaker premier in a pre-election government. During Ecevit's watch, Abdullah Ocalan, leader of the PKK Kurdish separatist movement, was seized by a Turkish commando team in Nairobi.

The DLP won the subsequent elections, though with only 22% of the votes in a highly fragmented political scene. In April 1999, Ecevit became head of a new governing coalition, sharing power with the rightwing Nationalist Action party and the Motherland party. Some of his erstwhile bitter foes were now close allies, committed to his survival. Ecevit himself had largely abandoned his early left-of-centre stance, and was now essentially just a nationalist politician. In February 2001, the anti-inflation programme designed by the IMF to bolster the Turkish economy broke down. The value of the lira plunged by nearly 40% and the country was gripped by its worst-ever economic crisis. Ecevit's opponents accused him of alarming the markets by engaging in a bitter dispute with the president of Turkey, Necdet Sezer. However, both his coalition partners and the IMF insisted that his government continue. Kemal Dervis, a former World Bank vice-president, was brought in as economics minister, and slowly and painfully the Turkish economy was nursed back towards stability. By now Ecevit's health was a source of serious national anxiety.

Aged 76, he was plainly extremely fragile. Rumours of myasthenia (muscle weakness) circulated, but he refused to consider leaving office, and his coalition partners backed him. After April 2002, however, illness forced him to spend increasing periods away from his office, despite Turkey's pressing agenda of international and internal problems. With his health visibly waning, and despite the unease of the public, Ecevit remained as determined as ever to hang on at the top. Then, in June that year, three of his most senior ministers defected, amid growing demands for his resignation. Ecevit bowed to demands for early elections, but declined to amend the election law, despite indications from the opinion polls that all three coalition parties would take less than 10% of the national vote and thus not clear the barrier for entry into the new parliament. After a lacklustre campaign, the moderate, pro-Islamist Justice and Welfare party swept into office, bringing Ecevit's long political career to an end. He suffered a stroke in May, and is survived by his wife. They had no children.

· Mustafa Bulent Ecevit, politician, born May 28 1925; died November 5 2006 BBC NEWS | Europe | Turkish ex-PM Bulent Ecevit dies Turkish ex-PM Bulent Ecevit dies Bulent Ecevit helped push Turkey towards the West Former Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit has died after nearly six months in a coma following a stroke, aged 81. The veteran politician had five terms in office in a career of four decades, before being swept from power in 2002. He ordered the invasion of Cyprus in 1974, arguing that the Turkish Cypriot minority needed protection. That led to the island's division, which still exists today. Mr Ecevit was responsible for pushing Turkey closer to the West and towards candidacy for EU membership. The former Socialist prime minister had strongly opposed the country's Islamists and championed the secular state. He was swept from power in 2002 after refusing to resign on health grounds, and he was blamed in part for the economic crisis which rocked Turkey. This made way for the rise of current Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Justice and Development Party.

EU candidacy In 1974, Mr Ecevit became Turkey's first left-wing prime minister. But despite his social democrat views, he was also a strong nationalist - a quality that particularly emerged after the coup on the island of Cyprus by Greek Cypriots later that year. Thousands of Turkish Cypriots had already in the 1960s sought refuge in enclaves, displaced by clashes with Greek Cypriots. Pushed too far, as he saw it, Mr Ecevit ordered the invasion of Cyprus, in response to the coup and to prevent any possible further violence against Turkish Cypriots. Greek Cypriots maintain that the invasion was illegal, and today the breakaway Turkish "republic" in the north is recognised only by Ankara. Mr Ecevit enjoyed hero status in Turkey after the invasion, but his coalition broke up before the end of the year and he was out of office. Thereafter, his political career was a rollercoaster. He served as prime minister for two brief periods during the late 1970s, but was also imprisoned by the military following coups during the early 1980s.

Banned from politics for 10 years, he nonetheless managed to cultivate a reputation as a moderate elder statesman - which was to serve him well. Under Mr Ecevit, Turkey was accepted as a candidate for membership in the EU in 1999. His last period in office was marred by a very public row with the country's President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, over how to tackle corruption. In early 2001, as fears grew over the stability of the country, the Turkish lira lost a quarter of its value and the International Monetary Fund was called in to rescue the economy. Mr Ecevit also had to deal with right-wing nationalists in his own coalition who were opposed to many of the reforms designed to enable Turkey to join the EU. Poor health dogged him through much of 2002, as he battled fresh political and economic crises. After failing to lead his party back into the National Assembly, he later retired from active politics in 2004.

Bulent Ecevit | The Independent Political pragmatist and working-man's-cap populist who was five times Prime Minister of Turkey Tuesday 7 November 2006 00:00 BST Click to follow The Independent Online Bülent Ecevit, journalist and politician: born Istanbul 28 May 1925; staff, Press Attaché's Office, Turkish Embassy, London 1946-50; journalist, Ulus (Republican People's Party newspaper) 1950-61; MP (Republican People's Party) 1957-60, 1961-80; Minister of Labour 1961-65; Secretary-General, Republican People's Party 1966-71, Chairman 1972-80; Prime Minister of Turkey 1974, 1977, 1978-79, 1999-2002, Deputy Prime Minister 1997-98; Chairman, Democratic Left Party 1989-2004; married 1946 Rahsan Aral; died Ankara 5 November 

2006.

Five times Prime Minister of Turkey, Bülent Ecevit was a charismatic yet controversial figure whose keen sense of survival sustained him through nearly 50 years of Turkey's turbulent political life. A highly educated and colourful figure, fluent in English and with a penchant for writing poetry, Ecevit was a pragmatist whose instincts for political survival often led to unexpected U-turns. For most of his career, he was a leftist and a nationalist. In the early 1970s, he stunned secularists when he joined a coalition with an Islamist party. In his twilight years, from 1999 to 2002, he headed an odd coalition with far-right nationalists. Under pressure from the IMF to restructure Turkey's ailing economy, he abandoned much of his leftism and introduced an ambitious privatisation programme. He remained, however, a hawk until the end. Despite his mixed political legacy, Ecevit commanded respect among many Turks for his honesty and down-to-earth life style. Early in his career he donned a symbolic working man's cap and was rarely seen in public without it. He shunned luxury cars and big apartments and was untainted by accusations of corruption that plagued many of his political colleagues.

In many ways, and partly through sheer longevity, Ecevit's career mirrored changes in Turkey over the years. A journalist and a poet, he started out in 1957 as a staunchly leftist MP - the youngest ever - with Kemal Ataturk's left-wing Republican People's Party (CHP). His mentor, Ismet Inönü, then the CHP leader, spoke of the young Ecevit's ambition, idealism and stubbornness - all qualities which described him throughout his career. He later became an American ally, and, although he had rejected the idea of joining the European Union in the 1970s, it was under his leadership in 1999 that Turkey was eventually accepted as a candidate for membership. Ecevit also made his mark internationally in 1974 when he ordered the invasion of Cyprus in response to a Greek-backed coup in Nicosia that led to the division of the Mediterranean island. Born in Istanbul in 1925, Bülent Ecevit graduated in literature from Istanbul's Robert College, a breeding ground for much of the country's English-speaking élite.

A class yearbook description wrote that "a cup of tea, a piece of paper, a pencil and a poetry book are the most faithful friends of Bülent". Ecevit's father was a professor of medicine and his mother one of the first women in Turkey to become a professional painter. He was their only child. It was at Robert College that Ecevit met his wife Rahsan, while rehearsing a play. An ambitious political player in her own right, she was an important confidante throughout his career, and involved in his decision-making. Famously inseparable, the couple had no children. Interested in journalism, Ecevit worked as a press attaché at the Turkish embassy in London in the late 1940s. During this period, which he later described as one of the happiest of his life, Ecevit studied art history and Sanskrit at the School of Oriental and African Studies. He returned to Turkey in 1950 and took up politics with the CHP. After four years as Minister of Labour, he became secretary-general of the party in 1966.

But the early 1970s were a time of political turmoil in Turkey with rampant street fighting between left- and right-wing partisans. The army eventually intervened to impose martial law in March 1971. When Inönü supported a government set up by the military, Ecevit resigned from the post of CHP secretary-general. After defeating Inönü, then 87, in 1972, Ecevit became party chairman, and, two years later, Turkey's Prime Minister, in a much-debated coalition with the Islamist National Salvation Party. Despite the spectacular success of the Cyprus invasion, he failed to hold his government together and resigned in September 1974. From then on, Ecevit's political career was turbulent. He served as Prime Minister twice briefly during the late 1970s, but was also in and out of prison following coups. In 1980, he stepped down as chairman of the CHP in protest at military rule. Banned from politics for 10 years, he remained active and his opinions were sought after. In the late 1990s he staged a political comeback.

Then in his seventies, he was re-elected to power in the hopes that his honesty and integrity would bring stability to a crisis-ridden country. He headed an unlikely three-way coalition with far-right nationalists and the centre-right Motherland Party. His tenure began well. He was hailed a hero for securing the capture of the Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan in 1999. But later that year his government took a battering for botching the aftermath of two devastating earthquakes that killed thousands and damaged the economy. Plagued by a series of crises, the economy finally collapsed after Ecevit had a public spat with the country's president Ahmet Necdet Sezer and declared "a serious state crisis". His comments sent the Turkish lira tumbling, wiping off a quarter of its value overnight, and the International Monetary Fund was called in to bail the economy out. The crisis triggered Turkey's worst-ever recession but despite failing health, Ecevit refused to stand down. In the subsequent 2002 elections, his party suffered a crushing defeat to Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party, heralding a new era in Turkish politics.

Above all a political pragmatist with a finely tuned sense of populism, it was fitting that Ecevit made his last public appearance, frail and faltering, at the public funeral of a judge shot dead in an Islamist motivated attack in May. Shortly afterwards, he suffered a stroke from which he never recovered. Pelin Turgut Former Turkish leader Ecevit dies after stroke | World news | The Guardian Former Turkish leader Ecevit dies after stroke Agencies in Ankara Sunday 5 November 2006 20.33 EST First published on Sunday 5 November 2006 20.33 EST Share on Messenger Close Bulent Ecevit, five times Turkish prime minister and a political force in Turkey for almost half a century who ordered the invasion of Cyprus and ushered his country towards the EU, died yesterday aged 81. Mr Ecevit, who had been in a coma for six months after suffering a stroke, died at a military hospital in Ankara.

Mr Ecevit, whose last stint as premier from 1999-2002 coincided with a financial collapse that ruptured his reputation, nonetheless remained widely respected in Turkey for his old world courtesy and his personal integrity and modesty in a political culture plagued by corruption. Ahmet Necdet Sezer, Turkey's president, issued a statement praising him for his political ethics, manners and intellect and for upholding Turkey's secular values. "The Turkish people will always respectfully remember his services to the country," Mr Sezer said. Mr Ecevit was best known outside Turkey for ordering the invasion of Cyprus in 1974 after a Greek Cypriot coup engineered by the military junta then ruling ancient rival Greece. That won him plaudits at home though the island remains divided and the Turkish Cypriots' enclave in the north is recognised only by Ankara. He was in and out of power as premier four times during the years before the 1980 military coup. But he made a comeback in the 1990s, by now well into his 70s, and abandoned the fervent nationalist rhetoric of his earlier years, backing Turkish moves to join the EU.

Bulent Ecevit, a Political Survivor Who Turned Turkey Toward the West, Is Dead at 81 - Obituary (Obit); Biography - NYTimes.com Bulent Ecevit, a Political Survivor Who Turned Turkey Toward the West, Is Dead at 81 By STEPHEN KINZER; Craig S. Smith and Sebnem Arsu contributed reporting. Published: November 6, 2006 Bulent Ecevit, a resilient leader who served four terms as Turkey's prime minister in a turbulent era, died yesterday in a hospital in Ankara, the Turkish capital. He was 81. Mr. Ecevit, who suffered a stroke in May from which he never completely recovered, died of circulatory and respiratory failure, the Gulhane military hospital said. For much of his political career -- almost half a century -- Mr. Ecevit was a leftist and a nationalist. An opponent of religious fundamentalism, he helped maintain Turkey's position as the world's most secular Muslim country. During his final years in power, Mr. Ecevit turned away from the leftism that had shaped his career.

He abandoned much of his hostility to private enterprise, and, after helping to keep Turkey out of the European Union in the 1970s, he came to believe that integration with the West was a good idea. In his last term, beginning in 1999, Mr. Ecevit governed in a coalition with a right-wing party. He pursued pro-business policies and maintained Turkey's status as a faithful NATO member and ally of the United States despite his lifelong skepticism about the sincerity of American commitments to democracy and human rights. The hardships encountered when he finally embraced market economics to win the European Union's confidence helped end his political career. With his health failing, his Democratic Left Party lost badly in the country's 2002 elections, forcing him from office. Mr. Ecevit was unusual among Turkish politicians in the simplicity of his lifestyle. He was never accused of participating in the corruption that plagues his country's political and economic life. He was popularly known by the nickname Karaoglan, or Dark Boy, a reference to his black hair and mustache, which he continued to dye despite his advancing age. After leaving office, he devoted himself to writing.

Bulent Ecevit (pronounced buh-LEHNT EH-jeh-vicht) was born in Istanbul on May 28, 1925. His father was a professor of medicine and his mother one of the first women in Turkey to become a professional painter. He was their only child. He graduated from Robert College in Istanbul, where much of the country's English-speaking elite has been trained. He later took courses at foreign universities, including Harvard. Interested in journalism, Mr. Ecevit worked as a press attach?t the Turkish Embassy in London. In the mid-1950s, on a State Department fellowship, he worked at The Winston-Salem Journal and Sentinel in North Carolina. The racism he saw in the South deeply disturbed him. In a front-page article on Jan.

9, 1955, his last day with the newspaper, he wrote that he had found it strange that the United States should fight oppression in the world while white Americans were ''guilty of refusing to drink from the same fountain as the man who has fought on the same front for the same cause; guilty of refusing to travel on the same coach or seat as the man who has been working with equal ardor for a common community; guilty of refusing to pray to God side by side with the man who believes in the same prophet's teaching.'' After returning to Turkey, he joined the Republican People's Party, founded by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Turkish Republic. He was elected to Parliament in 1957. While establishing a reputation as a rising star on the non-Marxist left, he also worked as an art critic, columnist and newspaper editor. He published several volumes of poetry and translated the works of T. S. Eliot and Rabindranath Tagore. Mr. Ecevit always considered himself a champion of the underdog, a view that linked his support for American blacks, Palestinians, Turkish workers and the Turkish minority on Cyprus.

His government maintained close ties with Israel, but he denounced Israel's attacks on refugee camps in 2002 as ''genocide.'' Criticized for the remark, he said he had meant to accuse both sides. He allowed American planes to use Turkish bases for their patrols over northern Iraq, but he sympathized with Iraqi civilians, who he said were suffering because of economic sanctions imposed by the United States. Mr. Ecevit had no such sympathy for Kurds in Turkey, however. He insisted that they were not a minority and for most of his career opposed proposals to legalize education or television broadcasting in the Kurdish language, arguing that such steps would lead to separatism and strife. But in his final term, pressed by the European Union, he became less categorical. From 1961 to 1965, Mr. Ecevit served as minister of labor, and in 1972 he deposed his mentor, Ismet Inonu, who had been Ataturk's closest comrade, to take over leadership of the party. The next year he was elected prime minister. In 1974, Mr.

Ecevit ordered Turkish troops to land on Cyprus after the government there was overthrown by militants aligned with the Greek military dictatorship. The island has been divided between ethnically Greek and Turkish sectors ever since. With the support of labor unions and some leftist groups, Mr. Ecevit served as prime minister twice more during the 1970s. He favored generous social programs, a large government role in the economy and protective tariffs to keep low-priced foreign goods out of Turkey. Mr. Ecevit's insular policies and those of his longtime rival, the more conservative Suleyman Demirel, had the effect of sealing Turkey off from many of the intellectual, political and economic trends surging elsewhere. Turkey remained stagnant while underdeveloped countries from Spain to South Korea became more democratic and prospered. During Mr. Ecevit's term as prime minister that began in 1978, hardly a day passed without political assassinations and bombings. After he and other political leaders proved unable to control the violence, military officers staged a coup on Sept. 12, 1980, and remained in power for nearly three years. Mr. Ecevit and other political leaders were jailed after the coup.

They were released after a few weeks but banned from politics. In 1981, he was imprisoned again for three months after publishing an article criticizing military rule. During this period Mr. Ecevit's wife, the former Rahsan Aral, his political partner and fierce defender over many decades, formed the Democratic Left Party on behalf of her husband. She survives him. They had no children. After Mr. Ecevit was allowed to return to political life in 1987, he and his wife exercised total control over the party. No one could run for office on its ticket or even join it without their approval. In 1995, he asked his supporters to ''make me prime minister once more before I die,'' but few believed he would realize that ambition. Scandals tarnished many of the country's political leaders, however, and Mr. Ecevit emerged unexpectedly as prime minister in 1998. He had the good fortune to be in office when Abdullah Ocalan, leader of a Kurdish rebellion that devastated southeastern provinces, was captured in February 1999, just before Mr. Ecevit's interim government was to face the voters.

The prestige he gained from that arrest led him to victory in the April 1999 election. In his final term, he embraced many ideas he had once abhorred, like the value of free enterprise and close ties to the West. Many of his former supporters were alienated. He also acknowledged that his earlier opposition to Turkey's joining the European Union had been a historic error. ''It is now understood,'' he said, ''that there can be no Europe without Turkey and no Turkey without Europe.'' Photo: Bulent Ecevit in 1999. (Photo by Michael Urban/Reuters) Bulent Ecevit, who turned Turkey toward the West, dies - Europe - International Herald Tribune - The New York Times The New York Times Europe |Bulent Ecevit, who turned Turkey toward the West, dies - Europe - International Herald Tribune Search Continue reading the main story Bulent Ecevit, a resilient leader who served four terms as Turkey's prime minister in a turbulent era, died Sunday in a hospital in Ankara, the Turkish capital. He was 81. Ecevit, who suffered a stroke in May from which he never completely recovered, died of circulatory and respiratory failure, the Gulhane military hospital said.

For much of his political career - almost half a century - Ecevit was a leftist and a nationalist. An opponent of religious fundamentalism, he helped maintain Turkey's position as the world's most secular Muslim country. During his final years in power, Ecevit turned away from the leftism that had shaped his career. He abandoned much of his hostility to private enterprise, and, after helping to keep Turkey out of the European Union in the 1970s, he came to believe that integration with the West was a good idea. Continue reading the main story In his last term, beginning in 1999, Ecevit governed in a coalition with a right-wing party. He pursued pro-business policies and maintained Turkey's status as a faithful NATO member and ally of the United States despite his lifelong skepticism about the sincerity of American commitments to democracy and human rights. Advertisement Continue reading the main story The hardships encountered when he finally embraced market economics to win the European Union's confidence helped end his political career. With his health failing, his Democratic Left Party lost badly in the country's 2002 elections, forcing him from office. Ecevit was unusual among Turkish politicians in the simplicity of his lifestyle.

He was never accused of participating in the corruption that plagues his country's political and economic life. He was popularly known by the nickname Karaoglan, or Dark Boy, a reference to his black hair and mustache, which he continued to dye despite his advancing age. After leaving office, he devoted himself to writing. Bulent Ecevit (pronounced buh-LEHNT EH-jeh-vicht) was born in Istanbul on May 28, 1925. His father was a professor of medicine and his mother one of the first women in Turkey to become a professional painter. He was their only child. He graduated from Robert College in Istanbul, where much of the country's English-speaking elite has been trained. He later took courses at foreign universities, including Harvard. Interested in journalism, Ecevit worked as a press attaché at the Turkish Embassy in London. In the mid-1950s, on a State Department fellowship, he worked at The Winston-Salem Journal and Sentinel in North Carolina. The racism he saw in the South deeply disturbed him. In a front-page article on Jan.

9, 1955, his last day with the newspaper, he wrote that he had found it strange that the United States should fight oppression in the world while white Americans were "guilty of refusing to drink from the same fountain as the man who has fought on the same front for the same cause; guilty of refusing to travel on the same coach or seat as the man who has been working with equal ardor for a common community; guilty of refusing to pray to God side by side with the man who believes in the same prophet's teaching." After returning to Turkey, he joined the Republican People's Party, founded by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Turkish Republic. He was elected to Parliament in 1957. While establishing a reputation as a rising star on the non-Marxist left, he also worked as an art critic, columnist and newspaper editor. He published several volumes of poetry and translated the works of T. S. Eliot and Rabindranath Tagore. Ecevit always considered himself a champion of the underdog, a view that linked his support for American blacks, Palestinians, Turkish workers and the Turkish minority on Cyprus.

Advertisement Continue reading the main story His government maintained close ties with Israel, but he denounced Israel's attacks on refugee camps in 2002 as "genocide." Criticized for the remark, he said he had meant to accuse both sides. He allowed American planes to use Turkish bases for their patrols over northern Iraq, but he sympathized with Iraqi civilians, who he said were suffering because of economic sanctions imposed by the United States. Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up Privacy Policy Ecevit had no such sympathy for Kurds in Turkey, however. He insisted that they were not a minority and for most of his career opposed proposals to legalize education or television broadcasting in the Kurdish language, arguing that such steps would lead to separatism and strife. But in his final term, pressed by the European Union, he became less categorical. From 1961 to 1965, Ecevit served as minister of labor, and in 1972 he deposed his mentor, Ismet Inonu, who had been Ataturk's closest comrade, to take over leadership of the party.

The next year he was elected prime minister. In 1974, Ecevit ordered Turkish troops to land on Cyprus after the government there was overthrown by militants aligned with the Greek military dictatorship. The island has been divided between ethnically Greek and Turkish sectors ever since. With the support of labor unions and some leftist groups, Ecevit served as prime minister twice more during the 1970s. He favored generous social programs, a large government role in the economy and protective tariffs to keep low-priced foreign goods out of Turkey. Ecevit's insular policies and those of his longtime rival, the more conservative Suleyman Demirel, had the effect of sealing Turkey off from many of the intellectual, political and economic trends surging elsewhere. Turkey remained stagnant while underdeveloped countries from Spain to South Korea became more democratic and prospered. During Ecevit's term as prime minister that began in 1978, hardly a day passed without political assassinations and bombings. After he and other political leaders proved unable to control the violence, military officers staged a coup on Sept. 12, 1980, and remained in power for nearly three years.

Ecevit and other political leaders were jailed after the coup. They were released after a few weeks but banned from politics. In 1981, he was imprisoned again for three months after publishing an article criticizing military rule. Advertisement Continue reading the main story During this period Ecevit's wife, the former Rahsan Aral, his political partner and fierce defender over many decades, formed the Democratic Left Party on behalf of her husband. She survives him. They had no children. After Ecevit was allowed to return to political life in 1987, he and his wife exercised total control over the party. No one could run for office on its ticket or even join it without their approval. In 1995, he asked his supporters to "make me prime minister once more before I die," but few believed he would realize that ambition. Scandals tarnished many of the country's political leaders, however, and Ecevit emerged unexpectedly as prime minister in 1998.

He had the good fortune to be in office when Abdullah Ocalan, leader of a Kurdish rebellion that devastated southeastern provinces, was captured in February 1999, just before Ecevit's interim government was to face the voters. The prestige he gained from that arrest led him to victory in the April 1999 election. In his final term, he embraced many ideas he had once abhorred, like the value of free enterprise and close ties to the West. Many of his former supporters were alienated. He also acknowledged that his earlier opposition to Turkey's joining the European Union had been a historic error. "It is now understood," he said, "that there can be no Europe without Turkey and no Turkey without Europe." A version of this article appears in print on November 5, 2006, in The International Herald Tribune.

Order Reprints | Today's Paper | Subscribe BBC NEWS | Europe | Bulent Ecevit: Survivor finally falls Monday, 4 November, 2002, 18:49 GMT Bulent Ecevit: Survivor finally falls Ecevit finally ran out of road in November elections Ousted Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit fell from the political precipice after months on the edge. He had previously proved himself as a man with a strong instinct for political survival in a career which spanned 45 years. A cup of tea, a piece of paper, a pencil, and a poetry book are the most faithful friends of Bulent University yearbook But his luck ran out at last, swept from office in November 2002 by the political newcomers of the AK (Justice and Development) Party. The 77-year-old had refused to bow to pressure from his own allies and resign as prime minister during months of failing health, and played a key role in the political crisis into which Turkey tumbled. But it was his very tenacity which had characterised a long political career. His refusal to budge on many issues earned him a reputation as someone who did not like to give way.

Poetry and politics Bulent Ecevit was born in 1925, the son of a professor of medicine and a painter. It was Ecevit who ordered the invasion of Cyprus He graduated in literature from Istanbul's Robert College. A class yearbook entry reads: "A cup of tea, a piece of paper, a pencil, and a poetry book are the most faithful friends of Bulent." But he was interested in politics too. After a stint in the Turkish embassy in London, Mr Ecevit became the youngest member of the Turkish parliament, standing for the Republican People's Party (RPP) in 1957. Heading up His rise was steady. After serving as a government minister, he became the secretary general of the RPP. He was a bitter opponent of martial law imposed in 1971 and resigned from the post to fight against the party leadership's decision to support a government imposed by the military. The next year, he took the party reins. He became prime minister at the age of 47 In the general election campaign which followed, Mr Ecevit toured the country outlining his social democratic ideals. He promised political and social reform and fairer distribution of land.

In 1972, he became Turkey's first left-wing prime minister. But despite his social democrat views, he was also a strong nationalist - a quality that particularly emerged after the coup on the island of Cyprus by Greek Cypriots later that year. It was Mr Ecevit who ordered the invasion to protect the Turkish Cypriot minority, leading to the division which still exists today. He enjoyed hero status in Turkey in the aftermath, but his coalition broke up before the end of the year and he was out of office. Thereafter, his political career was a rollercoaster. He served as prime minister for two brief periods during the late 1970s, but was also imprisoned by the military following coups during the early 1980s. Banned from politics for 10 years, he nonetheless managed to cultivate a reputation as a moderate elder statesman - which was to serve him well. Unexpected return As the country faced financial crisis, Mr Ecevit was re-elected prime minister in 1999 by a nation eager for stability. He strongly opposed the country's Islamists and championed the secular state. Initially, things went well.

But this last period in office was marred by a very public row with the country's President, Ahmet Necdet Sezer, over how to tackle corruption. In early 2001, as fears grew over the stability of the country, the Turkish lira lost a quarter of its value and the International Monetary Fund was called in to rescue the economy. He has also had to deal with right-wing nationalists in his own coalition who are opposed to many of the reforms designed to enable Turkey to join the European Union. Ill-health dogged him through much of 2002, as he battled fresh political and economic crises. Voters, it seems, finally tired of the great survivor and risked a leap into an unknown, post-Ecevit world. Key stories Smashing the Kurds; CIA Role in Kidnapping Abdullah Ocalan by Kani Xulam, 10/9/2002 « AKIN CovertAction Quarterly, Number 74 Fall 2002 On February 16, 1999, the Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit startled his country with the news that the Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan was in Turkey, “since 3 a.m.

this morning.”1 “The operation,” he went on to say, “has been accomplished thanks to a close and harmonious cooperation between the Turkish Intelligence Organization and the Turkish General Staff.”2 If true, the Turks had reason to celebrate the exploits of their agencies the way they did in Ankara, Istanbul, Izmir and other Turkish cities by dancing in the streets to the tunes of jingoistic Turkish songs. When a reporter asked the Prime Minister, “In which country was he [Mr. Ocalan] last?” Mr. Ecevit said, “We are not going to go into any detail on this subject.” As a former journalist himself, it was odd for him to add, “I ask you not to be inquisitive about it.”3 The Turks, the Kurds, the reporters and many others were inquisitive about it because a number of Greek and Kenyan missions had come under heavy attack by angry Kurdish militants especially in Europe. Ms. Semsi Kilic, an associate of Mr. Ocalan in Nairobi, Kenya, had already tipped some Kurdish reporters in Europe to the news of the abduction of the Kurdish leader adding that the Greeks and the Kenyans had conspired against him.

But if the latter account was correct, and the angry Kurds thought it was, the Turkish Prime Minister was duping the reporters in Ankara for thanking the wrong parties for the “good” news. But as the real parties to the abduction spoke, gradually, it became obvious that Ms. Kilic herself had not exactly known what had really happened in Nairobi, Kenya. The day after the abduction, the Kurds, reacting to the news in some of the European dailies that perhaps Israeli agents were also involved in the kidnapping of their leader, attacked the Israeli Consulate in Berlin, Germany.4 The armed Israeli guards fired live ammunition on the flag- and picture-waving Kurdish crowd. Ahmet Acar, Sema Alp, and Mustafa Kurt were killed.5 On February 17, the United States government felt compelled to issue a travel advisory reminding Americans “residing or travelling abroad…to review their personal security.”6 The State Department was wary. Mr. Ecevit was circumspect. The Kurds, it became obvious to many, had learned nothing from their history and had allowed themselves to become the laughingstock of the world again, this time, live and free, courtesy of CNN, regrettably.

On February 18, the New York Times reported some progress on the Turkish front of what had happened to Mr. Ocalan and noted the following musings of the Turkish leader Ecevit at another press conference: “I will use a local expression and say, ‘let us eat the grape and not ask where it came from.’“7 A day later, when asked specifically about Washington’s role again, he said, “I can’t reveal that.…But you can make your own guess.”8 In fact, there was no need to guess. The next day, the New York Times reported on its front page, “U.S. helped Turkey find and capture Kurd Rebel.”9 A senior American official who “demanded” anonymity went on to describe how Ocalan was “discovered” in Nairobi, Kenya, and how Ankara was then alerted about its archenemy.10 Nothing was said about the Greek connection.

The Kenyan missions in Europe remained closed, and Nairobi declared the Greek Ambassador to Kenya, George Kostoulas, persona non grata.11 The Israelis, like the Kenyans, denied culpability and noted, “…we certainly had no part in the capture of Ocalan.”12 The Greek Embassy in Washington felt compelled to issue a press release blaming Ocalan for the misfortune that befell him.13 On February 20, the Kurdish daily Ozgur Politika published an interview with Semsi Kilic, the eyewitness to Mr. Ocalan’s abduction, under the byline of Cemal Ucar. Ms. Kilic blamed the Greek government, especially its foreign minister, Mr. Theodoros Pangalos, for the cause celebre in Turkey. His office, she told Mr. Ucar, gave us assurances that, “…with the prepared plane [at the airport], you [Ocalan] will be able to fly anywhere in Europe.”14 Ms. Kilic was not allowed to accompany Mr. Ocalan.

The Kenyan police who had come to escort the Kurdish leader insisted that he alone was getting the “ride.” Ambassador George Kostoulas who wanted to see his guest off at the airport was equally rebuffed. To the waiting arms of the Turkish commandos the Kurdish leader was delivered in one piece. Six days later, the Greek Ambassador wrote for his government an account of what had happened in his residence, the last stop of Mr. Ocalan’s odyssey back to Turkey. That account was later leaked to the press.15 The emerging picture showed his government desperate to disassociate itself from Ocalan, the Kurds baffled and impervious to the intrigue that surrounded them, and the Ambassadorhimself often clueless about Athens’ ultimate intention to cooperate with all but the Kurds. No independent body has appointed a commission to undertake a study of what happened in Nairobi, Kenya. Nevertheless, after the debacle, there was fallout in Athens. Three ministers of the Simitis administration were sacked, including the acerbic foreign minister Theodoros Pangalos. A Greek parliamentary committee that investigated the Greek side of the events blamed private Greek citizens for breaches of law in welcoming and harboring the Kurdish rebel in Greece.

If the Kurds were awaiting an apology, it did not come. For the time being, a report that hit the wires on February 28, 1999 came as close to full disclosure as any fact-finding investigation that the Kurds could hope for. “Disrupting Terrorists,” by Associated Press writer John Diamond, began, “Frustrated by restrictions on using military force against terrorists, the United States is turning to a lower-profile tactic. The CIA calls it ‘disruption’—working with foreign law-enforcement services to harass and hamper terrorists around the world.… “…Disruption has the advantage of utmost secrecy, hiding the hand of the United States and avoiding the cumbersome congressional reporting requirements that go with CIA-directed covert operations.…The recent arrest by Turkish forces in Kenya of Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan is one of the rare examples where the disruption tactic gained public notice.”16 Perhaps the most telling part of the whole Ocalan episode was the name he was given in the fake passport that the Greeks had issued him. When the Turks seized him, they confiscated the document and shared it with the world. He had the name of Lazaros.

His cover was the diseased pauper in the biblical parable of the rich man and the beggar. The Greek leaders, lacking honor, treated Mr. Ocalan like a vagabond. They were glad to be rid of him. And the irony doesn’t end with the Greeks. It actually started with the Turks. In the 1920s, the founder of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal, with an unbecoming modesty had assumed the last name of Ataturk, the father of Turks, for himself. He and his officials trotted the country and gave Turks and Kurds alike new Turkish last names. The name Ocalan, which means avenger, was given to Mr. Ocalan’s family. In 1998, the Turkish President Suleyman Demirel accused the Kurdish leader and his fighters of killing 5,555 Turkish personnel.17 The Kurdish losses are often dismissed, and estimates vary, but the Turkish human rights activists often cite figures of over 30,000 dead, close to four thousand Kurdish villages destroyed and some four million Kurds rendered homeless seeking refuge in large Kurdish or Turkish cities or abroad.

This writer has heard more than one Kurd quip that the avenger, Mr. Ocalan, only tried to live up to his name. Kani Xulam is Director of American Kurdish Information Network (AKIN) in Washington, DC, and has been active for many years in defense of Kurdish rights. He is currently consulting for a forthcoming feature film about the Kurdish people. 1. Greece and PKK Terrorism II, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ankara, April 1999, p. 66 2. Greece and PKK Terrorism II, p. 67 3. Greece and PKK Terrorism II, p. 67 4. Editorial, Farce and Tragedy for Apo, Il Faglio, Italy, February 17, 1999 5. Special to Ozgur Politika, Here is a Murderer [the photograph of an Israeli Agent], Ozgur Politika, February 21, 1999, p. 1 6. U.S. Issues Travel Warning, Philip Shenon, New York Times, February 18, 1999 7.

Roger Cohen, 3 Kurds Killed by Israeli Guards in Berlin, New York Times, February 18, 1999, p. 1 8. Vernon Loeb, U.S. Tip to Turkey Led To Capture of Ocalan, The Washington Post, February 21, 1999, p. A27 9. Tim Weiner, U.S. Helped Turkey Find and Capture Kurd Rebel, The New York Times, February 20, 1999, p. 1 10. Tim Weiner, U.S. Helped Turkey Find and Capture Kurd Rebel, The New York Times, February 20, 1999, p. 1 11. Kieran Murray, Kenya says had no role in Ocalan’s capture, Reuters, February 16, 1999 12. Joel Greenberg, Israel Denies Role but Fears Reprisals for Ties to Turkey, The New York Times, February 18, 1999 13. Embassy of Greece Press Release, February 16, 1999 14.

Cemal Ucar, Ozgur Politika, February 23, 1999, p. 8 15. The report was leaked to the press. The Greek daily Ta Nea published it on March 6, 1999. The American Kurdish Information Network got a copy of it as well. 16. John Diamond, Disrupting Terrorists, Associated Press, February 28, 1999 17. Nadire Mater, Mehmedin Kitabi, Metis Yayinlari, Ucuncu Basim, Istanbul, Turkey, 1999, p. 257 Kani Xulam A native of Kurdistan, Kani Xulam is a commentator on the history and politics of Kurdistan, and advocates for the right of the Kurdish people to self-determination. He is the director of the American Kurdish Information Network.

Question: Bulent Ecevit was Prime Minister of which country from 1999 to 2002?
Answer: Turkey